12 Quick Tips for Writing a Professional Email

By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

July 06, 2013

This article has been adapted from an article of the same name posted on About.Com: Grammar and Composition.

How you communicate is essential for your effectiveness as a leader. Spending a few minutes reflecting on how to improve your communications can enhance your leadership and help you achieve the results you seek.

Despite the popularity of texting and social media, email remains one of the most common forms of written communication—and the most commonly abused. Consider this email message recently sent to all staff members on a large university campus:

It is time to renew your faculty/staff parking decals. New decals are required by Nov. 1. Parking Rules and Regulations require that all vehicles driven on campus must display the current decal.

Consider how much more effective the email would be if the author had simply added a “please” and addressed the reader directly:

Please renew your faculty/staff parking decals by November 1.

If the author had been keeping his readers in mind, he might have included one additional detail: a clue as to how and where to renew the decals.

The Tips

1. Always fill in the subject line with a topic that is specific and meaningful to your reader. Not “Decals” or “Important!” but “Deadline for New Parking Decals.” Keep it short and descriptive. A well-written subject line serves two purposes: it helps the recipient understand why the email matters and should be read, and it helps both parties locate the message later. Never leave the subject line blank.
2. Do not hijack an email. Hijacking means introducing a new subject into an existing email conversation. This is confusing and makes retrieving the relevant message far more difficult later.
3. Put your main point in the opening sentence. Most readers will not wait for a surprise ending. Get to the point immediately.
4. Never begin a message with a vague “This”—as in “This needs to be done by 5:00.” Always specify what you are writing about.
5. Do not use all capitals, and do not use all lower-case letters either. All-caps text is hard to read and comes across as rude and unprofessional.
6. As a general rule, avoid informal abbreviations and acronyms. What is immediately clear to the sender is often puzzling to the recipient.
7. Be brief. If your message runs longer than two or three short paragraphs, consider reducing it, providing an attachment, or picking up the phone. Keep your paragraphs short and, whenever appropriate, use bullet points for key information. When sending an email about a meeting, for example, bullet points make it easy for recipients to locate the essential details at a glance:
   • Meeting Date:
   • Meeting Time:
   • Meeting Location:
8. Limit the number of recipients. Sending emails to more people than necessary wastes time and dilutes accountability. If a message is relevant only to certain individuals, address it only to them. As a rule, copy others only when they genuinely need the information.
9. Remember to say “please” and “thank you.” Always be courteous, friendly, and professional.
10. Add a signature block with appropriate contact information—in most cases, your name, business address, and phone number. Resist the temptation to clutter the signature block with quotations or decorative elements.
11. Edit and proofread before hitting “send.” Careless errors signal to your reader that you did not consider the message worth your full attention.
12. Reply promptly to serious messages. If you need more than twenty-four hours to collect information or reach a decision, send a brief response acknowledging the message and explaining the delay.

Following these principles will make your communication more effective and professional. They will also enhance your leadership and be a blessing to those who receive your emails.