Email Writing Skills

Professional Emails
A Practical Guide

1. TYPES OF EMAILS
2. PARTS OF AN EMAIL
3. CONFIDENTIALITY
4. THE SUBJECT LINE
5. THE GREETING
6. THE OPENING
7. THE BODY
8. THE CLOSING
9. THE SIGNATURE
10. SAMPLE EMAILS
11. REFERENCES

Compiled by Jaime Cabrera for the scholars of Albukhary International University

Reply promptly
to serious
messages. If you
need more than
24 hours to
collect
information or
make a
decision, send a
brief response
explaining the Reply promptly to serious
delay. messages.

SHL1013 Professional English 10/4/2012

Four Types of Email

1. No-Reply Email –You want to tell the receiver
something, either a compliment or information.
No reply is necessary.
2. Inquiry Email - You need something from the
receiver in a reply. Example: advice, or questions
answered. The reply is your desired outcome.
3. Open-Ended Email – to keep communication
lines open, for the purpose of some future result
or benefit.
4. Action Email – The goal is not the reply, but some
action on the part of the receiver. Examples: a
sales pitch, or asking for a website link exchange.

Parts
of an
email

Parts of an Email


Confidentiality

Parts of an Email


Confidentiality

 Your e-mails are not private. Avoid sending
confidential, proprietary, sensitive,
personal, potentially embarrassing, or
classified information via e-mail.
 When sending the same email to several
people, via CCs or BCCs, remember that
their addresses are visible in the CC box.
 Use the blind copy (BCC) or mail merge
function to protect the privacy of your
contacts.

Subject Line

Parts of an Email


The Subject Line

The subject line is the first thing the target
receivers see when sorting through their in-
boxes.
 Always write a subject line that is informative,
direct, and states the main issue in the email.
 Keep it short; long subjects lines don’t show
well in the browser windows, or are ignored.
 Use sentence case, not all caps.
 When replying, change the subject line when
the topic changes.


(Salutation)
Greeting

Parts of an Email


The Greeting (Salutation)

 Always open your email with a greeting.
For formal or business e-mails, use the
surname, not the first name:
 Dear Mrs. Cowabunga,
 Dear Sir,
 If you’re contacting a company, not an
individual, you may write
 To Whom It May Concern:
 Gentlemen:


Sentence
Opening

Parts of an Email


The Opening

 Begin with a line of thanks. Find any way to
thank target receivers. This will put them at
ease, and it will make you appear more
courteous.
 For example, if someone asked a question,
you can begin with:
 Thank you for contacting Tanza Company.
 If someone replied to your email, you can
begin with:
 Thank you for your prompt reply.


State your purpose

 State your purpose in the opening
sentence.
 I am writing to enquire about …
 I am writing in reference to …
 Don’t write a long introduction, don’t
tell a story. Skip the niceties.
 People just want to know what you
want, so state that, in the first sentence.

Information in
Detail

Parts of an Email


The Body

 Be brief but polite. Tell them exactly
what you want, in as short an email as
possible.
 If your message runs longer than two or
three short paragraphs, reduce the
message or provide an attachment.
 Remember to say "please" and "thank
you." And mean it.

Write about one thing

 If possible, don’t overwhelm the target
receiver.
 If you write about multiple things, with
multiple requests, it is likely that:
 your email won’t be read or acted on

 the receiver will only do one of those things

 Stick to one subject, with one request. Once
that’s done, you can send a second one.

Use “If … then” statements

 To avoid back-and-forth exchange, and save
time, anticipate the possible responses.
 Give a desired action for each possible
response.
 For example, instead of asking if they’ve
received a response, waiting for a reply, and
then replying to that reply, try and do it all in
one email:
 Did you receive a response from Mr. Xena? If so,
please email the report to me by Tuesday. If not,
please follow up and let me know the response today.

