About me:

Hello! My name is Keith. Before I go into the subject of Emails, I would like to share a little bit of myself with you. I hail from India but now live in the Philippines and I must say it is a great place to be. Over the last 26 years, I have been working on Cruise ships and luxury hotels around the world, now as a Director of Operations in Food and Beverage and as an ESL teacher/tutor, I would like to share with you one of my beliefs.

Writing a good email can set you apart from the others!

Many would say and I am sure that you would too, that email is the most widely used tool in the corporate world. Businesses cannot move forward without this mode of communication and documentation. Just imagine! Your email “fashions an image of you” when you cannot meet a business partner in person. So having said that let's dive straight into the subject.

WRITING A GOOD EMAIL

Let me answer the question, “How can I make my emails better?”

If you should look up the internet, you will find many different answers on how many parts, and it can be quite confusing. Now I have tried many approaches and the best is to have four different parts.

      I.        The subject line

    II.        The opening

   III.        The body

  IV.        The closing

Let us now learn how to make each of these parts better:

What is a subject line, and how should it be written?

The subject line is what the other person, or receiver, will see first. The subject line is always the Focus of an email. It should be short and precise.

A good subject line sets the expectations for the email. A bad subject line can mean the receiver may not take it seriously.

Now let us look at the different types of openings.

When writing an email, you should keep in mind your audience. The opening of an email depends on how formal or informal your association is with the addressee.

If you are sending an email to a colleague, you work with, two good openings or greetings are:

      I.        Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening,

    II.        Hello Brian,

If you are writing a business email or an email to your boss, use the family name of the person, a good opening can be:

      I.        Dear Mister Brown,

    II.        Dear Mr. / Ms. Brown

If you are writing a business email to someone outside the country, use the family name of the person and a greeting from your country, a good opening can be:

      I.        Dear Mister Brown

Greetings from the Philippines,

    II.        Dear Mr. / Ms. Brown

Greetings from Japan,

It is important to know that “Sir and Madam” are openings that are out-dated and almost never used in business emails. Using them could be like saying, “I don’t know you”.

Some alternatives that I suggest and that is if you do not have a name:

ü  "To Whom It May Concern"

ü  Hello, [Insert team name]

ü  Hello, [Insert company name]

ü  Dear Customer Service Team

ü  "I hope this email finds you well"

ü  Dear, Hiring Manager

ü  Dear, [First name]

ü  Hello,

ü  Dear [Job title]

ü  Dear Recruiter

ü  Dear Search Committee

ü  Good Morning

How to make the body effective.

One must remember that the body of the email is where you ask for what you need or make clear your reason for writing the email. This could be:

-A Request                            -A Query

-Information needed              -An Invitation           

The body of the email should contain the most important information. It should be direct, and it is advisable to keep it short and clear, you have to keep in mind that in the business world one receives an average of 120 emails a day but replies to less than 30 promptly.

If you are emailing the person for the first time, you should always introduce yourself in a short sentence immediately followed by the reason your writing.

Example:

My name is Brian Brown from Spindrift Inc. I am writing this email to request a meeting with your technical support team.

After introducing yourself and stating your reason for writing, you can follow this with the body of your email. The most important information should come first. This makes your email clear to your receiver and saves them time.

Example:

On behalf of Spindrift Incorporated, I would like to set up a meeting with your technical team with your support next week. As you are aware, we have recently upgraded our operating software and would like to organize a presentation with the team to ensure they are all familiar with the changes.

I would certainly be obliged if you could email me a date and time that best suits your operations. In the meantime, if there are any quires I will be happy to assist.

We end the emails with a Closing.

The last part effective is the closing and it should be just a couple of words. Just like the opening, closings also, depend on how formal or informal your association is with the addressee. Never put a period (.) after your name.

Kind regards / Regards

Brian Brown

(Email Signature)

Some alternatives that I suggest for business emails:

ü  Best regards or Regards

ü  Best Wishes

ü  Thanks for your consideration

ü  Kind regards

ü  I await your reply with interest

ü  With anticipation

ü  Many thanks

ü  Respectfully

ü  Sincerely

Hope you were able to learn a thing or two from the article. I will be happy to coach you on other subjects related to the “Corporate World”

See you in the next one, Bye for now.

Keith Pereira