Professional emails can be difficult to write.
Last week, a friend of mine sent an email to an administrator of a university: “Greetings, Mr. Smith.” The reply was received quickly, “I am Ms. Smith; more importantly, I am Dr. Smith.” His request for an interview was turned down.
The 10 rules of writing professional emails are as follows:
- Use bulleted or numbered lists when possible.
- Make the subject line informative. The subject line should make the reader want to read the email.
- Any dates that are written must include the year. January 9, 2024, not 1/9.
- Use specific salutations. Be aware of the audience. If you have never met the person face to face, use formal greetings: Greetings, Dr., Ms., or Mr.
- Use short paragraphs. No more than 4-6 lines per paragraph.
- Make sure the email contains all the necessary information, especially the next steps.
- Use upper and lower case, and for the sake of all things professional, capitalize proper nouns and correctly use commas throughout the email.
- Use a closing (valediction). My favorite is “cordially.”
- Always include your name and contact information in the email signature.
- READ THE EMAIL PRIOR TO HITTING SEND. Read that again.
Professional people write professionally. Remember, any email sent using neomed.edu is a professional email and should be written as such.