Writing compelling emails is a superpower that most professionals would love to have. Email is the most common form of professional communication, and sending bad emails can make or break your career.
Writing an email is like creating a meal. Just as a chef needs to carefully select and prepare ingredients to create a delicious dish, you need to carefully choose your words and organize your thoughts to create a clear and effective emails.
Before you start writing the email, it might help to define your email goals first. Ask yourself to the following questions:
- What purpose do you want to achieve with this email?
- What are the main points you want the reader to understand?
- How can you get readers to understand those points concisely?
- What is the appropriate email etiquette or tone for this recipient?
Defining these elements can help you write quick, effective, and competting emails. When you have defined your goals, then you can start crafing the email.
Writing an effective email hinges on many factors:
- You have to get the recipient to open the email.
- Your email must make the intended impression on the reader while successfully relaying the intended message.
- It must drive the recipient to take the desired action.
Failure at any poits could hurt the email’s effectiveness. So, how can you prevent this? Let’s drive in.
- Use a professional email address. Alway ensure that you send professional emails from a professional email address.
- Have a compelling subject line. Be clear, direct, and describe the content of your email. Don’t be afraid to take up the whole subject line.
- Start with an appropriate greeting.
- if you are writing a formal email to a bank or government institution, it would be better to start off with “Dear[X]”
- If you are sending an email to someone you know, or work in a casual environment, then it is perfectly fine to go with a “Hi [Name]” or Hello [Name].”
- There is also ” To Whom It May Concern,” when you are sending an email to a group email and not sure who will be reading it.
- Have a strong attention grabber. If it’s an introduction, you can open with something you know will interest your recipient. You can find this out through a little research on their social media profiles.
- Keep your message concise.
- keeping paragraphs short.
- Adding bullet points.
- Using visuals to break up the text.
- Utilizing formatting tools, such as bolding or italicizing, to help draw the reader’s attention to important points.
- Using active language and avoiding jargon or technical terms that may not be familiar to the reader.
- Be consistent with your font. Stick to one font. If you want to use a secondary one, use it sparingly.
- Check the tone of your message. It’s always helpful to start the email off in a friendly, positive tone. You will also want to avoid overuse of things like exclamations points and emojis, which can come across as unprofessional to certain audiences.
- Write a simple closing. Just keep the closing simple and straightforward.
- Use a professional signature. Try to add a professional signature to the end of your email. Use an email signature that specifies your full name, your role, and the company you work for. You can include your company’s website and social media links.
Writing an email shouldn’t be daunting. By following these simple tips, more of your messages will get read. Soon, you’ll gain more confidence as an email writer and have a reputation as a top communicator at work.
