In the workplace, written communication takes various forms. Some professional communities embrace instant messaging, while others prefer more modern methods such as video conferencing. Some businesses use paper-based systems, while others rely heavily on digital communication.
Regardless of the firm or industry, two methods of textual communication appear to be on the rise both globally and inside the industry: email and text messaging.
Email Messaging
For the past few decades, email messaging has been a staple of most modern commercial organizations. Despite the development of new and possibly even more efficient modes of communication on a regular basis, email continues to demonstrate its viability. Indeed, according to recent surveys, up to 95% of all corporate organizations still use email as their primary form of professional communication (Despite New Technologies, 95% of Companies Still Use Email).
(Please note that this is an external link.) This means that, in addition to having tangible skills and industry-specific knowledge, most employers want potential workers to be effective communicators, particularly when it comes to email.
Whether or not you are already employed, the skills you will acquire in this blog can benefit you in many facets of your life, such as composing an email to your child’s teacher or determining whether to text or email the leader of a ward organization with a question or concern.
There are a few tried-and-true best practices you can follow to keep your email correspondence professional and well-received. We’ll go over a couple of them in this article so you can start mastering this crucial skill.
Know Your Audience
“The message is shaped by the audience.” Have you noticed how we keep coming back to this concept? This principle applies to practically every type of communication, including email. Before you draft or send any email communication, think about who you’re sending it to. What is your relationship with this person? How well do you and this person know each other? Is this a message for a group or a single person? Is it going to a person or a group of persons in positions of authority, or is it going to your best friend?
The tone you use in your email, as well as the subject line you choose, your salutation, and even your sign-off, should all be influenced by your answers to these and other related questions.
Know Your Purpose
After you’ve thought about and determined your target audience, the following step is to determine the goal of your email. Professional emails fall into one of two groups in general: R Emails request and reply or confirmation emails are the two options.
Types of Emails
The majority of workplace emails fall into the “request and reply” category. A reply or response of some kind is usually required in request emails. These emails may include inquiries, tasks for others to do, requests for comments or acceptance of policies or procedures, or meeting or project assignments.
Confirmation emails, on the other hand, are used to create a permanent written record of a communication that has occurred. For example, maybe you and your coworkers had a business lunch and talked about a pending project. There was some sorting out of details and assignments assigned, but there is no written record of it. Someone might be assigned the responsibility of sending a follow-up email, clarifying what was discussed and what assignments were given, so that no one forgets or claims ignorance later.
These two types of emails have fundamentally distinct purposes: one introduces new information and, as a result, should solicit a response from the receiver (request and reply emails), while the other is more informative and, in many cases, does not require a response (confirmation emails).
Know The Format
After you’ve determined who your audience is and what your email’s objective is, you’re ready to start writing it. The most effective request, response, and confirmation emails often include at least the following:
Appropriate salutation and subject line
Background information
Your ask
Conclusion or next steps
Appropriate Salutation and Subject Line
As indicated in the “audience” section, the formality or informality of the salutation and subject line is determined by your relationship with the recipient and the communication’s intended purpose. Just as you wouldn’t send an email to a close friend with the subject line “To whom it may concern,” you shouldn’t send an email to a close coworker with the same formal tone. Similarly, you would never say something like, “Hey, how ya doing?” to an unfamiliar, high-ranking government official. You would likewise avoid using a similar informal tone while dealing with your company’s CEO.
Knowing what a natural greeting to him or her might be is an important part of knowing your audience. A smart place to start, according to Daniel Post Senning, an etiquette specialist at the Emily Post Institute, is to analyze your specific professional community and its historic traditions. “Watch what someone else is doing and engage, play along, sort of recognise the way communication and expectations in a relationship evolve,” he suggests (How to Write the Perfect Email).
(Please note that this is an external link.) Then, using the established communication conventions in your professional group as a reference, you can pattern your own conduct.
The email’s salutation is only half the battle. People frequently overlook one of the most critical aspects of email communication: the subject line.
When people receive email contact, the subject line is the first thing they see. It is one of the key determinants of whether or not an email is opened, other from the sender’s name. It also serves as a placeholder for all future email correspondence (especially request and reply emails, which have a propensity to turn into long threads of replies upon replies). As a result, there are a few things to keep in mind while choosing a subject line (How to Write a Professional Email Fast).
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Background Information
After you’ve established a good subject line and salutation, the next step is to provide your reader some background information. Why are you sending this email, for example, could be a question to ponder when writing this section. What is the point of it? What role does the reader play in this discussion?
Emails that begin by establishing the “ask” without providing sufficient context come seem as cold, aloof, and even demanding. Consider the following email:
Patrick,
I understand that you are in charge of creating expense reports. I am in need of one by tomorrow at noon. Please send over your completed report ASAP.
—Jezebel
Consider for a moment that this email is Jezebel’s first conversation with Patrick. What may he be thinking if this is the only information he has? Is it possible that he feels exploited, undervalued, or even pushed around? Compare the previous email to this one, which offers Patrick with some background information.
Patrick,
My name is Jezebel Sidika and I work in the Communications department. I just got out of a meeting with James Jones, and he mentioned that you are the one in charge of creating departmental expense reports.
I know it is short notice, but I am up against a deadline here, and I am wondering if you could put an expense report together for our department by tomorrow at noon. I know this might be pushing some of your own workload back by asking for this, so if there is anything that I can do to help, please let me know. I will do whatever it takes to make this happen.
Let me know if this is something that you feel you could do for me as soon as possible. I’ll await your reply.
