You’re writing a work-related
email which may go up the corporate ladder to a CEO whose motto is, “Impress me.”
As a former English major, this CEO has a reputation for being persnickety
about punctuation, grammar, and spelling. He even watches for syntax – whatever
that is.
Have no fear; we’re here to help.
Here are a few basics:
Salutation – With business emails, the salutation depends on your
familiarity with the recipient. “Hi, Brad” is probably fine with a peer or
co-worker you see regularly. If your email is going to a supervisor or leader, where
rank outweighs familiarity, it’s best to use “Dear Brad” or “Dear Mr. Collins.”
If your recipient has a professional title such as doctor, by all means, use
it.
• Never spell out the titles Mr., Ms., Mrs., and
Dr.
• Do spell out titles such as these: Professor, Pastor,
Mayor, and Chairman.
Body – Keep messages brief and to the point. No one has time to
read and understand a lengthy email. Also, focus on only one topic per email
message.
Apply good grammar. Not only are
you representing your company, but you are also representing yourself as an
intelligent, reliable employee. Follow traditional spelling and punctuation
rules. Use exclamation points sparingly. Overuse suggests immaturity and can
lead the recipient to doubt your objectivity.
Also, avoid overly casual
expressions such as “ain’t” and “gotta,” as well as overused words such as
“awesome” and “unique,” etc. Finally, stay away from fancy fonts and colors.
Not only are they unprofessional, but often they fail to display correctly on
mobile devices.
Closing – Best Regards or Best regards? Which is correct?
The rule is to capitalize only the first
word of the close. It applies wherever you use a complimentary close: emails,
letters, notes, and even texts.
Shortcut
– Wordzen, an on-demand email editing service, was created to remove the
stress of perfecting emails. After you have created your message (typed or
spoken using Wordzen’s voice-record feature), professional editors review it
and refine your message to include the proper greeting, a clear and concise
body, and a closing that is appropriate. Even a persnickety CEO would approve.
Wordzen saves time, and users report that
co-workers and clients are impressed with the resulting emails. Wordzen works with
any active Gmail account. It is easy to download to your Chrome browser, and
you can start using it right away. Visit
www.wordzen.com.
Labels: business emails, business etiquette, email editing, email etiquette
