Introduction to Business Writing: Effective Business Emails Source: Wendy M. Gough St. Mary College/Nunoike Gaigo Senmon Gakko Nagoya, Japan

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

Things to consider when doing business correspondence

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.

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.

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.

Some things to remember when writing business emails

Get right to the point Don’t 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.

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.

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 “message” the first time.

Think about how the email might be perceived by the reader 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.

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 don’t 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 isn’t clear they might delete the email as well, so make sure the subject is direct-don’t use too many words.

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

Basic Email Format Templates from Learnthenet

The receiver’s email address Carbon copy Blind carbon copy Email subject

wednesdaysensei@hotmail.com joeshmou@youknow.net July 5 meeting time change

Type your email message in the text box, then click send and it will be sent to the receivers you have indicated in the to, Cc, and Bcc areas.

References http://www.learnthenet.com/ENGLISH/html/92email.htm