Practice in Professional Email Writing

Ending & beginning of an email

• The safe expression in order of formality:

  Nothing $\rightarrow$ Thanks $\rightarrow$ Thank you $\rightarrow$ Many Thanks $\rightarrow$ Kind regards $\rightarrow$ Best regards $\rightarrow$ Sincerely $\rightarrow$ Yours SIncerely.

  • “sincerely” can be only used when you know the name of the specific person.
  • The safest expression in any situation to anyone is “Best”.

• The safe expression of the beginning: Dear __ or Hi __.

  • Don’t use “Dear” if the recipient responds you starting with a “Hi”. Otherwise, it seems a little bit weird and even cold.
  • “Dear” is more formal than “Hi”.

Body of the text

• Start positive and friendly with some basic background information and the reason why you’re writing.

• Get to the point directly, in the first paragraph or the first sentence, if possible.

• Give extra details if the recipients are not familiar with the topic.

• Use bullet points to organize your thoughts and logistics.

• Keep sentences relatively short:

  • $50$ $\le$ Total Word Number $\le$ $150$;
  • Sentence $\le20$ words;
  • Paragragh $\le7$ sentences ($4$ or $5$ lines).
  • Keep the total length could be viewed entirely under the popular screen size.

• Don’t be too direct with the British person. It may not be a massive problem, but it’s still important to be polite to anyone in a senior position to you.

• More hedging expressions can avoid a rude impression about yourself:

• I was wondering if + modal verb + please + reason:

  • I was just wondering if you might be able to (be possible for you to do ···) ··· so that I can start working on the next step ···.

  • Could you please help me to ···？

  • Please can you not make me do ···？

  • I was thinking of doing ···. What do you think? Avoide using “I’ve decided to ···” especially you’re lower down in your working place.

• Will $\xrightarrow{change\ to}$ Would. (Not always work)

  • Do you think it would be okay to ···?

• Tell the recipients what they should do after this email.

  • Please let me know if you have any questions.
  • Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
  • Please feel free to contact me.

Attachment

• Be sure to mention clearly and explicitly any attached files.

• Give more details for the name of your attached files, such as Lehigh_Jun_Yu_Resume.pdf.

Psychology-backed tactics

• Start strong for the subject line and keep it short, using clear and descriptive words.
  • Length: Keep it short, roughly $14$ words. Consider the key point.
  • Clarity: don’t be too vague of the chosen keywords. Consider the better experience of searching and filtering.
• If you want to convince someone, state the benefits they will get.
• Give reasons when ask someone to do something.
  • The magic of the word “because” is resulting in more compliance.
• Recall the action you are requesting again in the last sentence of the first introduction paragraph.
• Use positive words, but do not over do it. Actually, for the tendency of response, a neutral tone $\le$ a slightly positive tone $\le$ a slightly positive tone.
  • Positive words: yes, possible, together, please, ···
  • Negative words: never, impossible, without, stuck, ···
• Use memory tricks in your information statements.
  • Limit lists to $3$ items maximum to avoid the difficulties of recalling.
  • Use Familiar-New information flow to make reader absorb information more easily.
• Always say “Thank you”.
  • Showing appreciation triggers more helpful behavior.
• More you, less me. In addition, more us, less me.
  • The reason behind it is that we all care more about ourselves.
  • Humans are social animals. They are more likely to provide help if they feel in the same situation with you.
• Use the recipient’s name and show some emotion and visual language.
  • Emotional words: glad, appreciate, understand, happy, discover, ···
  • Visual language: see, clear, looks good, visualize, realize, bright, pattern, thin, ···
  • Tip: Read your writing email loud out before hit the “send” button.
• Express, not impress. Be concise and clear.
  • Informal, plain English is totally fine; it’s better than poetry language.
  • Use familiar words nad avoid complicated words.
  • More verbs than nouns.
  • Avoid reduntant words.
  • Don’t oversimplify.
  • Avoid too much abbreviations.
  • Use transition words to organize your ideas.
  • Use active voice instead of passive voice.
• Show authority and confidence and remove weak statements.
  • Balance between being friendly and lacking confidence.

Don’t

• Never use more than one exclamation mark unless you’re writing to a friend.
• Avoid use exclamation mark in general.
• Avoid text messaging and misspellings.
• Don’t write the email with anger, distress or some other negative emotion.
• Avoid voilating any policies, laws, rules or folkways in the receipient’s culture.

Before Sending

• Check misspellings & typos (Use grammer tools like “Grammarly”).
• Make sure that Email is better than a phone call or face-to-face communication.
• Make sure it’s polite to say this email out face to face before your receipient.
• Read this email to feel if the information flow is logical and it’s easy to get the point.

Tips for the email to VIP

• Let it rest in the drafts and read it many times.
• Use reviewers’ suggestions.

Reference

[1] 【撰写英文邮件的技巧规则】 - Susie 戴舒萱的视频 - 知乎 https://www.zhihu.com/zvideo/1382430931886739456

[2] https://www.craftofscientificwriting.com/badge_emails.html

[3] How to Write Professional Emails in English, written by Paola Pascual.