5 Must-See Tips To Help You Write Professional Business Emails

The day has long passed when business emails were considered an informal way to communicate with colleagues, customers, or management. 

We must always use professional business writing etiquette, understanding that a quick email might be copy/pasted, shared, or forwarded to anyone. 

We must also accept that emails are commonly used, but are also a formal and even legal form of business communication. 

How can you make sure that you represent your company and yourself in a professional manner without being unprofessional or too "stuffy"? 

Here are a few rules to keep in mind:

1. Do not ever use all caps in an email. Using all capital letters in business emails is about as appropriate as walking into your bosses office unannounced and yelling at him. It does not matter what you are saying -- your delivery is off.
2. Steer away from "..." and exclamation points. Again, these can relay the wrong message and convey a message that you were not intending to send. Misunderstanding in email communication is already common, so try not to complicate it.

3. Remember that there is no tone or inflection of voice in email, so you should always read aloud what you wrote to make sure they sound professional to you. If they sound confrontational or unclear to you, the reader will likely be just as confused. It is also good practice to run a quick spellcheck on your document as spelling errors can be made by the most prolific writers when in haste. It is a task that can take you an additional 30 seconds, but save you from regret or embarrassment.

4. Try to stay away from overuse of smiley faces and emoticons, and avoid using red unless necessary. In business, if you are speaking to a colleague, this may be acceptable, but practice makes perfect and you do not want to send a reminder invoice out to a customer with a smiley face attached. Wrong message. You also want to avoid using red in your business emails as this can communicate the wrong message. If your company colors are red or it is essential for another reason, then by all means. But usually red communicates anger. Even if you are angered or enraged by someones actions, you can effectively communicate this in other ways. 

5. Keep it simple. If you are using the thesaurus and dictionary to come up with words that sound interesting for an email communication about an upcoming training, stop right there. Communicate just as you would face to face; odds are that you probably are not going to pick up a dictionary mid sentence to announce a mandatory training. We want people to understand us, not be intimidated.

These are just a few simple rules that if followed, can help you write effective business emails that are more effective, concise, and clear. 

Additionally, it is always good practice to leave a signature at the bottom with alternative ways to contact you and links the user may find helpful. If you are working for a company, your personal social media profiles are probably not the best links to include. 

However, as an entrepreneur you will want to be sure to link your Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other social networking sites for easy access. If you do not wish to be called via telephone, do not add one, but if it a good alternative in case you cannot be reached quickly enough via email, be sure to include your telephone number. 

If you're looking for a smarter way to use your email, maybe Google's Inbox is right for you. I use it for mobile more than desktop and really like the way I can keep things together and better organized.

Remember that you are a professional but don't need to cram every word you learned in grad school into your business email in order to get your point across.

Contact ChrissyBiz Solutions for a free 30 minute consultation on how content marketing and social media can transform and grow your business.

ChrissyBiz Solutions provides content marketing, social media marketing and search engine optimization web marketing solutions for business and nonprofits.