5 Business Email Format Tips That Will Help You Succeed

5 Business Email Format Tips That Will Help You Succeed5 Business Email Format Tips That Will Help You Succeed The average business emaillelele user receives over ninety emails per day . That means your message has some serious competition for the recipients attention. Clear, effective communication begins with using the proper business email format.Whats so hard about that? youre thinking. I type out what I have to say, hit Send , and away it goesSlow your roll there, champ How you format your business email makes a difference. Not only does good email formatting make your email easier to read, it makes you look like a polished professional.Many people throw a subject line onto an email as an afterthought. But, if you want to make sure your email gets the attention it deserves, an afterthought wont cut it.Take it from the people who send marketing emails for a living - subject lines are important. Thirty-three percent of email recipients decide whether or not to ope n an email based on subject line alone . Although business emails between people who know and work with one another are far mora likely to be opened than sales pitches, your subject line still serves a purpose.Heres a tip Because theyre often used by marketers and spammers, words and phrases like urgent and reply needed have lost some of their effectiveness as email subject lines. Try being mora specific Respond by EOD Friday.Business email salutations can be tricky unless you know some email greeting dos and donts. Play it too straight and youll sound stuffy. Too informal, and youll come across as unprofessional . How do you find a balance?Incorrect Hey, Martin Wazzap ?Even if you know the recipient well, zany salutations are inappropriate for business email. If your email happens to be forwarded or becomes part of a Reply All chain, people besides your intended recipient will see it. Keep it professional. Martin may be your buddy, but save the playful banter for when youre off the clock.Its fine to use a friendly tone with someone you know or work closely with, particularly if that person is on the same company tier as you, or at least not much higher up the food chain. For almost all workplace communication , Hi is an appropriate greeting.Heres a tip Use a more formal style if your company requires it or when the person youre emailing is above your authority. Otherwise, mirror what your colleagues do. If emails between folks on the marketing team usually open with Hey , feel free to follow suit.When youre writing formal emails (such as cover letters or emails to a high-level superior), use Dear followed by the recipients honorific, last name, and a colon Dear Ms. SmithHeres a tip If the recipients gender is unknown, or if their name is the least bit ambiguous, use a full name instead Dear Terry SmithHeres a tip Avoid honorifics that imply marital status such as Mrs. Use Ms. instead.With your subject line and greeting out of the way, its time to craft t he body of your email. Theres more to getting it right than simply putting down a stream of thoughts and hitting Send .Format your email just like a business letter, with double spaces between paragraphs and no indentation. (Its okay to indent quoted text.)Heres a tip Need to copy and paste? You can paste text without formatting. Use Ctrl + Shift + V on a PC or Cmd + Shift + V on a Mac. This will strip all formatting from the pasted text, so remember to add things like hyperlinks that may have been removed.Dont forget to sign your email. Youll need a friendly, professional sign-off such as All the best or Thanks for most emails and Sincerely for formal correspondence.Dont forget to add a professional signature. (Most email clients allow you to create one that will be automatically appended to every message.) Include your full name, title, the company you work for and your phone number. You might also consider adding a link to your LinkedIn profile and any professional social media accounts youd like business colleagues to have access to.Heres a tip After youve created a new signature, send a quick sample email to yourself to see how the formatting looks. Keep in mind, though, that different email clients may not display your signature quite the same.Your email is not complete until you proofread it. Use Grammarly to help you catch errors as you go, but remember that the app is a proofreading enhancement, not a substitute. Take the time to proofread yourself and check for smooth syntax and eliminate wordiness . Watch for typos where you may have used a similar but completely unintended word.This article was originally published on Grammarly . It is reprinted with permission.