Our e-mail etiquette guide will lead you to better emails, step by step.
Informative Subject Line
The subject line is the first message seen in an email. It should therefore be precise and clear, providing information about the content that follows. Try to put as many relevant points in the subject line as possible, and make it short and snappy. If the e-mail chain gets longer, with multiple responses, the subject should be adapted to match the content, and automatic abbreviations removed.
Suitable Form Of Address
To find the right form of address, you should always focus on the person you are writing to. In some sectors, there are still standard formalities that need to be adhered to. Informality, e.g. using first names, is increasingly popular because it seems much more personal, but you can only take this approach if both parties are happy with it.
Write With The Customer In Mind
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and adapt your writing style accordingly: instead of using ‘I’ and ‘we’, talk about ‘you’. For example, when sending a confirmation, say ‘you will find the confirmation attached’, rather than ‘we have attached the confirmation’.
Old-Fashioned Wording
Avoid stuffy wording and replace it with modern statements and greetings. Feel free to use modern, personal forms and be authentic. Think about a suitable greeting that brings your branding to the fore, but do be careful not to use words in other languages.
Can’t Or Cannot?
Day-to-day, we come across both the abbreviated and unabbreviated forms. The full form, such as ‘cannot’ or ‘is not’, comes across as more formal. Make sure whatever you choose is applied consistently across all your communication channels.
