In the digital era, amidst the blooming variety of real-time messengers and sophisticated communication tools, no business could do without good old email. It is an instrument that can boast features of a snail-mail letter and those of an instant message.
While an email gets sent and delivered in a matter of seconds, treating it like a quick message flies in the face of the internet etiquette.
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An email should be structured, well thought-through, with a crystal-clear message contained in it. It does not matter if we are talking about a routine email to your colleagues, a cold reach-out to an influencer, or a polite birthday message to a business partner, you should never click “Send” before checking the following.
Things to Check Before You Send Your Daily Emails
#1. Do You Have a Clear Subject Line?
Sending emails without a subject line make them look like spam and make it more likely go unopened and forgotten by your recipient.
Write a subject line that is relevant to the content of your message, and make sure it is brief and simple.
If you are using the old conversation with a person, make sure you review your subject line from time to time and adjust it to the current topic.
#2. Did You Use a Proper Greeting?
Always personalize. This should be the guiding principle of writing emails.
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Start your every message by greeting a person by name. In the case of a very formal letter, address your recipient by their title or academic or scientific degree and their last name.
Also, nothing can be more embarrassing than realizing that you have addressed the wrong person. Slightly less embarrassing is having the person’s name misspelled.
#3. Do You Have the Right Recipient in the “To” field?
Sometimes people accidentally send emails to the wrong people by clicking a different name in the prompt list or by mistyping the address.
It is important to double-check this before hitting the “Send” button. Just important as that, make sure didn’t include people who are not supposed to get your email.
#4. Is There a Closing?
A closing is the right way to end a message. “Best regards” followed by your name will suffice in most cases.
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Be careful with both informal and overly formal closings. “Thx” or “Sincerely yours” might look equally obscure to your recipient.
#5. Is Your Email Signature There?
Every professional person needs to have a signature which contains your name, contact details, and an image (your photo or a company logo). If you don’t have one yet, take a look at email signature examples and compose your own one.
Be sensible and avoid font diversity, rainbow colors, and moving pictures. Keep your signature visually pleasant and professional.
#6. Have You Corrected all Errors and Typos?
Even a closing such as “Typos courtesy of my iPhone” will not be able to save you if you have lots of errors in your email.
Allow spell check and manually proofread every message you wrote before sending it.
#7. Did You Include the Attachment?
People often write “please find X attached,” but forget to actually include an attachment.
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Fortunately, many email clients generate a warning in case when they detect “attached” or “attachment” and no file is there.
Keep in mind though that some mail clients have size limitations when it comes to incoming mail. A message with a large attachment might simply be not delivered to your recipient.
To Sum Up
Make it a habit to double-check all the key elements of your emails before sending them. If must, read the message aloud to ensure that it is clear-cut and unambiguous.
After all, a single email might decide whether you are going to successfully complete a task you’ve been working on so hard.