Keep it professional

 Don’t use jokes, emotions, or emoticons.
 Do not send inflammatory or emotionally charged
comments via e-mail.
 Don't use abbreviations or acronyms such as PLZ,
ROFLOL (rolling on the floor laughing out loud),
or WUWT (what's up with that).
 Avoid exclamation points, ellipses, question marks,
bold, italics, underlines, or multi-colored font.
 It is considered very rude to use CAPITAL
LETTERS LIKE THIS BECAUSE IT MEANS THAT
YOU ARE SHOUTING.


Closing Sentence

Parts of an Email


Professional Closing

 How do you properly end an email? A simple
question, yet so many people are not sure
about what is proper email etiquette.
 In the business world, ending an email
professionally is just as important as
perfecting the rest of the message.
 If you do it sloppily, you might lose some
precious business opportunities.
 Avoid this by following a few basic rules of
professional email conduct.


The Closing Remarks

 Courtesy is always important, no matter how short
the email is. Before you end your email:
 Thank you for your patience and cooperation.
 Thank you for your consideration.
 Include an accurate follow-up statement:
 I will send you additional information.
 I look forward to receiving your input.
 If you have questions or concerns, do let me know.
 I look forward to hearing from you.
 If a response is required, specify what, when.


The Closing

 Use a professional closing:
Best regards,
 Sincerely,
 Thank you,
 For more casual emails:
 Best wishes,
 Cheers,
 For more formal emails:
 Yours Sincerely,
 Yours Faithfully,


Email Signature

Parts of an Email


The Email Signature

 A professional signature makes it easy to contact you.
 Your email account can automatically add these data to
the bottom of the email:
 full professional name
 job title
 business phone/fax numbers
 business street address
 business website, if any
 a legal disclaimer if required by your company.
 Depending on policy, you may also want to include a link
to the company's website or social media pages.


How to create a signature

 Click the gear icon in the upper right, then
select Settings.
 Enter your new signature text in the box at the
bottom of the page next to the Signature option.
 Click Save Changes.
 Signatures are separated from the rest of your
message by two dashes.
 To see a signature in Gmail, click the Show
trimmed content button at the bottom of the
message.

From: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=8395 10/4/2012

Your Signature

 Different signatures for different addresses
 If you send mail "from" multiple addresses in Gmail, you can set a
different signature for each address in the General tab of your
settings.
 Choose the second radio button in the "Signature:" section.
 Use the drop-down menu to choose the appropriate address and set
the signature you want.
 Editing your signature
 If you're editing your signature and only have an option to create a
plain text signature, this is due to the settings.
 Click Compose to create a new message, then click the Rich
formatting option in the message.
 Once this change is made, you'll be able to create a rich text
signature.
From: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=8395 10/4/2012

Attachments

Parts of an Email


Attachments

 If there are any attachments, mention
them in the email so that the receiver
knows to look for and open the files.
 Appropriately name the attachments so
that the receiver knows what each
document is just by reading the file
name.


Review

 CLARITY: Once you’ve written an email,
take a few seconds to read over it before
pressing the Send button. Read it as if you
were an outsider — how clear is it?
 AMBIGUITY: Are there any ambiguous
statements that could be interpreted the
wrong way? If so, clarify.
 LENGTH: As you review, see if you can
shorten the email, remove words or
sentences or even paragraphs.

Revise, Check,
Review

Parts of an Email


Check, and then check again

 Before you hit the send button
 Edit and proofread. You may think you're too
busy to do the small stuff, but your reader may
think you're careless, unqualified, or
unprofessional.
 Review and spell-check your email one more
time to make sure it's truly perfect.


Finally

 Reply promptly to serious messages.
 If you need more than 24 hours to collect
information or make a decision, send a brief
note to explain the delay.
 Some replies are delayed by electronic
transmission. Explain the delay.
 Some messages arrive at the end of the last
working day of the week. Check emails just
before you leave.

