Effective Email Communication in Business

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Email is used for many different purposes, including contacting friends, communicating with
professors and supervisors and bosses, requesting and giving information, and applying for
jobs, internships, and scholarships. Depending on your purposes, the messages you send will
differ in their formality, intended audience, and desired outcomes.
When is email the appropriate form of communication to use?

Email is a good way to get your message across when:

 You need to get in touch with a person who is hard to reach via telephone, not regular
to office, or is not located in the same part of the country or world (for instance,
someone who lives in a different time zone).
 You need to send someone an electronic file, such as a document for a course, a
spreadsheet full of data, or a rough draft of your paper.
 You need to distribute information to a large number of people quickly (for example, a
memo that needs to be sent to the entire office staff).
 You need a written record of the communication. Saving important emails can be
helpful if you need to refer back to what someone said in an earlier message, provide
some kind of proof (for example, proof that you have paid for a service or product) etc.

When is email NOT an appropriate form of communication to use?

Email is not an effective means of communication when:

 Your message is long and complicated or requires additional discussion that would best
be accomplished face-to-face. For example, if you want feedback from your supervisor
on your work or if you are asking your professor a question that requires more than a
yes/no answer or simple explanation, you should schedule a meeting instead.
 The information is highly confidential. Email is NEVER private! Keep in mind that your
message could be forwarded on to other people without your knowledge. A backup
copy of each email is stored on a server where it can be easily retrieved by interested
parties, even when you have deleted the message and think it is gone forever.

To ensure that your message has its intended effect, use the following questions to help you
think about your audience and their needs:

 Who is your audience? How often does your audience use email to communicate?
 What is your audience’s relationship to you—for example, is the reader your teacher?
Your boss? A friend? A stranger? How well do you know them? How would you talk to
them in a social situation?
  What do you want your audience to think or assume about you? What kind of
impression do you want to make?

Important components of an effective email:

There are six primary features of an internal business email:

1. Subject line
2. Greetings
3. Opening
4. Body
5. Closing
6. Signature

Subject Line
Email subject lines are like newspaper headlines. They should convey key point of your message
or the idea that you want the reader to take away. Therefore, be as specific as possible. One-
word subjects such as “Hi,” “Question,” or “FYI” are not informative and don’t give the reader
an idea of how important your message is. If your message is time sensitive, you might want to
include a date in your subject line, like “Meeting on Thurs, Dec 2”. Think about the subject lines
on the email messages you receive. Which ones do you think are most effective? Why?

Greetings

The greeting is a matter of good etiquette. Your goal is to sound professional yet friendly. If the
recipient is a teammate or colleague, a less-formal, friendly greeting is appropriate: “Hi Kamal”;
“Good Morning Bishu.” If your audience is outside your department, in a different location, etc.
you would be more formal, “Dear Farzana.”

If you don’t know the person well, you may be confused about how to address them. When in
doubt, address someone more formally to avoid offending them. Some common ways are:

 Dear Mr. Shahed Ahsan

 Hello, Ms. Farida

If you don’t know the name of the person you are addressing, or if the email addresses a
diverse group, try something generic, yet polite:

 To whom it may concern,

 Dear members of the Committee,
 Hello, everyone,
Opening

You might need an opening paragraph if the message is a long one with many details. Make
sure you make it clear to the recipients why they are receiving this email. Think of an executive
summary where you are condensing down to the gist of the message without all of the details.
This is especially helpful for messages to senior management, who may not be interested in all
of the finer points.

Body of the Message

The body of your message should be concise and to the point. As with any writing, always keep
your audience in mind. It is common for people not to read all the way though long emails or
only read with half of their attention. Ask yourself whether you are conveying your message in
a way that will be best understood and minimize misinterpretation. Since emails are generally
short, you must decide what information should be included to write a complete and accurate
message and what information would be best suited as an attachment.

Note: If you find that your email is becoming too long, with multiple pages of information,
consider re-writing your email as a memo or report. You can then send your longer report or
memo as an attachment with a short email introducing the attachment and its context.

