8 Proven Tips to Craft a Professional Email

Writing a professional email might be quite a challenge. Every detail determines whether the receiver will open, read, and even get interested in the message. You don’t want to mess up, right?

There are many techniques to craft professional emails. However, once you learn several of them, it gets as easy as pie!

8 Tips for Writing a Professional Email

1. Use Powerful Subject Lines to Increase Opening Rates

A subject line is the first thing your reader sees in their mailbox. If it grabs their interest, they are likely to spend more than several seconds on it. But that’s not all we need – the person must read the whole message!

Eight details are usually mixed up to create the perfect subject line. These are:

Questions;
“How to” phrases;
Scarcity modifier;
Announcements;
Numbers;
Curiosity drivers;
Surprising facts;
Personalized content.

An intriguing example would be, “Did you know Dave Johnes is single because of eating garlic?”. It includes a question, a surprising fact, and a curiosity driver. However, this line is too long.

A shorter version would sound like “Dave Johnes: single because of garlic?”. Yes, this one does not sell anything. Its sole goal is to make the reader interested. Just think of it – you’d probably want to know Dave’s story or at least have a glance at it.

If your content is more about marketing, try using a subject line generator. The software uses a keyword to insert it in phrases with the highest opening rates. It could be helpful when you’re out of ideas.

Also Read: Best Way to Write an Email to a Teacher

2. Start with an Appropriate Greeting

Everything needs a good start. In the case of emails, a greeting is your second beginning. Its style depends a lot on the receiver.

For the first part of the greeting, you’d usually want to start with the following:

Dear Sir or Madam;
Dear Andrew;
Hey, Mark;
Greetings.

There are dozens of phrases for various cases. The abovementioned examples are suitable for both formal and informal styles. Choose any when writing emails – it’s a universal checklist.

For the second part of the greeting, it is best if you use these phrases:

Congratulations on your purchase/new role/victory;
One of your friends/customers/colleagues told me…;
Are you interested in SEO/websites/promotion?

Remember that your greeting depends on the goal. Going for a direct sale should involve info related to the receiver. Increasing awareness or sending weekly emails can include standard greetings.

Here’s an example of a proper greeting, several leading phrases, and any attempt to warm the reader. Try out different combinations until you find the best!

3. Choose the Right Style

You probably know that there are three styles when writing emails: formal, semi-formal, and informal. Each is suitable for a specific situation.

The formal style is usually applied when writing or answering requests, complaints, communicating with strangers or business partners, and similar states. It often uses extremely polite and careful phrases with fixed expressions.

The semi-formal style could also be called a neutral version. It’s often used at work. Sometimes, if your company’s TOV allows it, you can apply this style when writing to clients. It usually involves informal phrases like “What’s up?” and shortened words like “don’t” instead of “do not.”

Finally, here comes the informal or casual style. This text is written in it. Informal emails are used when writing to friends and family. Some companies use it as their TOV for customer support and marketing. Informal emails are very close to speech and include slang.

Make sure you don’t mess up. Writing to a business partner in an informal style is usually a bad idea. However, this could be a nice try for warm sales emails.

4. Apply Trigger Words

People tend to react differently to certain words. Everything connected to scarcity, secrets, freebies, or new stuff can drive them crazy. That’s why using triggers is a win-win situation.

Some examples of email trigger words are:

Limited;
Secret;
Free;
New;
Easy;
Stop;
Today;
Now.

Ensure you don’t use too many. Spam filters react to obsessive triggers, emojis, and symbols. A free newsletter spam test will help you check if the message is good to go.

5. Use Videos in Your Emails

A recent trend is embedding videos in emails. This is because people no longer read long texts – they prefer fast and engaging visuals. It’s already proven by 90% of customers who say it helps make a decision.

A video in your email helps the readers get more information about the product or service. It keeps them engaged for more time and increases the chance they’d buy something from you. That’s how you catch two birds with one stone!

