How to Compose a Professional Business Email

Email has become the preferred method of conducting business communication for many professionals because of its convenience and speed. It has allowed businesses to expand their client lists beyond local areas with seamless correspondence. However, because email is so quick to use, it is easy to overlook some of the attention to detail we use with traditional correspondence. Here are 10 steps to ensure your business emails reflect your company's professional reputation.

Instructions

1. Address your recipient by name in your salutation. Although it may be convenient to get right to your message content, don't overlook the same personal address you would use with a traditional letter. Whether you address your contact by first or last name and with the use of a title like Mr., Mrs. or Ms. will be dictated by your familiarity with the recipient. However, personalizing your message indicates your level of interest in conducting business with that individual.

2. Always include a subject in your message, and make it as specific as possible. Subjects make it easier for your recipient to find your correspondence at a later date. They also reduce the likelihood that your message will get trapped in a spam filter. If your recipient is not familiar with your email address, include your name or your company name in the subject to identify your message.

3. Write in complete sentences. They are much easier to read and comprehend than sentence fragments. Thoughtfully composed sentences reduce the need for assumptions and show your recipient that you took the time to ensure your message was communicated clearly.

4. Be concise. Because of the number of emails most professionals receive each day, brevity is essential in effective business communication. Longer messages tend to be skimmed rather than read carefully. Avoid excessive introductions and pleasantries. Quickly make your points, ask your questions or state your needs.

5. Avoid overly familiar phrasing, text messaging syntax and emoticons. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in professional email correspondence is using a style of writing that should be reserved for personal messages, forums and online social networks. Although these forms of expression may be acceptable for some interoffice messages and communication with the most familiar business contacts, abbreviations and emotion key combinations generally have no place in professional emails.

6. Pay special attention to how you articulate your message when addressing sensitive issues. Because email is a strictly written form of communication, nuances like tone of voice and intonation are not expressed. This can be of special concern when your message involves conflict resolution, assessing mistakes or dealing with job performance concerns. Ideally, these issues are best addressed in person or in a phone call. However, if email must be used, take special care to articulate your concerns very specifically without pejorative phrasing. In addressing any negative issues, it is also a good idea to begin and end with more positive statements. Rather than firing off a potential damaging reply to a negative email, compose it and save as a draft. Give yourself a few hours to review it with a fresh perspective before actually hitting "Send."

7. Avoid writing in all caps and using too many exclamation points. These forms of typing translate as yelling in the sphere of email communication. They also make your message much harder to read quickly since most of us are conditioned to read large bodies of text best in uppercase and lowercase type.

8. Use CCs sparingly. Make sure the recipients who are CC'd with your message are essential participants in the communication. If you feel that others need to be kept abreast of your correspondence, consider using your email software's BC feature to send a message that will be blind to the primary recipient. Never address negative issues or concerns in a CC email. Those concerns should be addressed individually. However, when replying to messages that have been CC'd, be sure to use your "Reply to All" feature so that communication remains clear between all parties.

9. Spell-check and proofread before sending. Set your email software's preferences to spell-check as you type so that you can correct misspellings immediately. Also, be sure to actually read your email message before you send it to make sure its grammar and syntax are correct.

10. Use a standard signature with every email. In addition to "signing" your name, set up an email signature to be used on every email that includes your name, title and company. Also make sure it includes all your contact information, your email address and your website address. This adds legitimacy to your message and ensures your recipients will always be able to contact you, even if it's not by email.

Tips & Warnings

• Add your recipient's email address last to avoid accidentally sending a message before it is ready.

• Most email is not secure, so avoid sending private information like passwords and account numbers.