AWS Community Day CPH - Three problems of Terraform
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Buswritingppt
1. Introduction to
Business Writing:
Effective Business
Emails
Kerri Gaston
2. Before writing the
email
Make a plan!
Think about the purpose of the email
Think about the person who will read the email and
how you want him or her to react
Make an outline or list of the main points and details
you want to include in the email
Double check any facts, dates, times, or other specific
details that will be included in the email
4. Who are you writing to and what is
your relationship with the person?
If the person you are writing to is in a higher position than you,
your email should use more formal language than if the
person is someone in the same level position than you.
If you have never met the person receiving your email
before, you should use formal language in the first email
to him or her.
Once you have sent the first email and received a reply, you
can choose to continue using formal language or choose to
use less formal language in future emails.
5. What is the situation?
Think about the reason you are sending the email
and decide if formal or informal language is better.
If you are requesting a service or asking a favor, you should
use formal language.
If you are making a complaint, you should use strong words
to express your dissatisfaction or problem but you must be
polite.
If you are introducing yourself, you should use formal
language but you can use words or phrases that let your
personality show through as well.
If you are writing a customer relation letter, you should use
formal language.
6. What do you want to accomplish?
Think about the reason for writing the email and
what you want the person who receives the
email to do with it.
If you want the receiver to do something for you, make it
clear. Tell the receiver exactly what action you want done.
Tell the receiver if no action needs to be taken.
If you want the receiver to respond by a certain date, write
the response date.
If you are negotiating or rearranging a meeting, write your
demands or available times clearly.
8. Get right to the point
Donât use unnecessary words and phrases that
distract from the main idea of the email or may
confuse the reader
The person reading your email does not have a lot of time to
read your email so you must make it as direct as possible.
Make the reason for writing the email clear at the beginning
and only add details that are directly related to the topic of the
email.
9. Use simple sentences
Avoiding difficult or complex sentence structures will help
you avoid grammar mistakes.
Simple sentences will make the email easier for your
reader to understand, especially if the person reading the
email is not a native English speaker.
10. Pay attention to word choice
Remember that writing, is a form of indirect
communication. Unlike having a conversation with
someone, you do not have a chance to clarify
yourself by restating your ideas or use nonverbal
cues to make your meaning clear. You have to
make sure your reader understands what you want
to say and gets the right âmessageâ the first time.
11. Think about how the email might be perceived by the
reader. Are there any words or phrases that may make the
tone seem angry, flippant, or disrespectful?
Avoid trying to make a joke or say something funny in an
email. Sometimes what you think is funny might be
misunderstood by the reader and create a bad relationship.
Use words that are specifically related to the topic but define
any words or phrases that you think the reader might not be
familiar with, especially words that are specific to a certain
type of job, field of study, or product.
12. The subject of the email
Always write the subject of the email on the
subject line
Remember that business people often receive hundreds of
emails every day. If you donât write the subject in the subject
line the person receiving the email might think it is SPAM or
junk email and delete the message. If the subject isnât clear
they might delete the email as well, so make sure the subject
is direct-donât use too many words.
13. The four Parts of a business
email
The Opening Tells the reader why you are writing
The Focus Tells the details about the topic
The Action Tells what you want to happen and gives a
time frame
The Closing Thank the reader and mention future
communication
