We used to write about how to create an effective resume or CV. Many of our blog posts are about career, job search, employment, etc. But from time to time we also provide recommendations on how to perform better at your workplace. At Prime-resume we try to help our customers and readers succeed in developing their career whether it is related to the job search, resume writing or being effective at a workplace. Today we would like to devote this blog post to those employees who deal with writing business emails. It may not seem like a big thing, but writing work emails can be a great skill, especially in an office environment.
Don't Hurry to Hit the Send Button
Let's start from the very beginning - the subject line. Most people are confused when they have to fill in the subject line because they hardly know what they should write there. However, the subject line often defines whether your email will get read immediately or sometime later when other emails are answered. It is likely that your email will be one of the many so depending on how you write the subject line (which is what a receiver can see without opening a letter). When writing a subject line to be specific: a receiver should understand what this letter is about and whether you expect any further actions to be taken after this email gets read.
Try to keep your emails brief and up to the point. If there is some kind of information that could be removed without any damage to the letter then do it. Since you a sending a work email it means that people who will receive it will likely have lots of work without your email. Never state the most important things in the middle or at the end of a letter. Such things are to be mentioned at the very beginning of a letter. When the will start reading your letter they should immediately understand why they should care. Before sending your email it is a good idea is to read it again making sure you are not trying to process an issue or confront someone. It is always better to resolve such issues in person. However, if you can't meet a person to explain everything try to do your best in explaining the issues without using any ambiguous words that could be understood differently. If such kind of an email is very important you could ask one of your colleagues to read your letter - the third person will be able to see some things you wouldn't be able to see yourself.
We understand that you probably don't think that having mistakes in an email letter is extremely important. However, misspelled words always result in poor quality communication, which is not a good description of your company. It is obvious that using acronyms like "lol", "BTW" and others is not appropriate at all no matter if you know the recipient or not.
