Writing compelling emails is a superpower that the majority professionals would like to have. Email is probably the most common type of skilled communication, and sending bad emails could make or break your profession.
This text will provide some recommendations on how you can write effective emails. Once you’ve got applied these easy strategies, it is best to find a way to confidently send emails to anyone and do away with that post-send anxiety.
Here, we’ll discuss:
How to Define Your Email Goals
Email Writing Tips for International Teams
Easy methods to Define Your Email Goals
Writing an email is like making a meal. Just as a chef must rigorously select and prepare ingredients to create a delicious dish, you want to rigorously select your words and organize your thoughts to create a transparent and effective email.
Before you begin writing the e-mail, it’d help to define your email goals first. Ask yourself the next questions:
- What purpose do you ought to achieve with this email?
- What are the predominant points you would like the reader to grasp?
- How will you get readers to grasp those points concisely?
- What’s the suitable email etiquette or tone for this recipient?
Defining these elements can provide help to write quick, effective, and compelling emails.
Think concerning the last time you received a poorly written email. You would possibly have needed to read it a number of times to grasp it. The message then kicks off an extended back-and-forth email thread that would have been avoided if the primary email had been properly planned.
That’s the reason we recommend taking the time to plan your communications goals first. It helps you, the sender, come across as a powerful communicator while saving the reader’s time.
When you’ve gotten defined your goals, then you definately can start crafting the e-mail.
How To Write An Email
- Use knowledgeable email address.
- Have a compelling subject line.
- Start with an appropriate greeting.
- Have a powerful attention grabber.
- Keep your message concise.
- Be consistent together with your font.
- Check the tone of your message.
- Write an easy closing.
- Use knowledgeable signature.
- Practice email etiquette for every work situation.
- Use CC and BCC fields properly.
- Schedule your emails.
- Do a final spelling and grammar check.
- Schedule a follow-up reminder.
Writing an efficient email hinges on many aspects:
- You’ve to get the recipient to open the e-mail.
- Your email must make the intended impression on the reader while successfully relaying the intended message.
- It must drive the recipient to take the specified motion.
Failure at any point could hurt the e-mail’s effectiveness. So, how are you going to prevent this? Let’s dive in.
1. Use knowledgeable email address.
The very first thing the recipient sees is your email address. First impressions matter. Sending an email from “Cutiepie245@gmail.com” to a hiring manager might give them the fallacious impression about you and might create a bias against you. At all times be sure that you send skilled emails from knowledgeable email address.
2. Have a compelling subject line.
Subject lines could make or break your email’s success. It’s often the deciding factor on whether someone will open your email.
Unfortunately, numerous people struggle with this part.
Take a have a look at this instance.
This particular subject line (real-life example by the best way) is vague, indirect, and doesn’t hint to me in any respect what the content of the e-mail can be about.
The result? I’d delete or ignore it altogether.
Here’s a greater option.
It’s descriptive, specific, and tells me that that is an introduction.
Subject lines are especially vital if you happen to’re reaching out to someone for the primary time. The recipient doesn’t know who you’re, and may only judge you out of your subject line.
Even if you happen to’re sending emails internally at your organization, it still pays to put in writing an excellent subject line so your recipient has an idea of what to anticipate. Like every busy person, your teammates receive a ton of emails day by day, and would definitely appreciate the additional effort of a descriptive subject line.
So, how do you write a great subject line?
Be clear, direct, and describe the content of your email. Do not be afraid to take up the entire subject line. Listed below are some great examples of subject lines.
- [Action Required] Monthly Marketing Meeting
- FYI/Informational
- Request for [Insert here]
- [Reminder] Survey to Complete | Will Take 2 Minutes
- [Name] suggested I reach out to you
- I’ll be on the town next Tues — are you available?
In the event you’re sending a promotional email, avoid deceptive subject lines like:
- RE:
- FWD:
- Urgent
- Order confirmation
- Account Status
There isn’t any must resort to sneaky tricks or clickbait titles simply to induce an open. They make recipients feel cheated and tricked, in response to a Litmus survey. You may lose trust and will find yourself of their spam because of this.
You should associate positive feelings together with your email, not anger and disappointment.
