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Whether you’re contacting a colleague, a client, or sending out marketing materials, you should always aim to keep your email communication professional. Great email skills can increase trust with recipients – building relationships and increasing the likelihood of receiving the response you hope for.
Professionalism should be considered in all aspects of your email communication; from the text itself to the design and readability.
Read on for our list of seven ways to communicate better via email.
1. Use a professional email signature
An easily navigatable email signature has multiple benefits. It shows recipients exactly who you are and, therefore, increases trust. But most importantly, it makes people more likely to respond, since you’re giving them more options for contacting you.
You can create a text-only email signature with most email providers, but you can also design one as a JPG with your branding. Make sure to add your full name, website, contact details and website link. A photo of yourself can also be a nice touch. You can add even more information, such as your logo, company/workplace, address, job title, etc. But consider what is relevant – don’t make the signature too complicated.
2. Keep emails concise and clear
Professional emails should focus on getting to the point and leaving clear instructions for the recipient. Use short sentences, simple words, and avoid slang. Don’t spend time discussing subjects that aren’t relevant to the recipient, and instead clarify exactly what you need. Always add a ‘please’ and/or ‘thank you’ where relevant!
Aim to keep your emails to one subject so you don’t overwhelm and confuse the recipient. If you need to communicate several points, or ask several questions that aren’t connected, it can help to use different email threads with different subjects. This ensures that the reader is clear on your needs and doesn’t miss anything. That being said, be careful not to spam their inbox.
3. Include an image
If your email is for marketing purposes, images are known to increase attention and engagement.
Make sure that the image is relevant and professional, and that people will be interested to see it (don’t just put anything there for the sake of it!). You can also add a hyperlink to the image, so if it is clicked, it leads to a relevant page on your website.
Infographics can also be added in place of written text, to help readers more easily take in the information you want to convey. You could also consider using gifs, but make sure they are professional and relevant.
4. Always do a final proofread
Most people aren’t expected to be perfect writers, but you should still aim to make your emails as grammatically correct and readable as possible.
Proofreading any piece of writing helps you make sure it is free of mistakes. Poor spelling and grammar are not only unprofessional, but can be confusing to the reader. If there are typos, recipients may assume the writer was lazy or hasty in typing.
If an email is important, you can also ask a colleague to proofread it for you. It’s difficult to spot mistakes in your own writing, and it could read with a completely different tone to what you intended. Having someone else proofread is especially important in an email meant for marketing – if the email is poorly written, it won’t look good to your potential customers.
5. Add links
Adding links is a great way to lead people back to your website or social media, so they can find out more or interact with your business. It can also help with SEO!
Hyperlinks can be included in your email signature, or in the header/footer if it’s a marketing email. They may also appear within the text where relevant.
6. Add a call-to-action
A call-to-action gives the reader clear instructions on what to do after reading the email, for example: ‘click here’, ‘book now’, ‘read more’.
These are usually only used in marketing, but you can use the concept in all communication to encourage people to take action on your requests. An example of this is to add a time frame to your emails, for a better chance of a prompt reply.
7. Use a professional greeting and farewell
Starting an email with a simple ‘Hi recipient’s name’ makes the email far more friendly, and will immediately increase the recipient’s trust. For a more formal greeting, you might use ‘Dear recipient’s name’. Avoid using ‘To whom it may concern’, or other vague greetings, unless you have no name for the person you’re emailing.
End your email with a ‘Thanks’, ‘Regards’, ‘Best’, etc. as a professional courtesy that shows your politeness and gratitude. Something along the lines of ‘Have a great day’ can be a nice touch, and if you’re hoping for a response, you might add ‘I look forward to hearing back’.
Your email signature will sit below your farewell, giving the email a professional and polite feeling from beginning to end.
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