Learn How to Compose Emails that Get Results
Ready to compose emails that clearly get your point across? The most fundamental purpose of a business email is to convey a message. It doesn’t matter how simple or complex the message is. The absolute minimum requirement from an email is that it gets that message across.
To do this, the email needs to be easy to understand, which is the responsibility of the person writing the email. The purpose of this article is to guide professionals towards making their emails easier to understand and more effective communication tools.
When the email fails to get the message across, the majority of people blame the recipient. The usual complaint is that the recipient was too stubborn or even ignorant to understand the message.
But if you study communication theory, the models of communication will teach you that while the recipient is responsible for understanding the message, the sender is also responsible for sending a message that can be understood. In other words, if someone doesn’t understand the email you send, you’re as responsible for the miscommunication as they are.
In fact, if you cannot compose emails that are easy to understand, then you might as well not write them. If you accept that the onus of writing an easy-to-understand email is on you, the next question is natural.
What does an easy-to-understand email look like? Essentially, three aspects determine whether an email is easy to understand or not. These are clarity, brevity, and accuracy. The purpose of this entire section is to focus on each of these three aspects in detail.
How to Compose Emails with Clear Messages
Clarity is inherently about comprehension. In writing and emails, clarity refers equally to the readability of the language as it does to how well it keeps the attention of the reader.
In practice, it is about removing ambiguity and confusion from the email. Clear email messages leave no doubt in the reader’s mind about what the sender is trying to say. They prevent needless back and forth for clarifications, save time for both parties, and improve productivity.
In this article, we will explain how you can ensure that your emails are clear and easy to understand. I explain the importance of knowing what you want to say in advance, understanding how your recipient thinks, making sentences shorter, keeping vocabulary simple, and specific grammatical tips.
Writing and Organizing Long Emails
Emails are often used for in-depth discussions in companies because they allow brainstorming over larger distances and wider time zones. As a result, you might need to compose emails that are long and complex, with complicated ideas and concepts.
Unfortunately, length and complexity are natural antagonists of clarity. But it is possible to neutralize the downsides of long and complex emails in a way that the reader can understand, digest, and internalize what is being said.
The secret is to manage the structure, outline, and formatting of such email messages.
Proofreading and Editing Your Email
Inconsistencies in emails directly result in confusion and disorganization. Additionally, an email riddled with mistakes almost always affects the reputation of the sender adversely.
To get rid of inconsistencies or mistakes in your emails, you need to compose emails, proofread and edit them in the right way. Proofreading and editing are elaborate processes that need to be handled in a structured manner to be effective.
Other Resources:
CustomersFirst Academy offers comprehensive customer service training designed to help you grow your skills and advance your career.
To keep learning and developing your knowledge of customer service, we highly recommend the additional resources below:
Generational Gaps: Break Barriers in Email Communication
Using Emails for Collaboration Among Employees
Work humor: do’s and don’ts in business emails
Write Really Good Emails with Effective Subject Lines
