Six Top Business Writing Tips for Email

Your mission when writing email for business is to make sure YOU get what YOU need from the message – without repeated trails of messages! Here are six tips for getting the job done right.

  1. Write with the reader in mind. Your reader needs to quickly find what they need, understand what they find, and use what they find to meet their needs.
  2. Ask yourself: Why am I writing this? When you have answered that question, you have your purpose. Start your email by stating that purpose!
  3. Organize all of your email into three distinct parts. The open is first and it is your hook – your purpose. Second is the middle content – the explanation. The third section is the close – include appreciation and the action you need. All three parts can occur in one paragraph if  short but all three parts must be there.
  4. Keep it short – Keep your email paragraphs within six to eight lines of text.
  5. Be specific and avoid any language that may be misunderstood. “ASAP” means different things to different people. “Etc.” leaves you wide open to someone else’s interpretation – or misinterpretation!
  6. Use bulleted lists to convey information when possible. Using lists is an excellent way to provide well formatted messages that help your reader quickly find information they need.

Final piece of advice – go ahead and tell the reader right out, what you need for them to do next. Don’t assume they will figure it out.

Using these tips will save you from seeing the same subject line over and over again. You can reduce the amount of email you receive by making your email writing effective.

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