Business emails could benefit too. Imagine that you’re trying to make a new partnership and want to explain more about your business to the other side. Any type of graphics would explain that much better than text.

You can use Fastreel to create videos for email marketing online. It could be a basic slideshow or a mastered cut – you’re the boss!

6. Use Artificial Intelligence

AI technologies enter our everyday life, and email marketing is no exception. There are different ways to apply it here. If we speak of writing professional emails, the most reasonable option is using AI for personalization.

The system analyzes users’ information from databases or through social media and applies it to automatically insert names, locations, and other relevant content. It is also said that AI could generate content for each audience automatically, although finding such a solution could be very challenging. We’ve spoken of AI technologies in our previous post.

Speaking of email marketing in general, artificial intelligence helps predict the message’s result, find the best time to send, and automate most processes. For example, we’ve mentioned a spam test previously. It works based on several algorithms, so you could think of it as an easy AI version.

7. Apply Interactive Content

The difference between a regular and interactive email is that the latter helps the reader choose their destination. So, for example, instead of generating traffic to your shop’s homepage, you could provide a list of “hot items” with a separate button for each.

Above is an example of BBC’s email that uses interactive content. When you press the “+” in each section, it changes the background and gives more information about the topic. It’s all nice and fun, but that doesn’t work on all mailing systems. As an example, it works well on iPhone 8, but on Gmail, the content is like a regular picture.

Some other ideas might be adding animated buttons, clickable ratings at the end of the letter, surveys, and carousels. By the way, videos are another type of interactive content. We’ve already mentioned that above. Use every tool possible to increase conversion rates!

8. Choose Proper Closing Lines

If you’re writing a personalized professional email, the best way is to finish with a classic closing line. It includes such phrases as:

Best wishes;
Sincerely;
Regards, and others.

However, that won’t do for a marketing campaign. You need a powerful CTA if you’re going to sell. Call-to-action buttons generally help businesses increase conversion with even the coldest leads. Some of the basic examples are:

Try for free;
Learn more;
Get started, and others.

An advanced CTA should include a more tailored phase that is short but keeps the sense well enough. For instance, “Get your meal now!’ is brief and understandable. You can try out different techniques with your niche to test the results.

How to Write to a Foreigner?

If English isn’t your major, you can still sound like a native by following our tips. You will know how to write a professional email in no time!

Learn Popular Idioms and Phrases

Every language has its lion’s share of idioms. Did you manage to spot any in this text?

Foreigners tend to use them every now and then. It’s a great way to sound like one of them.

There are many websites with long lists of idioms. Here’s one of them with additional proverbs and expressions. You could also use the Cambridge Dictionary website if you encounter any unknown phrases in your colleagues’ emails.

Another part of the story is phrasal verbs. There are hundreds of them for every occasion. Set off to learn them now, and you might memorize each in a couple of months. Learning each is not necessary; select a few and season your texts from time to time. Having a special dictionary would come in handy. This will help you sound more natural than Google Translate.

Examples of Good Business Emails

Always remember that a proper email consists of three parts:

A greeting.
The body.
An ending.

Each comes with certain words and phrases that are appropriate for business communication. Remember that it is best to focus on clarity than a formality.

Now have a look at these two emails.

Which one has more clarity? The first one is too abstract and sounds more like a message from a friend. The second one explains everything properly and is easy to understand. It’s all about style too!

Check Your Email Twice

To avoid any misunderstandings, it is always best if you have a fresh glance at your writing after you’re finished. You will easily find typos by using services like Grammarly or LanguageTool. It’s also a good idea to avoid grammar mistakes and follow one style.

However, it is also recommended that you reread your email from tip to toe because this could give you new ideas regarding structure and wording. Experiment with different approaches and find the best option for yourself!

By following our guidelines, writing a professional email becomes duck soup. Note some of the ideas and make a checklist – this will help you become a master of writing!

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