Emails are the most common form of communication when one is carrying out a transaction, or when asking for an audience with the partner company or an individual. Despite the fact that emails are not formal letters one should try and make them as professional as possible, for the benefit of creating a good company image and maintaining a professional background.

You should begin your professional email with a greeting, use “Dear” then insert their first name; if you have a close relationship with the receiver of the email you should use “Dear Mr./Mrs.…” their family name on the email. However, if the person is unknown to you, for example in cases where one is applying for a job, one should always use: “Dear sir/madam” or “To whom it may concern”. In cases where you have a casual relationship with the receiver, you can use “Hi” followed with the name that you address them with on a daily basis. When writing the names of the receivers, make sure that you check the spelling, to avoid offending anyone; if you are not sure of the spelling it is better if you address the letter to sir or madam.

When you are replying to a previous email written by a client, make sure that you thank them for writing to you before and acknowledge that you received the email you get to address the queries in the previous email you received. Thanking your receiver puts them at ease while reading the letter and it portrays that your institution is polite and mindful of other people.

One should be focused on making the purpose of the email clear to the reader. The sentences in your email should be short and the language should be professional; this makes it easy for the receiver to read the email with ease and very fast. One should be very keen to ensure that he/she avoids grammatical errors, spelling errors, and punctuation errors, as the errors may tarnish your company’s image.

When you finish writing the purpose of your email, ensure that you thank the reader for adding some well-bred closing remarks. After the closing remarks, you can put down any question that you may have to the beneficiary of your email, and show your expectations for him/her to get back to you.

Finally, use an appropriate closing salutation with your name and the position that you hold indicated at the end of your email. Before you hit the send button, make sure you proofread your email to ensure that all the errors have been rectified. One should identify his/her audience and establish what their needs and wants are. In the professional email one should note down the issues he/she wants to be addressed and he/she should address the letter to the right party.

Make sure that the font of your letter is not ornate, bold, in italics, colorful, or playful, as the recipient may be distracted by the style of your font and they make your email look disorderly. Capital letters, on the other hand, show that the sender is either rude, angry, or overexcited which does not portray a company in a professional angle. One should restrict from using emoticons as they are not suited for professional emails, but can be used in personal emails.

One should send a copy of the professional email to them as a way to keep records of who they sent the email to, and when they sent the email. Rather instead of blind carbon copy (bcc) the email to you, one can avoid deleting sent emails.