4.1 Writing Effective Emails

One of of the most common forms of technical writing that you will encounter is email. Emails, like memos, often communicate smaller amounts of information or requests for information.

Now the dominant form of communication in the workplace, emails typically serve as internal communication within an organization. Emails can update policies and procedures, announce meetings or organizational changes, or inform the internal audience as needed. Emails should be brief, concise, readable, and addressed to specific audiences with specific subject lines.

Email is familiar to most students and workers, as it has largely replaced printed letters for external (outside the company) correspondence, including customers/clients, other businesses, and the general public, and in most cases, it has also replaced printed memos for internal (within the company) communication. Emails are also used in our personal lives, and in those contexts, it may seem an informal mode of communication. However, business communication requires attention to detail, awareness that your email reflects you and your company, and a professional tone so that it may be forwarded to any third parties as needed.

When composing your emails, it is important to take your readers’ time constraints into account because of the sheer volume of emails they receive—the average office worker can receive around 100 emails in a single day. With that volume of communications, readers must prioritize which emails require their immediate attention and, at times, individual messages can sometimes get overlooked. Keeping in mind the following five simple rules will help get your emails noticed and acted upon:

1. Don’t Over-Communicate: One of the biggest sources of stress at work is how many emails people receive. Before you begin writing one, ask yourself: “Is this really necessary?”
2. Make good use of subject lines: Like news headlines, your email subject lines should grab people’s attention and give them a sense of what the email is about. A well-written subject line delivers specific information without the recipient having to open the email. A blank email subject line is more likely to be overlooked or rejected as “spam,” so be sure to use at least a few well-chosen words in your subject line to indicate what the email is about.
3. Keep messages clear and brief: Emails, like traditional business letters, need to be clear and concise. Keep your sentences short and to the point. The body of the email should be direct and informative, and it should contain all pertinent information. Remember K.I.S.S.—Keep It Short and Simple!
4. Be polite: Writers sometimes think that emails can be less formal than traditional letters. But the messages you send are a reflection of your own professionalism, values, and attention to detail, so a certain level of formality is needed. Unless you’re on familiar terms with the recipient, avoid informal language, slang, and jargon, including unfamiliar abbreviations. Close your message with “Regards,” “Sincerely,” “Best,” or something similar depending on the situation. Emails are at times shared with people other than the intended recipient, so it’s best to always be polite.
5. Proofread: Finally, before you hit “send,” take a moment to review your email for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. Too often this gets overlooked in our haste to respond. Your email messages are part of your (and your employer’s) professional image, so it looks bad to send out messages filled with typos. As you proofread, pay extra attention to the length of your email. People are more likely to read short, concise emails rather than long, rambling ones, so make sure your message is as short and direct as possible, but also be sure that you’re not excluding necessary information.

Additionally, remember to:

• Always be professional: when used in the workplace, your emails need to convey your and your employer’s professional image, so never write or send anything that you wouldn’t want read in public or in front of your employer!; and
• Keep each email to a single subject—including a separate request at the bottom of an email, for example, that is unrelated to the main message and its subject line runs the risk of getting overlooked.

Sample: Below is an email demonstrating many of the principles listed above. Note the visual aspects of the email as well, including the heading, the use of white space, and the paragraph spacing, which is the standard left-justified paragraph format for standard business communication (i.e., no indents):

From:		Steven James
To:		All CWIs and CWSs
Date:		September 12, 2025
Subject:	OSHA Safety Certification Renewal

Additional Resources

• “Yes, There Is a Right Way to Write an Email,” an article from TED Ideas
• Will’s “Writing Effective Emails” slideshow on Prezi.
• “How an Editor Stays at Inbox Zero,” a video from The Atlantic on managing email
• “10 Tips for Writing an Awesome Business Email,”  from LetThemTalkTV.com

CHAPTER ATTRIBUTION

"7.1 Correspondence." Technical Writing Essentials. [License: CC BY-SA 4.0] 
"10 Tips for Writing an Awesome Business Email." Uploaded by LetThemTalkTV, 2 Nov. 2009, Youtube.com.