Closing

The close of your message should include a call to action with specific desired outcomes and
dates. Ask yourself why you wrote this message. Why is this message important and what do
you want the reader to do? By when? For example you may want a response from the
recipient such as “Please confer with Zakiul and respond to the team no later than March 25th.”

For your closing, something brief but friendly, will do for most correspondence:

 Thank you,
 Best wishes,
 Regards,

For a formal message, such as a job application, usage of following might be useful:

 Sincerely,
 Respectfully yours,
Signature

Your signature should contain full contact information including your name, title, address,
contact phone no and email address. Remember, this message is not a personal note, it is from
the organization.

Raihan Sadat
Research Head
XYZ Company, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Mobile: +880-1--------
Email: [email protected]

Things one should do

 Do use an email subject line that clearly tells the recipient about the content of the email.
 Do create a short, concise message that uses proper grammar and spelling—use spell-
check to be sure all words are spelled correctly.
 Do proofread carefully.

Things one should not do

 Don’t use all capital letters in an email; it might appear that you are shouting or angry.
 Don’t use “Reply to All” unless it’s really necessary that all recipients see your response.
Be selective to avoid mailbox overload. Use your best judgments about whom to cc.
 Don’t use abbreviations like “ur,” “2b.” This is not appropriate language for business
communication. It’s easy to forget to adjust our language for professional purposes since
we use electronic communication methods with friends and acquaintances.
 Don’t use company email accounts to send personal correspondence. All communication
that takes place on company hardware and servers is property of the company.

Some facts about Cc: and Bcc: (‘carbon copy’ and ‘blind carbon copy’)
Copying individuals on an email is a good way to send your message to the main recipient while
also sending someone else a copy at the same time. This can be useful if you want to convey
the same exact message to more than one person. In professional settings, copying someone
else on an email can help get things done, especially if the person receiving the copy is in a
supervisory role. For example, copying your boss on an email to a non-responsive co-worker
might prompt the co-worker to respond. Be aware, however, that when you send a message to
more than one address using the Cc: field, both the original recipient and all the recipients of
the carbon copies can see all the addresses in the To: and Cc: fields. Each person who receives
the message will be able to see the addresses of everyone else who received it.
Blind copying emails to a group of people can be useful when you don’t want everyone on the
list to have each other’s addresses. The only recipient address that will be visible to all
recipients is the one in the To: field. If you don’t want any of the recipients to see the email
addresses in the list, you can put your own address in the To: field and use Bcc: exclusively to
address your message to others. However, do not assume that blind copying will always keep
recipients from knowing who else was copied—someone who is blind copied may hit “reply all”
and send a reply to everyone, revealing that they were included in the original message.
Exercise: What is the important missing feature of this internal email example?

To: [email protected]

cc: ................................., ..................................., ........................................., ............................

From: [email protected]
Subject: Tomorrow

As u know, tomorrow afternoon we’ll b meeting 2 discuss the status of all of our current
projects. Refreshments nd tea will b provided. B sure 2 arrive on time nd bring along de
materials u have been working on this wk—bring enough copies 4 everyone. Some of these
material might include ur calendars, reports, nd any important emails u have sent. Also, I
wanted 2 remind u that ur parking request is declined nd it is ur responsibility 2 park at ur own
risk. Any queries about this, write directly 2 Ms. Sahana, nd if she is not at her desk when u stop
by, u can email to her.

Abul Hossain Selim

Assignment:
As the CEO of your organization, write an email based on the following information -

 Inviting 10 researchers to attend at a validation workshop at your office auditorium on

March 30, 2021
 The workshop is on the recent findings of your organization on Covid vaccine
 It is expected that 10 researchers would comment, share their experiences and
recommend on your findings to a better solution
 The timing is between 10:30 am to 1:00 pm followed by lunch
 Time management is crucial since the Minister of Health would be present and inaugurate
the session