In the event you are sending promotional emails or newsletters, we recommend that you just test different subject lines with HubSpot’s email marketing tools to see what works best to your audience. This could provide help to fine-tune your email strategy and improve your results over time.
3. Start with an appropriate greeting.
To kick off the e-mail, it is best to begin with an appropriate greeting. There are two components to the greeting: the salutation and the opening sentence.
The suitable salutation actually is determined by the situation. In the event you’re writing a proper email to a bank or government institution, it could be higher to start out off with “Dear [X].”
In the event you’re sending an email to someone , or work in an informal environment, then it’s perfectly nice to go along with a “Hi [Name]” or “Hello [Name].”
There’s also “To Whom It May Concern,” if you’re sending an email to a gaggle email and unsure who can be reading it.
One thing you ought to avoid is using gendered and non-inclusive terms like “Hi guys” and “Mr./Ms/Mrs.” in your salutation.
To provide help to out, here is an inventory of salutations you should utilize in your emails.
- Dear [First Name]
- [Name]
- Good morning/afternoon
- Hi team
- Hey
- Hi there
Pro tip: If you find yourself sending an email to an individual for the primary time, we recommend personalizing the e-mail by addressing the recipient by name. Also, include specific details about their company and make certain to introduce yourself.
This shows that you’ve gotten done your research and are genuinely excited by them. It will probably also provide help to construct rapport with them and set the tone for future interactions.
4. Have a powerful attention grabber.
Once you’ve got gotten the salutation out of the best way, it is time to start out your email.
While the topic line determines whether your email is opened, your opening sentence determines whether your email is read till the tip.
Writer and business coach Daniel Pink recommends using the “20-second rule” when writing emails. Because of this it is best to attempt to make your predominant point inside the first 20 seconds of the e-mail, as that is the period of time many individuals will spend reading it.
If it’s an introduction, you’ll be able to open with something will interest your recipient. You will discover this out through just a little research on their social media profiles. Perhaps they Tweeted something interesting or recently posted something on LinkedIn you’ll be able to reference.
It will provide help to construct rapport and show that you just’re not sending a generic email to multiple people.
After all, this is just not obligatory if you happen to’re emailing a colleague or someone . As an alternative, establish some type of context in order that they know what’s happening.
With a colleague, start with the “why.”
Nobody has the time (and patience) to guess what an email is about. The earlier you answer the “why,” the faster you may capture their attention.
Quick tip: In the event you’re sending out sales emails and want inspiration on exactly what to say, take a have a look at HubSpot’s free email templates. With this tool, you’ll be able to access a library of built-in templates designed for every stage of the shopper journey.
5. Keep your message concise.
We send and receive roughly 347 billion emails a day worldwide, in response to Statista.
This statistic makes one thing very clear: We spend numerous time reading emails. And for this reason, many individuals simply scan emails to get the essence of the message and move on to the subsequent.
With this in mind, you ought to optimize your email for readability and scannability. This includes:
- Keeping paragraphs short.
- Adding bullet points.
- Using visuals to interrupt up the text.
- Utilizing formatting tools, corresponding to bolding or italicizing, to assist draw the reader’s attention to details.
- Using lively language and avoiding jargon or technical terms that is probably not familiar to the reader.
Nobody is eagerly awaiting a three-page essay to reach of their inbox. Give it some thought this fashion: What is the predominant takeaway out of your email and is there a specific motion you would like your recipient to take?
From there, draft your email and if you re-read it, make certain every line you add helps you meet this goal. If it is not, remove it.
When you want to include numerous information in an email, it’s probably higher to suggest a phone call or a gathering as a substitute. You need to use HubSpot’s free meeting scheduler to book your meetings faster.
6. Be consistent together with your font.
If I get an email like this, I’m immediately deleting or assuming it is a scam.
That is an example of what to not do. There are several fonts utilized in the e-mail, different font sizes together with different colours. Consequently, the attention doesn’t know where to go and it’s kind of overwhelming.
Moreover, the message gets lost, as your recipient is just too distracted by all these elements fighting for his or her attention.
So, as a rule of thumb: Stick with one font. If you ought to use a secondary one, use it sparingly. Follow the identical rule for color.
