How to Write an Email: Everything You Need to Know

What is an email?

Email communication is popular in both formal and informal relationships, with the latter taking a somewhat more relaxed form.

Email messages are an integral part of business communication in most companies. They enable employees to communicate with one another within the organisation and with people outside it.

In practice, email also serves a documentary purpose today – it often provides confirmation of arrangements, decisions or information shared.

It is therefore worth knowing the basic rules of writing and language etiquette. This will make it much easier to manage both professional and personal correspondence correctly.

Writing an email – where should you start?

The key issue is therefore the nature of the relationship between you and the recipient. If you identify it correctly, you will avoid an faux pas from the outset.

How to write an email: the essential elements

The ability to use the right message structure is crucial.

A well-organised layout helps the recipient understand the content quickly and find the most important information. An unsuitable structure can make a message unclear or ambiguous.

What elements should you remember when writing an email?

Subject line

The subject line should state the key issue addressed in the body of the message. If you need to discuss several matters with the recipient, it is worth dividing them into separate threads and describing each one appropriately.

This will keep the information better organised and therefore easier to find. Creating a separate thread for each issue also reduces the risk of an important message being overlooked among a mass of other information.

Example subject line: Application for the copywriter position

Greeting

Once you have decided on the subject line, you can move on to the greeting. Its form depends on your relationship with the recipient and the nature of the correspondence.

If you do not know who will read your message, the best solution is to use a formal general greeting, such as Dear Sir or Madam. If you know the recipient’s role, title or position, you can use a more specific form, such as Dear Professor Smith.

In informal correspondence, you can simply use the recipient’s name as a polite opening, for example, “Hello, Emma”.

The rule concerning greetings applies to the first message exchanged with a recipient as part of a conversation. It is not necessary to use a greeting in subsequent messages.

Main body

After using a greeting, you can move on to the main body of the message. If you are unsure how to write an email, try to ensure that your wording is concise, clear to the recipient and directly related to the matter you are contacting them about. This will help you avoid misunderstandings.

It is good practice to read through the content you have prepared. This will help you check whether the meaning of the message has been conveyed correctly and whether any important information has been omitted. At this stage, you can also spot any errors.

Closing

Before you finish your email with your signature, use a suitable closing formula.

As with the greeting, when creating a polite closing pay particular attention to the relationship you have with the recipient.

Depending on which wording is most appropriate for the correspondence, you could use phrases such as Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully or the slightly more informal Best wishes. Remember, however, that no comma is placed between the closing phrase and your signature.

Writing an email correctly

The way you write an email reflects your professionalism and respect for the recipient. Below are the most important rules worth following in everyday correspondence:

Punctuation after a greeting

After a greeting such as Dear Sir or Madam or Dear Ms Smith, you generally use a comma and begin the main body on a new line with a lower-case letter:

Dear Ms Smith,
Thank you for sending the proposal…

Alternatively, you can use an exclamation mark after the opening greeting, allowing you to begin the next sentence with a capital letter:

Good morning!
Thank you for sending the proposal…

Punctuation after a sign-off

Do not use a comma or full stop after a closing phrase such as Yours sincerely or Best wishes. Your signature – your first name and surname – should appear on the next line, even if the recipient knows who you are from the context or your email address. This is a matter of good manners and keeps the correspondence clear:

Yours sincerely
James Smith

Avoiding Hi in formal emails

The greeting Hi is widely used, but it is not always suitable for correspondence. In formal communication, it may seem too casual, so it is better to replace it with more neutral forms:

Good morning
Dear Ms Smith
Dear Sir or Madam

How to write an email: examples

You now know how to write an email, what to pay attention to and which rules to follow. All that remains is to put what you have learned into practice.