Writing Effective Emails By Jonathen Peck

E-mail messages are very helpful and quick ways to send information, elicit decisions, collect opinions, and send or receive files of all types. E-mails allow an organization to send important documents within the organization and to various places around the world rapidly. E-mails can be very handy but can also sound very unprofessional if not properly revised and set up. You need to think carefully about your reader and the appropriate level of
detail of the information you send.

Main points when writing E-mails is to remain and keep a high level of professionalism while composing an e-mail. Grammar is a huge detail that should never be overlooked. This is over the Internet and some thing you may type could be ambiguous and unintended so be careful of what you say. Always review your message thoroughly before sending to minimize the degree of risk.

These are some tips to maintain a high level of professionalism:

-Only use company e-mail for appropriate business. (No Jokes/cartoons and use appropriate language)
-Respond to incoming messages quickly and always give notice if projects will take longer.
-ALWAYS make sure your sending your e-mail to the right people you want to receive the message.
-Send mass mailings with care.
-Make sure files you are sending are accepted and able to be used on the recipients computer.
-Consider allowing your recipient to download the files being sent.
-Do not write in all uppercase or all lowercase letters. It is considered shouting, lazy, and unprofessional.
-Avoid abbreviations.
-Do not use emoticons for professional messages.

A few tips on the design of the e-mail would be:

-Do not Overwhelm your reader. By breaking the text into brief paragraphs the reader does not have to read through giant blocks of text on their computer screen.
-Always send documents with lists and tables in and attachment, but make sure your recipients computer can accept these kinds of files beforehand.
-Put your response at the beginning. Don't make them scroll down.
-Always fill the subject line with a concise phrase that describes the message.

Salutation and Closing Design:

When using an e-mail as a memo your are able to omit the salutation and closing because it is in the To and From parts of the memo format.When the e-mail goes outside the organization your closing would end with either Best Wishes or Sincerely and begin with Dear. E-mails can also serve as personal notes to a friend where your entry and closing can vary to what is acceptable.

E-mails should be taken just as serious as letters and memos. All tips and rules that apply to other writing apply to writing e-mails. Writing effective e-mails take time and review to make sure everything is professional. For a bigger list of tips and rules readers can visit http://www.emailreplies.com/#top


Source:

Writing That works(Oliu, Brusaw, Alred) p291-297
http://www.emailreplies.com/#top