In the event you’re using a non-English keyboard, your fonts may not show up properly on the opposite person’s device. As an alternative, use web-safe email fonts like:
- Arial.
- Courier.
- Georgia.
- Helvetica.
- Lucida Sans.
- Tahoma.
- Times Latest Roman.
- Trebuchet MS.
- Verdana.
In reality, that is the precise list Gmail gives.
It will be sure that your recipient will receive your message in a daily font, no matter device or operating system.
7. Check the tone of your message.
The tone is a necessary element of knowledgeable email. It is often helpful to start out the e-mail off in a friendly, positive tone. Listed below are some examples:
- “It was a pleasure meeting you at [X event].”
- “I hope you had an excellent weekend.”
- “Thanks to your contributions today in [X meeting].”
Nevertheless, you can even wish to avoid overuse of things like exclamations points and emojis, which might come across as unprofessional to certain audiences. It is vital to know the seriousness of the content and the person you’re addressing to determine the tone of your email.
For instance, you may use different tones for a thanks email after a final interview versus a standing update to a peer colleague.
By reading through your email before sending it, you’ll be able to be sure that the tone of voice you’ve gotten used suits together with your message and intended audience.
8. Write an easy closing.
When you’re done with the content of your email, it is time to close it off.
You do not have to make it fancy — just keep your closing easy and simple.
So, nothing like this.
As an alternative, stick with the protected, proven closing lines and you ought to be good.
You possibly can pick from a few of the most typical closing lines below.
- Sincerely
- Best regards
- Best
- Warm regards
- Warm wishes
- Kind regards
- Kind wishes
- Thanks
- Take care
Be sure that to make use of a powerful call-to-action (CTA) to obviously convey what you would like the recipient to do next. This could possibly be scheduling a call, filling out a form, or visiting a particular webpage.
9. Use knowledgeable signature
Try so as to add knowledgeable signature to the tip of your email. Use an email signature that specifies your full name, your role, and the corporate you’re employed for. You possibly can include your organization’s website and social media links.
For instance, see the e-mail signature below.
Be sure that that you just use easy signatures when the initial email turns into an extended thread.
In the event you are sending an email to a coworker it is best to probably skip the corporate website and social media handles. You possibly can make it easy on yourself by saving 2 or 3 signature templates and using the relevant ones within the emails you send.
10. Practice email etiquette for every work situation.
Different work situations require several types of correspondence. Yes, the entire other rules still apply, but every situation is different.
For instance, for example you interviewed for a job and you ought to send a follow-up email after the interview. How do you go about it?
First, you personalize the e-mail by addressing the recipient by their first name, then you definately express your gratitude for his or her time, put some emphasis in your interest within the job, and ask concerning the next steps within the hiring process. As an example:
Dear [interviewer’s name],
I hope your day goes well. Thanks again for the chance to interview for [ job title] with [ company name]. It was a pleasure to fulfill you and the team.
I’m following as much as see if there are any updates regarding [ job title] from my interview on 2023-05-17T11:00:00Z. I’m really excited concerning the opportunity. In the event you need any more information, please let me know.
Thanks again to your time and consideration. I hope to listen to from you soon!
Best regards,
[Your name]
This outline works great after an interview. Nevertheless, the format would change for a special request. For instance, you’ll use a special tone if you happen to were asking your boss for some break day.
You’ll want to familiarize yourself with skilled email etiquette to provide help to craft the proper message every time.
11. Use CC and BCC fields properly.
The more folks that get added to an email chain, the more complex and tricky it may possibly be to navigate. Remember proper etiquette when using CC and BCC fields in an email. Here’s a fast reminder:
- In the event you desire a contact to view and reply to an email, use the CC field.
- In the event you are sending an email that does not need a response to a large list, use the BCC field.
- Use also can use BCC if you happen to think the recipient won’t must be involved in future conversations.
The predominant thing to contemplate when using these fields is the relevance to the recipient. You should be sure that the correct stakeholders have the data they need without overwhelming them with email communications.
12. Schedule your emails.
A survey by Sleep Advisor found that around 78% of Americans check their email before they go into work every day.
One other study by Litmus on the State of Email Engagement in the United States supports this. In reality, the most well-liked time for reading emails is within the morning. Open rates start around 6 a.m. but often peak between 9 a.m. and noon local time.
