Top Useful Tips on How to Send a Professional Email


Top Useful Tips on How to Send a Professional Email

In your college or high school, it’s quite likely that you need to contact professors and teachers to get their reply to urgent questions. You should understand how to send the professional email that doesn’t make any reader cringe because it’s an important part of business communication. There are certain tips that can help you. Make sure that your main message is perfect and don’t make any mistakes because they will cost you a lot. Read more to understand how to send a professional email. Learn what to include in it and what to avoid.

Basic Elements to Include

Consider these basic elements to write a top-quality formal email and leave a positive impression on all recipients:

  • Subject line;
  • Greeting;
  • Length;
  • Font style;
  • Emoticons;
  • Grammar and spelling;
  • Closing.

Your Subject Line and Greeting

A subject line must convey the main purpose of writing in a concise manner while including a greeting even in a short letter is a must. If you know a person’s name, include it. Call recipients by title if you aren’t on a first-name basis.

The Right Length and Font Style

Keep your letter concise and include only the most important information because people usually skin long messages. Avoid playful, ornate, and colorful fonts. They will simply distract readers from your key message.

Don’t overuse italics and bold and don’t write in all capital letters because they will make your cover letter appear cluttered and overexcited. Including emoticons in your formal email is a bad idea because they’re suitable only for personal correspondence and their use will ruin a reader’s impression.

What's the best font to use for a business letter? When writing formal letters, of course you want to make sure the content of your letter is clear and easy to understand. However, you should also think carefully about the font and font size.

The font is the style of the text you use in your letter or email message. It's important to make sure the font you choose for your correspondence, both printed and emailed, is clear and easy to read. Otherwise, your reader might not take the time to read your letter.

Grammar and Spelling

Don’t be sloppy about grammar and spelling. Be sure to edit your formal message before sending it because a mistake-free letter will indicate recipients that they need to take your words seriously.

Your Closing

How to end your formal letter? Include a simple send-off and write down your name. The good news is that many accounts allow you to embed a signature with your title, full name, and updated contact details into every letter that you send. It’s a great way to make your correspondence formal.

Additional Tips for Writing a Formal Email

Take these simple steps before sending it:

  • Ensure that your message is complete;
  • Proofread your letter;
  • Send a test message;
  • Send a copy to yourself;
  • File all copies.

Ensure that Your Message is Complete

Double check everything to ensure that your subject line is filled in, you’re writing a letter to the right person, and your signature is present. What else do you need to check? It’s necessary to full in a special field to send a copy to yourself and get a record of your emails.

Proofread Your Letter

Spell check your email before sending and proofread it for capitalization, grammar, punctuation, and other possible mistakes. This aspect is very important for your job search correspondence.

Send a Test Message

Before sending your email to recipients, send it to yourself to check whether its format works and everything is in place. Are you sure that everything looks good? Send your message to a person or a company.

Send a Copy to Yourself

Use a special field to send a copy of the letter to yourself and get accurate records of who you send it to and when you do that. Find this information in the sent folder. There are many special programs that allow users to create folders and make it easy to find their important emails. Create a folder for your formal letters. File all of their copies in it.

How to Write Your Formal Email

Follow these helpful guidelines to format your formal letter correctly:

  • Use your professional email address;
  • Choose a formal font;
  • Write an accurate and short subject line.

Use your professional email address that should be an alternative to your real name, so don’t use any nickname or username. Use underscores, periods, and hyphens. They will protect your personal data and secure your email address with your name with no extra letters and numbers.

Many email services provide you with a great option to use a variety of text styles and fonts, but you need to choose the formal one. Keep your message conservative and avoid decorative fonts. Use these effective tips to format your letter properly:

  • Pick a legible font size;
  • Avoid using all caps (or you will seem like shouting);
  • Don’t use special styles, including multicolored fonts, italics, or highlights unless they’re required by the purpose and content of your email.

Write an accurate and concise subject line. Include keywords in it to suggest to readers what you will write about in a few words to ensure that they won’t think that your letter is unimportant. Otherwise, it’s likely that they will overlook your important message only because its subject line is too vague or missing.

How to Write a Strong Message?

To make your key message strong, follow these helpful guidelines:

  • Use an appropriate salutation;
  • Introduce yourself at the very beginning;
  • Prioritize the most important details;
  • Keep it brief;
  • Use a formal language;
  • Get to the point;
  • Use a proper closing form.

Introduce Yourself and Use a Proper Salutation

Opening a formal email with a salutation is a must, so you need to address recipients by name and include their title. Don’t forget to introduce yourself at the very beginning. If you’re writing a formal letter to people you aren’t acquainted with, including new customers or officials, tell them why you’re turning to them and who you are. Do that in the first sentence of your email.

Prioritize the Most Important Details

After introducing yourself and explaining the main purpose of your formal letter, follow up with its body. Put your essential content near the top. This is how you will make your purpose clear.

Keep it Brief and Get to the Point

For a professional letter, it’s necessary to be direct and polite or you will lose readers and make it harder for them to figure out what you want from them. There’s no strict length for formal letters. Keep it about one screen length. If your email is quite long, think about breaking it into short parts and insert a line break between all of them instead of indenting.

Use a Formal Language and a Good Closing

You write formal emails for professional contexts, and it’s necessary to leave a positive impression on your target audience. Use polite phrases and complete sentences. It’s advisable to avoid such things as:

  • Unnecessary contractions;
  • Jokes;
  • Slang;
  • Profanity;
  • Emoticons.
  • There are different types of closings that are suitable for formal emails, but you always need to include your signature and full name. You’re ready for sending your letter.

How to Prepare for Sending Your Email

Before sending your formal message, make sure that you:

  • Include important attachments;
  • Proofread your letter;
  • Don’t include any sensitive data.

If it’s necessary to include specific attachments, mention them in the main body of your email to let readers know about their existence. Keep their number and size down. Use compatible or common file types.

Proofread your professional email for its spelling, grammar, and content without simply relying on automatic checkers because they may miss out some errors. Read everything aloud and ask other people to help you proofread your letter because it’s an effective way to catch all typos, unclear phrases, and mistakes.

Your formal email shouldn’t contain any sensitive data. It’s not a secure communication tool. Remember that many email servers are hacked and recipients may share the information that you don’t want to be divulged. Don’t include your account numbers, passwords, and other confidential information in your professional email to stay on the safe side, unless you send your resume.

How to Set a Catchy Title?

The title of your formal letter plays a huge role because it catches recipients’ attention and makes them open and read it. People usually pay attention to interesting messages. You need a catchy hook to convince them to keep reading your email, and these simple tips will help you:

  • Keep your title short (9-14 words or 40-50 characters);
  • Create more curiosity because it’s an effective marketing skill;
  • Avoid overpromising or you will lose your readers instantly.

Where to Get Help?

All the above-mentioned guidelines will help you write a successful professional email and win a recipient’s attention with ease. If you still find it task a bit daunting or lack enough time to complete it, you can always count on high-quality online services. Skillful and experienced writers will complete this task for you and guarantee excellent results without asking you to spend a fortune.