Send Professional Business Email: Make The Perfect Impression

I’ve written a lot about email etiquette. It often seems like every time I teach an email writing training workshop I’m inspired to write about the great questions I get asked – thankfully for my regular readers I don’t.

Like many of you, during the Covid-19 Pandemic my training schedule has changed. Even so, I’m thrilled people are still reaching out, which means I’ve been receiving “How do I” questions on a number of my training topics. Because it has been a long time since I wrote about email etiquette I decided to write an email blog post that focuses on the main body of a message. So, here are 8 email etiquette tips that help business professionals like you be proud of the professional email you send.

8 Email Etiquette Tips to Protect Your Email Writing and Make The Perfect Impression:

1. Link your attachments first. We’ve all sent email and forgotten to link the attachment… and then have to sheepishly send a second. This wastes time (yours and your readers) and can hurt your reputation, especially if it happens often. Solve this problem by linking your attachment first.
2. After you linked attachments use a professional email greeting. It only takes 2 seconds to write ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’ but a greeting is polite and will take an edge off your email. Email that don’t have a greeting often are interpreted as abrupt or impolite.
3. Get to the point quickly. Let your reader know why they should read your email by writing your action item first and your background information second. Many of us do the opposite.
4. Write with your reader in mind. Is all the information they need included? Don’t leave out important details that are ‘natural’ for you but may not be common-knowledge for your reader.
5. Double check tone. Your goal is to be efficient but to also be respectful. Because email is only the written word it’s easy to sound abrupt and demanding by mistake. 

6. Make sure you use paragraphs. White space makes your message more inviting for your reader – which means your reader is likely going to read it. Also, using paragraphs makes your email:

   • Easy to read
   • Easy to understand

   A quick rule of thumb is if you are writing more than 4 sentences you might need to break up your copy and start a new paragraph.

7. Check your spelling and grammar. It seems half the messages I receive have a small typo in them… like a word with two letters transposed (adn instead of and or yrou instead of your). It happens all the time when we write, and while it’s minor problem, if you don’t catch the typo in your email it will distract your reader and may put your reputation for attention to detail into question.
8. Have you used words or phrases there is a chance they might not understand? The last thing you want is for your reader to misinterpret a word you’ve used. A good rule is to write as if you are writing to someone in grade 9.

Follow these basic email etiquette rules to make the perfect impression. I guarantee, they are guidelines you can trust every time when it comes to the do’s and don’ts of business email.

Thanks for reading about how to send professional business email and make the perfect impression.

If I can help you in any way, please let me know.

Bruce