Your Definitive Guide to Writing & Formatting an Excellent Email

Nowadays, corporeal letters are slowly becoming a thing of the past. One of the efficient and most convenient ways of digital communication is e-mailing. Be it casual conversation or business letters; e-mails are dominating the Internet. Here are a few tips and tricks to up your email game.

Put an email subject to make things clear

Below the recipient and above the body, there is an area for the subject. It is where you can put the topic of your email. Adding a subject line will help the recipient quickly get what you are sending. This trick will also avoid instances where you get forwarded to the spam folder.

KISS (Keep It Short and Simple)

This tip is especially crucial for formal communications. Droning on and on about the same thing will stop the reader from continuing, thus eliminating any chance for you to be further understood. Just put the essential information and get straight to the point. One nifty way to make this work is by using an app called Hemingway. This app focuses on the readability of the piece and checks how difficult or easy it is to read and gives suggestions on how to improve it.

Check your grammar

Nothing is more embarrassing than trying to sound professional and failing miserably. Luckily, there are countless apps and sites out there can aid you in grammatical dilemmas. There is an app called Grammarly that checks basic grammar and gives suggestions on how to correct them. But there are times when this app misses some errors, so knowledge of grammar is still one of the best ways to go.

Know what you are writing

The reason for writing and the person receiving it will determine the style and tone of the letter. A formal letter for business requires a simple and less emotional type and style of writing. Then there’s also what we call casual messages, where you can still sound professional but with a more light-hearted tone and voice. Knowing what to write means knowing what you are writing about. A little bit of research can go a long way.

Be creative

This technique is one of the oldest tips in the books but is a goodie. Being creative will not bore the reader, which enhances the chances of them finish reading what you wrote. This may look like it contradicts the second tip, but being creative in writing does not mean using profound words and lengthening the paragraphs. Using a variety of words can help in being creative and will make your letter less boring. — Yasmin Portia Quiaño, SLU