Sample Emails

JOB INTERVIEW - THANK YOU
JOB APPLICATION - COVER LETTER
REQUEST FOR AN UPDATE


Dear Mr./Ms. Last Name:
It was very nice to speak with you today about the sales
Sample 1 position at the ABC Organization. The job seems to be
an excellent match for my skills and interests. The self-
Job confident and aggressive characteristic requirements
you described needed for this position confirmed my
desire to work with you.
Interview In addition to my experience, I will bring to the position
- Thank assertiveness and the skills to motivate others to work
cooperatively as a team.

you I appreciate the time you took to interview me. I am
very interested in working for you and look forward to
hearing from you regarding this position.

Sincerely,
Your Complete Name
Your company address
Your work phone / fax numbers


Dear Hiring Manager,
I saw your job posting for a graphic designer in the ABC site. I believe
I can be an ideal match for the position advertised.
Sample 2
I have extensive experience in the planning and design of all graphic-
related projects. In my position as ___ for ___ Company, I was part of
Job several projects for website design, the company intranet portal,
Application product brochure design, print and media advertisement as well as
newsletters for our customer subscribers.
- Cover Attached is my resume; these are some sample websites that I
designed:
Letter URL
URL
If you require further information, please let me know.
I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your consideration.
Best Regards,
Your complete name
Your company address
Your work phone number

Hi Jane,

Sample 3 Can you lease update me on the status of the project
timelines?
Request Last week you mentioned that you were waiting for Sam to
send you the development timeline and that you were
for working on communication and planning documents
(including timelines) for the project.
Update I am planning for the project in Asia Pacific and need these
dates to initiate discussion with the countries. The pilot will
be a topic of discussion on our weekly status calls next week.
Your assistance in getting this information as soon as
possible is appreciated.

Thanks,
Robert

From: www.qgroupplc.com/category/writingemails 10/4/2012

Know more at

 Basic Explanations
http:www.englishtown.com/community/channels/article.aspx?articleName=184-email or
www.ehow.com/how_4995393_end-email-professionally.html
 Good Explanations http:grammar.about.com/od/developingessays/a/profemails.htm;
home.comcast.net/~leparcell/email.html
 Practical Explanations http:www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/do-your-emails-
suck-how-to-write-emails-that-get-results.html
 Excellent Explanations (Detailed) http:thinksimplenow.com/productivity/15-tips-for-
writing-effective-email/
 Excellent Explanations (With Examples) http:jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/e-text/email/
 Concise Explanations 1 http:www.ehow.com/how_4679819_write-professional-
email.html
 Concise Explanations 2 http:www.ehow.com/how_2159648_write-professional-
emails.html
 Practical Explanations http:rarepattern.com/nodes/2008/01/email-etiquette-best-
practices-things-avoid
 Not Required But Helpful http:www.techrepublic.com/article/10-e-mail-best-practices-
to-share-with-your-users/6161848


You might like these

 8 E-mail Mistakes that Make You Look Bad http:www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/8-e-
mail-mistakes-that-make-you-look-bad.html
 How to Know If Your Email Has Been Read http:www.ehow.com/how_5775094_email-
read.html
 Why Emails Should be Short Instead of Nice http:gigaom.com/collaboration/why-emails-
should-be-short-instead-of-nice/
 7 Rules for Communicating Clearly and Concisely http:gigaom.com/collaboration/7-rules-
for-communicating-clearly-and-concisely-in-email/
 Five Things I Learned From 20 Years of Email http:gigaom.com/2012/08/19/five-things-
ive-learned-from-20-years-of-email/
 Two More Killer Tips for Effective E-mail http:blogs.bnet.com/businesstips/?p=4686
 Don't Annoy Your Boss and Co-Workers with E-mail Gaffes
http:blogs.bnet.com/businesstips/?p=4262
 Write More Efficient E-mails to Save Time and Frustration
 Don't Bring Down Your Mail Server with Reply All
 If you want to know more: CC, BCC, virus, spam, and phishing
http:www.techrepublic.com/article/10-e-mail-best-practices-to-share-with-your-users/6161848


End of Presentation

THANK YOU


Email Writing Skills

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