Have you ever emailed a recruiter regarding a job and never received a response? While you may have blamed the radio silence on your lack of experience or bad timing, the problem could have been your email. An email has long been a staple of business interactions, but a 2013 survey has created tension, uncertainty, or other negative outcomes for 64% of working professionals.
So, how can you keep your emails from doing this? And how do you write emails that produce the desired results? This essay and video will look at ways to make your email use clear, effective, and successful.
Effective Email Writing
The daily email volume for the typical office worker is around 80. Individual messages can easily be overlooked with that volume of mail. Follow these easy guidelines to get your emails seen and read.
1. Avoid excessive email communication
The sheer volume of emails is one of the most significant drivers of stress at work. So, before composing an email, ask yourself, "why is it important to write this email?"
For this reason, it's best to handle inquiries that require some back-and-forth by phone or IM. If you need help deciding which channels to use for messages, find the best available apps for communicating inside the office.
Also, emailing is not as safe as you might assume, mainly because people may forward emails without thinking about deleting the conversation history. So, avoid sending sensitive or personal information in an email. Don't write about anything you or the recipient of your email wouldn't want to see displayed on a billboard outside your workplace.
Deliver terrible news in person whenever feasible. This allows you to speak with empathy, compassion, and understanding and make amends if your message is misconstrued.
2. Make Effective Use of Subject Lines
It gives you enough information to decide whether or not to read the item by giving you a summary of its contents. The subject of your email should also suffice the same.
If the subject line of your email is blank, the reader is more likely to disregard it or mark it as spam; therefore, it is essential to include a few well-chosen sentences to explain the nature of your message.
If your communication is part of a regular series of emails, such as a weekly project report, you may wish to include the date in the subject line. If your communication requires a response, have a call to action, such as, "Kindly respond before noon tomorrow."
It provides you with enough information to decide if you want to read the item by giving you a summary of what it's about. You should aim for a similar effect in the email's subject line.
Always include a few well-chosen phrases to tell the recipient of the objective of the email; a blank subject line increases the likelihood that the email will be ignored or deleted as spam.
3. Use an Appropriate Salutation
Use a formal salutation at the start of your email, such as "Dear Ms. X." Make sure you correctly identify the person's gender and spell their name. Failure to do so demonstrates carelessness and may even insult the receiver, which is a massive issue if you contact a client or a recruiter.
If you can't discover a recruiter's name online and must use a generic greeting, "Dear Hiring Manager" is a safe bet.
4. Maintain simplicity
Similar to formal business correspondence, emails should be brief and to the point. The content of the email should be concise and comprehensive, providing all necessary details. For advice on expressing yourself clearly and building confidence, check out our blog on “best career tips for young professionals.” The cost of sending many emails is the same as sending a single letter. If you need to contact someone concerning many topics, it's best to do so via email. It will make it easier for the other person to understand what you're saying and reply to only specific parts.
It's critical to strike a balance here. You don't want to spam someone; thus, it makes sense to consolidate many relevant topics into one email. When this happens, use numbered paragraphs or bullet points to keep things simple. Consider "chunking" information into small, well-organized parts to make it easier to swallow.
5. Be courteous
People frequently believe that emails are less official than traditional letters. However, a certain level of formality is required because the communications represent your professionalism, values, and attention to detail.
Avoid informal language, slang, jargon, and improper abbreviations unless you're on good terms with someone.
Always be polite because recipients may choose to print emails and share them with others.
6. Examine the tone
When we meet someone face to face, we can read their emotions from their expressions or gestures, tone of voice, and body language. Because of the impersonal nature of email communication, we lose this context and cannot know if the recipient has misunderstood us.
Word choice, phrase length, punctuation, and capitalization are all susceptible to misunderstanding without the aid of visual and auditory cues.
7. Express gratitude
Make sure to thank the person near the end of your email. It is indeed a critical step and an expectation in email correspondence, whether you're writing back to a coworker, someone who has just provided you the requested information, or a recruiter who has given you their time and attention.
8. Conclude with a call to action
Finally, use a call to action to remind the recipient of the main point of your email. Simply mentioning, "I look forward to hearing from you soon," will set the expectation that the recipient responds, which should prompt a prompt reply. Or you can be more specific about what needs to be done if it's an emergency: "I expect a quick response from your side on scheduling a time to meet with you next week."
9. End your mail with the basic contact information
When you've finished your email, sign out with a proper email closing, such as "Best" or "Regards." Include your contact information (first and last name, email address, and phone number) so that the individual can readily contact you.
10. Proofreading
Finally, before you hit "send," go over your email for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Your email messages are a part of your professional image as your clothes; thus, sending a message with mistakes looks horrible.
Consider the length of your email as you proofread. People are more likely to read short, concise emails than long, meandering ones, so keep your emails as brief and straightforward as possible.
Important takeaways
Many people spend a significant amount of time reading and writing emails daily. However, the messages we transmit can be perplexing to others. To send effective emails, consider if you should be using email at all. Picking up the phone is sometimes preferable.
Keep your emails concise. Only email them to those who need to see them, and be specific about what you want the receiver to do next.
Remember that your emails show professionalism, ideals, and attention to detail. Consider how people may interpret the tone of your communication. Be polite, and always proofread your work before clicking "send."
Conclusion
Although most consider emailing a simple operation with no fundamental requirements, email protocol does exist. Your ability to adhere to it might make or break your impression on a recruiter. Of course, email etiquette does not only apply when communicating with recruiters; it also applies when communicating with clients and coworkers. This SYP.net writing skills blog contains suggestions and methods to help you write a good business email, no matter who you're emailing.