Warm regards,
Jezebel Sidika
Your Ask
The next section of a polished, professional email is typically used to outline the email’s “ask” or purpose. Jezebel’s “ask” is for Patrick to prepare an expense report for her, as indicated in the email sample above:
I know it is short notice, but I am up against a deadline here. I was wondering if you could put an expense report together for our department by tomorrow at noon. I know this might be pushing some of your own workload back. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. I will do whatever it takes to make this happen.
When making requests, it’s a good idea to consider not only your own needs, but also how those needs can affect your reader’s schedule and workload. It demonstrates empathy and understanding while also establishing and maintaining the task at hand. Notice how Jezebel expresses herself in the email above:
I know this might be pushing some of your own workload back. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. I will do whatever it takes to make this happen.
Conclusion or Next Steps
Your conclusion and/or “next steps” section should be the last part of your email. Given the nature of the “request and reply” emails, recipients should anticipate to be obliged to answer in some form (whether to confirm they received the email, understand their task, or even just ask clarifying questions). Without a suitable conclusion, which includes an invitation to act or respond, none of these things are likely to happen.
What would Jezebel’s email look like if she didn’t include this conclusion?
Let me know if this is something you feel you could do for me as soon as possible. I’ll await your reply.
Is it likely that Patrick will react to her email? Jezebel has no way of knowing if Patrick is willing to complete the job by the deadline unless he is invited to respond and confirm his availability.
It’s always a good idea to show gratitude while also indicating what action has to be performed and what result is expected as a result of this email being written and received.
Be Professional
Finally, professionalism should always be kept in mind when writing a quality email in the office. Failure to communicate at the level that others inside that professional community communicate, as you taught in prior writing courses, is one of the quickest ways to be rejected from your desired professional community. In many professional circumstances, this means that using emojis, ALL CAPS, text-speak (such PLZ, LOL, BTW, IDK, etc. ), excessive punctuation (like multiple exclamation marks), or even improper punctuation might lead to rejection from the professional community. It is important that you keep a professional tone and manner of speaking at all times.
Being straightforward in writing is another sign of professionalism. It is important to consider the recipient’s familiarity with the issue and the need (or lack thereof) for context.
Emails that are longer than a few short paragraphs are discouraged in most professional communities (in other words, emails that contain more than just brief background, an ask, and a conclusion or next steps request). Consider adjusting your strategy if your email is growing lengthier due to a need for a lot of background information, a complicated or unfamiliar “ask,” or even a huge and diversified audience. Is email the best way to communicate this information? Is it better to meet one-on-one or in a group setting? Could a phone conversation or video conference, followed by an email confirmation, be more effective?
Whatever communication difficulty you face, remember what you’ve learned in this article, and choose the best way and means for delivering your message based on the professional community’s goals, values, and preferred communication methods.
To summarize, the following are some best practices to remember while writing a professional email:
- Know your audience
- Know your purpose
- Know the format
- Be professional
Text Messaging
Text messaging is another kind of written professional communication that is becoming more popular in the modern workplace. According to recent research, “up to 80% of people are now utilizing texting for business” (45 Texting Statistics that Prove Businesses Need to Take SMS Seriously).
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. How can you learn to interact in this new, unknown territory, and how can you learn to manage the differences between job and personal text communication?
Texting is not for every business or every employee, but if it is an established and used mode of communication in yours, the following best practices should help you get off on the right foot:
Consider The Business Relationship
Text should never be your first point of contact with a business associate. Text messaging should only be considered after you’ve established a comfortable relationship in person or via email. Allow your business associate to choose the preferable form of communication to ensure that you don’t overstep your bounds.
Pay Attention To Timing
Once you’ve established text messaging as your preferred mode of communication, you’ll need to follow some basic etiquette guidelines. Timing is one of them.
If calling your boss, coworker, or client after regular business hours is wrong, texting them after business hours is likely to be just as inappropriate. Make every effort to limit your communications to the normal business hours whenever possible (or hours of normal communication).
Know When To Call
Text messages are designed to be used for short, simple communications (no more than a sentence or two). Anything that isn’t a straightforward question should be sent by email or phone call. You don’t want to drag someone into an urgent conversation that involves a lot of waiting for information to be entered. Consider everything you learned in class about written and oral communication. If the message’s substance is unknown or requires a lot of context, an in-person or video conference meeting would be a preferable option.
Remain Professional
Because texting is such a prevalent practice in personal text communication, textspeak (shortened acronyms for everyday terms, such as PLZ for “please,” IDK for “I don’t know,” and so on) is always a risk when introducing text into the office. Try to think of texting at the workplace as a condensed and more immediate form of an email to help you break the habit. The medium in which the information is delivered has no bearing on the professional community it represents, nor does it preclude your boss, coworkers, or clients from viewing it through that lens. Regardless of how you communicate, the quality and degree of your professional communication should remain consistent.
Reply Promptly
Just as you would expect a fast answer from someone you are texting, the person texting you is entitled to one as well. If text messaging is a typical mode of communication at your place of business, keep your phone nearby so you can check it on a regular basis. Allow no more than an hour to pass between receiving a text and responding.
Sign Off Gracefully
A text thread that goes on for too long is an uncomfortable circumstance that can occur from time to time. To avoid this, consider carefully about what the discussion’s goal is before sending the initial text. You’ll be able to tell when to end the conversation if you do this (in other words, when the objective is achieved). Don’t be afraid to gracefully terminate the conversation with a simple “thank you” or “I’ll continue to follow up on it” if the question or concern has been answered or addressed. As a result, all parties concerned will be able to get back to work with minimal disruption.
Following these easy rules will ensure that the respect your bosses, coworkers, and clients have for you as a member of their professional community is not compromised by these two versions of your written message.
