TIPS FOR WRITING EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL MAIL Dr G Vasishta Bhargavi

Workplace e mail policy & security   Workplace e mail policy & security There have been legal cases regarding the use of email where a company has been found guilty of libel over email content. Email is a business tool and users are expected to use it in a responsible, effective and lawful manner. Legal risks You are not allowed to send emails that offend another person. You need to be aware of the legal risks of email. These are: if you send emails with any libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks, you and your company can be held liable if you forward emails with libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks, you and your company can be held liable if you unlawfully forward confidential information, you and your company can be held liable if you unlawfully forward or copy messages without permission, you and your company can be held liable for copyright infringement if you send an attachment that has a virus, you and your company can be held liable.

Use the following tips to help you with your emails. Think before you write. Plan your message. Use the subject line to capture your reader's attention. Keep your message short and clear. Remember that the screen shows only about half of what you see on hard copy. If your message is long, give a summary at the start. You are accountable for what you write. Always write your message as if your boss were going to read it. Do not send angry messages. Take a few minutes to cool down before you start your email. Don't type your message in capitals. Capitals are considered to be SHOUTING and are rude. Respect common grammar & spelling conventions. Don't type your entire message in lower case, and run a spell / grammar check over the message. Send messages only to people who need to read them. Respect other people's time and don't forward junk email to them. Use CC: and BCC: sparingly. Proofread your message before sending it. You should always reread your message before you send it and correct any mistakes.

Structure of an email The beginning SEE AN EXAMPLE   Structure of an email An e mail is a form of communication. As such it has a specific structure that should be used. Since reading from a screen is more difficult than reading from paper, the structure and layout of messages is very important. Use short paragraphs and leave blank lines between them. When you have more than one point to make in your email, put the most important information first, working down to the least important. The beginning A successful e mail has a good first paragraph. Why? It tells the reader why you have written the email so they can decide whether to keep reading. It is concise and to the point. It gives the most important information first. If it is a long email, it should give an overview of the entire message, so it holds the reader's attention. SEE AN EXAMPLE

too much unnecessary information Analysis The previous e mail (see below) has problems with the beginning. They are: too much unnecessary information the important information comes at the end.

It tells the reader the purpose of the email in the first sentence. There is no unnecessary information. It is short, concise and to the point

Make it polite & positive Making requests When making requests, it’s a good idea to use a modal or conditional construction such as 'Could you …' or 'Would you be able to...' Useful phrases and vocabulary for writing business letters.

Salutation Dear Mr. Brown Dear Ms White Dear Sir Dear Madam Dear Sir or Madam Gentlemen Starting We are writing  to inform you that ... to confirm ... to request... to enquire about ... I am contacting you for the following reason. I recently read/heard about ..... and would like to know .... Having seen your advertisement in ..., I would like to ... I would be interested in (obtaining / receiving) ... I received your address from ... and would like to ... I am writing to tell you about ... Referring to previous contact Thank you for your letter of March 15. Thank you for contacting us. In reply to your request, ... Thank you for your letter regarding ... With reference to our telephone conversation yesterday... Further to our meeting last week ... It was a pleasure meeting you in London last month. I enjoyed having lunch withh you last week in Tokyo. I would just like to confirm the main points we discussed on Tuesday.

Making a request We would appreciate it if you would ...  I would be grateful if you could ... Could you please send me ... Could you possibly tell us / let us have ... In addition, I would like to receive ... It would be helpful if you could send us ... I am interested in (obtaining / receiving) ... I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter. Please let me know what action you propose to take. Offering help Would you like us to ...? We would be happy to ... We are quite willing to ... Our company would be pleased to ... Giving good news We are pleased to announce that ... I am delighted in inform you that .. You will be pleased to learn that ... Giving bad news We regret to inform you that ... I'm afraid it would not be possible to ... Unfortunately we cannot / we are unable to ... After careful consideration we have decided (not) to ...

Complaining I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with ... I am writing to complain about ... Please note that the goods we ordered on ( date ) have not yet arrived. We regret to inform you that our order n° ----- is now considerably overdue. I would like to query the transport charges which seem unusually high. Apologizing We are sorry for the delay in replying to ... I regret any inconvenience caused (by) ... I would like to apologize for the (delay, inconvenience)... Once again, please accept my apologies for ... Orders Thank you for your quotation of ... We are pleased to place an order with your company for.. We would like to cancel our order n° ..... Please confirm receipt of our order. I am pleased to acknowledge receipt of your order n° ..... Your order will be processed as quickly as possible. It will take about (two/three) weeks to process your order. We can guarantee you delivery before ...(date) Unfortunately these articles are no longer available /  are out of stock.

Prices Please send us your price list. You will find enclosed our most recent catalogue and price list. Please note that our prices are subject to change  without notice. We have pleasure in enclosing a detailed quotation. We can make you a firm offer of ... Referring to payment Our terms of payment are as follows  ... Our records show that we have not yet received  payment of ... According to our records ... Please send payment as soon as possible. You will receive a credit note for the sum of ... Enclosing documents I am enclosing ... Please find enclosed ... You will find enclosed ... Closing remarks If we can be of any further assistance, please let us know. If I can help in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you require more information ... For further details ... Thank you for taking this into consideration. Thank you for your help. We hope you are happy with this arrangement. We hope you can settle this matter to our satisfaction.

Referring to future business We look forward to a successful working relationship in the future. We would be (very) pleased to do business with your company. I would be happy to have an opportunity to work with  your firm. Referring to future contact I look forward to seeing you next week. Looking forward to hearing from you, ... Looking forward to receiving your comments, I look forward to meeting you on the (date). I would appreciate a reply at your earliest convenience. An early reply would be appreciated. Sincerely,    }   Yours sincerely,} Sincerely yours,} Sincerely,    } Ending business letters Sincerely,    } Yours sincerely,}  for all customers / clientsSincerely yours,}  Yours faithfully,} in more formal letters Regards,for those you already know and/or with whom you have a working relationship  in more formal letters