Writing Professional Emails

PART-B

CHAPTER - 1

WRITING

PROFESSIONAL EMAILS

Email stands for electronic mail. Emails are digital messages that can be sent by a person to another person, group to another group, organisation to another organisation using internet. It is a tremendous development of science and technology. People and organizations communicate using Email. All organizations have internet connection and they use it to send messages across the world. Almost all individuals have personal email address. A great deal of communication with inside and outside the organization relies on email. Even the governments and ministries use emails for their official communications. Schools, colleges and offices use this reliable and fast mode of communication. Emails have replaced official and personal letters.

 

Advantages of Email

❖ It is fast.

❖ Messages can be sent to one person or many people at a time.

❖ Messages can be sent and received instantaneously.

❖ It is not expensive.

❖ It saves paper.

❖ It saves environment.

❖ It is an unobtrusive mode of communication.

❖ It can be referred in leisure time and people may take time to reflect and respond.

❖ Personal emails need not require grammatical perfection.

❖ Emails allow one to maintain many mailing lists which enables quick distribution to nood many people at a time.

❖ Thousands of mails can be stored for future reference.

❖ There is printer friendly version of email.

❖ Drawings, sounds, video clips and other computer files can be attached to emails and sent.

❖ The recipient is not interrupted with the arrival of emails.

❖ Emails can be marked with high, medium and low priority.

❖The cost of email has nothing to do with distance.

Disadvantages of Email

❖ It is insecure because it is editable.

❖ Once 'send' button is pressed, it cannot be brought back.

❖Privacy cannot be maintained strictly with emails.

❖Too many unwanted mails are received.

❖One must be aware of phishing.

❖When face to face communication is needed in case of emotional turmoil, email cannot perform the function of a counsellor.

❖The content in email may provoke a person or make him feel dejected. Email has to be avoided in case it triggers stress.

❖ Confidential matters cannot be shared through email.

 

Style, Structure and Content of Email

❖ Emails must be brief.

❖Tone of the message is important. Appropriate tone must be used while communicating with sub-ordinates or higher officials or with people of equal rank.

❖ III - onceived mails are stored and so the content must be checked and revised before sending.

❖ Poor spelling and grammar should be avoided because it speaks the writer's competence.

Email Etiquettes

❖ There are many email etiquette rules. Here is a list of important email etiquette rules to follow:

❖Reply quickly. Don't delay. Don't postpone replying. It is better to respond within 24 hours. If reply needs thinking or reasoning out, just reply that your mail has been received.

Don't overuse reply all.

❖ Use templates for frequently used responses. For eg. Address, location, product catalogues, brochures, direction to your office etc.

Use proper structure and layout

❖ Identify yourself and the topic. The recipient has to identify the sender. The subject should not confuse the recipient. It should be clear and unambiguous.

❖ Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions. The receiver expects prompt and perfect answer. Extra information can be added if it clarifies the content.

❖ Be concise and be to the point. Don't beat about the bush.

❖ Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.

❖ Don't write the whole message in capital letters. If your write in capital letters, it seems as if you are screaming.

❖ Avoid long sentences.

❖ Use active voice instead of passive voice.

❖ Keep your language gender-neutral.

❖ Maintain coherence.

❖ Don't use high priority option.

❖ Attach only necessary files.

❖Re-read and check your mail before sending it.

❖ Take care with the use of abbreviations and emoticons.

❖ Be careful with formatting.

❖ Take care with rich text and HTML messages.

❖ Do not use emails to discuss confidential matters.

❖Avoid using URGENT OR IMPORTANT

❖ Use the Bcc: field or do a mail merge.

❖ Use the cc field.

❖ Do not reply to spam

 

Example 1

Date :  Date: 10 May 2010

Receiver : To: productionmanager@gmail.com

Sender : From: personnelmanager@gmail.com

Subject : Subject: CHANGE IN WORKING HOURS

Content:

Main body : Please refer to your memo dated 6th May 2021 request for change in working hours of your division because of the extremely hot weather conditions.

As desired by you, the Vice-President has agreed to change the working hours.

The new timings is 7am to 1 pm. (from Monday to Saturday)

The new timings should be followed with effect from 17th May 20 2021 to 16th July 2021.

Kindly inform all the employees working under you regarding the new timings.

Signature : SSK

Saffron Towers, Kamal Road, Nagpur - 400282 Phone: 02245-236817

 

Example 2

2. PURCHASE EMAIL

Dear Sir,

With the addition of five new departments and consequent increase in the number of both faculty and students, the volume of work in the reprography section has considerably increased.

The two CopyFast photocopiers that we have at present are inadequate to meet the pressing demands. These two machines were bought seven years ago and have become obsolete. They break down frequently and need major repairs. This year alone, we have spent Rs.25,000/- to repair them. It is better to buy new ones instead of spending huge amount of money on repairing.

Our estimate shows that we now require at least three more photocopiers to cope with the increasing demand. We have also studied the features and the cost of various reputed brands of photocopiers currently available in market.

We recommend the purchase of three Image X5 photocopiers from Singhania Imaging Ltd., Mumbai. The pricelist is enclosed for your reference.

I request your approval for the purchase of at least three photocopiers.

R.MAYANK

Manager, Reprography.

Example 3

Dear Sir,

The cheque sent by you towards the balance payment for the washing machine purchased by you has bounced back from the bank today due to insufficient funds in your account.

Kindly check the balance before issuing any cheque and ensure sufficient balance in your account.

We have enclosed the bounced cheque along with this and kindly speed up the payment process.

Do the needful at the earliest.

Ashish

Sales Manager

Spotless Washing Machine Pvt. Ltd.

 

Example 4

To: avytrdingcorpn@gmail.com

From: ravimalhotra@gmail.com

Subject: Buying of computers.

Dear Sir,

With reference to your advertisement in The Times of India dated 2nd February 2022, we would like to buy some computers to equip our corporate office with modern facilities.

We will be thankful to you if you could provide the information related to the computers' features, specifications, models and costs. We would like to know if you offer any discount on bulk purchase. Kindly furnish details regarding terms of business and delivery dates.

Kindly reply as soon as possible.

Ravi Malhotra.

 

Example 5

To: sectionheads@gmail.com

From: admincomforthomeappliances@gmail.com

Subject: Reduce wastage of stationery

Content:

Dear Sir,

It has been observed that wastage of stationery has increased considerably in all sections of the company. Kindly make effective use of stationery items and reduce wastage. The stationery items used by all sections increased ten times over in the recent months compared to last two years. It is a matter of concern. If the present condition persists, we will have to stop providing stationery materials needed. Co-operate with the administration in this regard.

Arjun Sharma

Administrator