When sending a professional email, there are many things to consider. It’s not as simple as composing and pressing send. Is the email really ready to send? Is everything spelled correctly? Did you use all caps? Will the recipient understand what you are trying to convey? Follow these tips below to help ensure your email etiquette is up to par.
1. Address your email.
Don’t forget to address your email recipient by name at the beginning. This tells the reader that you know who they are and that the message is for them. Also make sure you spell their name correctly. This can be an easy but fatal error to make.
2. Get to the Point. Keep it short.
It may seem nice to make chit-chat in the beginning of the email talking about your personal lives, but in reality most people who are working are busy. There’s no need to take up more of their time discussing yesterday’s football game. Get straight to the point of why you are sending the email.
3. Spell Correctly.
Along with spelling their name correctly, make sure you don’t have any spelling errors throughout your email. Read it through at least once before actually hitting the send button. Remember spell check doesn’t always catch grammatical errors.
4. Write a proper subject field.
Be sure the subject field reflects the message in the email. This makes it easier to search later if your recipient wants to find the email again.
5. Signing off.
When adding your signature, make sure the recipient knows who you are. You may need to add a line for what company you work for or your job title if you’ve never emailed this person before.