Given this information, you’ll be able to follow considered one of two strategies: Send your email within the morning when they’re scrolling, or wait for a less busy time.
On one hand, your email runs the chance of being buried if you happen to send it within the morning. Nevertheless, if you happen to wait for a later time, your email may never get opened.
It takes trial and error to work out what works best when emailing your team.
In the event you’re writing an email to someone in one other state or country, think about time zones. Noon for it’s possible you’ll be 7 pm for another person. As such, remember who your recipient is and after they could be most receptive to your email.
Pro tip: You need to use our free email scheduling tool to be sure that your emails are sent at the precise time.
13. Do a final spelling and grammar check.
You are almost there. Don’t fumble in the house stretch.
Imagine spending time crafting an ideal message, only to be ignored since the email is riddled with spelling and grammar errors.
When you finish drafting your email, copy and paste it into Microsoft Word or Google Docs to provide it a fast grammar, phrasing, and spelling check.
Alternatively, you may also use free checkers like Grammarly to automate the method whilst you’re drafting.
Next, read the message out loud to make certain the sentences aren’t too long, sound clunky, or robotic. You would like your email copy to sound human.
All of the following tips help the reader give attention to your message, not the opposite elements of your email.
Pro tip: Change the “undo send” choice to 30 seconds. We are likely to catch our mistakes seconds after the e-mail is already sent. Extending the “undo send” option time helps to eliminate the potential for sending a nasty email.
That is a regular setting that you would be able to change in the entire email apps. As an alternative of the default time period, update to 30 seconds to reduce risk.
14. Schedule a follow-up reminder.
A thoughtful follow-up email might help make certain your email gets read. Working professionals are sometimes very busy juggling quite a lot of meetings, deadlines, and obligations. It isn’t abnormal to forget to answer an email promptly.
Nevertheless, don’t follow up too soon. Wait a number of days unless the message is urgent.
That is it! To make writing emails even easier and quicker, use HubSpot’s drag and drop email builder.
Email Writing Suggestions for International Teams
Most individuals won’t let you know this, but crafting a great email begins even before you place down a single word. It starts together with your mindset.
Once you’re in the right way of thinking, you may find a way to put in writing effective emails that communicate and persuade.
Sounds logical … but how do you enter the “correct way of thinking”? Well, there are two ways: Put yourself within the recipient’s shoes and write the best way you talk.
More on that below.
Imagine receiving the e-mail you are writing.
Have you ever ever received an email that was so incoherent you could not even finish reading it, let alone even consider replying? Or included a totally irrelevant proposition?
Considered one of the most important problems in relation to email writing is the dearth of empathy for the recipient. Ask yourself these questions:
- Why am I emailing this person?
- Is that this the precise person to contact, considering what I’m trying to realize?
- Is my message clear and to the purpose?
- Would this be higher discussed in a gathering?
- Does each line help or hurt my goal?
This is very vital when emailing someone latest but still invaluable when contacting a colleague.
Write such as you talk.
In the event you’re not a native English speaker, it’s normal to feel like you ought to be more formal in relation to your email writing.
Nevertheless, this leads to emails which might be too formal, and are available off as awkward or stiff. For instance:
Native English speakers write more informally. Their writing seems like one person talking to a different.
Here’s a quick grammar tip that may at all times provide help to sound more native: Write in an lively voice and avoid the passive voice.
An “lively voice” shows that a subject is performing the verb’s motion. For instance, “Marilyn mailed the letter.”
In contrast, the “passive voice” shows that the verb is acted upon by the topic. On this case, “The letter was mailed by Marilyn.”
As an alternative of writing “your feedback could be much appreciated”, try saying “I might appreciate your feedback.” As an alternative of writing “your request has been received”, try “I received your request.”
Notice how writing in an lively voice sounds more human.
Composing an email is like having a conversation. Just as you’ll consider the tone in a face-to-face conversation, it is best to consider the tone and sort of your emails to make certain they’re respectful and appropriate for the recipient.
Be an Expert Email Author
Writing an email should not be daunting. By following these easy suggestions, more of your messages will get read. Soon, you may gain more confidence as an email author and have a repute as a top communicator at work.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
