Emails remain one of the most widely used forms of communication that are used to communicate in the professional environment.
This is because of its efficiency to target customers and business professionals, boss, colleagues, head of departments, professors etc directly through their mailbox.
Hence, you must have a professional email checklist to ensure you consistently send out well-written emails to your clients, boss or colleague.
According to Statista, 293.6 billion emails were sent and received each day in 2019 and it is expected to increase to over 347.3 billion daily emails in 2022.
Furthermore, McKinsey & Company says employees spend an average of 13 working hours each week in their email inbox. These statistics show that many people receive tons of emails every day and would likely filter out the good ones.
The side your email is likely to fall on depends on how well you structure your email as well as your communication skills.
When writing a professional email, make sure your message is well composed and structured to provide the recipient with a clear, concise, and informative message.
That’s why you need a professional email checklist to keep track of what you are going well and what you are not going.
In this blog post, I am going to discuss some important items you need to have in your professional email checklist to ensure your emails truly look good before you hit the send button.
1. Subject Line
A subject line is the first thing your recipient sees when they open your mail because it gives the recipient an idea of what your email is about and why they have to open it.
A blank or poor written subject line can have a devastating effect on the goal as well as the purpose you want the email to achieve.
Optinmonster reports that 47% of email recipients will open your email based solely on the subject line Research also shows that about 82% of marketers send emails with no more than 60 characters in the subject line.
According to Yola the first 30 characters of a subject line are visible on the iPhone email app. The wrong subject line can leave your email unread or sent straight to the spam folder.
Make sure your subject line is brief and should generate curiosity
2.Use A Professional Salutation
Another important checklist you have to take note of when writing a professional email is the opening salutation or greetings.
The way you address the recipient when writing professional emails is very essential and it can determine whether your email letter gets the right response.
Choosing the right way to address your recipient is about how well you know your audience and how well you’ve done your “homework”.
Greetings in a professional email should be about who the recipient is, what you’re emailing them about, and how well you know them.
The type of greetings you can use in a professional email include;
- Dear(Name)
- Dear Mr./Ms/Professor/Dr.
- Dear(Last name)
- Dear Sir/Madam
If you are not so sure about the name of the person you are addressing, it is best to stick with Dear Sir/Madam. Don’t use “to whom it may concern” as this shows that you have not done enough research on the company or organization.
3. The Body
Like I always emphasize in my writings that video content is the real deal. This means that a lot of people don’t have the time to go through wordy and lengthy emails.
Research shows that the average person receives about 90 emails a day.
Emails that are too lengthy, wordy, or that aren’t formatted well often get ignored by the recipient.
When writing a good email body you should take note of the following tips
- Arrange your email with plenty of white space between your paragraphs. Keep it between 2-3 sentences to avoid a large chunk of text.
- State all the information the recipient needs to take the action you desire in the body of the letter.
- Keep it clear, brief, precise, informative, and straight to the point. Avoid going back and forth
- Devote one email to one topic. If you need to communicate with someone about several different topics, consider writing a separate email for each one.
A well-structured email body makes your message clearer. It allows your recipient to understand your message and reply fast.
A good email body tends to create a balance between being too wordy and too blunt. Therefore your email must not be too wordy and at the same time must not be too short.
4.Closing Your Email
In a professional email, the way you close your mail is very crucial to the success of your email.
Make sure you do your research well before ending your email and hitting the send button.
Make use of the following closing salutations in a professional email;
- Sincerely,
- Best regards,
- Thanks in advance
- Kind regards,
- Best wishes.
The next thing to do is to add your name and contact details. If you’re writing on behalf of a company or organization, include this information in your signature as well.
5.Check for Grammatical errors and spellings
In a professional email, there is no room for typos and grammatical blunders that may be overlooked in casual emails and other writeups.
When writing professional emails, it is assumed you don’t know the other person well, or you’re writing to a person of authority.
Therefore your recipient will likely take your message seriously when it is not full of errors, misspelt words, and missing punctuation.
These errors can be unprofessional and at the same time be stumbling blocks for the reader and make your message harder to understand.
A professional email is your chance to make a strong impression on your recipient and your writing abilities will reflect your skills, education level, as well as the quality of work.
With the aid of different spell-checking tools and grammar-checking websites, you have a high chance of sending an error-free email.
6. Double-Check the Recipient’s Name and Email
In a formal email, it is very essential to double-check your recipient’s email address and name before you hit the send button.
Make sure you double-check the recipient’s email address when writing professional emails to avoid the costly mistake of sending your email to the wrong recipient.
Be sure to research the organization or institution to know the right address you are supposed to email your letter to.
7. Use a Professional Font
When writing professional emails, it is best to select a font that’s clean, uncluttered, and easy to read. Use a professional font that can help your message get through.
Make use of a large font so the reader doesn’t have to squint to consume the message, but not so large. A 10-point or 12-point font size will do just fine.
Stick to the classics. Familiar fonts like Arial, Verdana, Calibri, and Times New Roman.