March Special

How to write effective E-Mails

Level: advanced
Vocabulary Key: Translation

Writing an email is, in some ways, not very different to writing a business letter: the same basic rules of politeness apply, for instance. But there are also many ways in which emails are different, so in this article we will look at how to write an effective email.

1.	Make the subject line clearly identifiable: The subject line should always be clear and concise. This allows the recipient to pick out your email from a flood of other emails he may receive. It is better to put “Meeting with X, Thursday, 3 p.m.” instead of just “meeting”, for instance.
2.	Personal address: this should not be left out unless you are emailing back and forth several times on the same subject with the same person. In this case, you can consider the email like a phone conversation, where the participants do not address each other personally with each sentence. Otherwise, your email should start with “Dear Mr/Mrs” or, depending on the degree of formality, also with “Dear Jack” or, among work colleagues, even “Hi Jack” is acceptable.
3.	Content: An email should always be concise and no more than one page, to avoid recipients having to scroll down the page.  Furthermore, in the Anglophone world it is considered impolite to start an email or letter with “I” so it is best to avoid this.
4.	Invitation for comeback: this is where you invite the recipient to contact you. It is usually a line like: please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any further questions. We will be pleased to assist you with anything else you may need.
5.	Signing off: the same rules as in a letter apply, and anything from Yours sincerely to Best regards is acceptable in business, depending on the degree of formality.
6.	Email signature: in business, it is considered advisable to have a pre-set email signature containing your full name, company name and address and telephone number. You can preset this by using the appropriate functions provided by your server.
7.	Multiple recipients: many business people prefer emails that are being sent to multiple recipients to be sent using the “private” function. This means that the other recipients’ email addresses and names are not visible to everyone.
8.	C.C.: This means “copy sent to” and tells the name of another recipient to whom a copy is sent. The C.C. is added at the end of an email, before your email signature, and is used for business emails if more than one person is involved in the same business or negotiation.
9.	Attachments: This goes either above or below the C.C. and tells, in one line, the content of an attached document. For instance: Attachment: Minutes of today’s meeting

A sample email may look like this:

Subject: ITM product inquiry January 2^nd, 2006

Content:

Dear Mr Jones,

Thank you for today’s inquiry about our product range. Attached you will find our updated catalogue of products and current prices.  I will be at the trade fair in Dortmund on June 1^st and would be pleased to meet you there. Our stand is in hall 5, stand number 345.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any further questions prior to our meeting.

I look forward to hearing from you soon and to meeting you in person next month.

Yours sincerely,

Hans Schmidt

C.C.: Peter Jones, Product Manager
Attachment: ITM Catalogue

Hans Schmidt
ITM Senior Marketing Manager
Gruene Allee 234
23456 Hamburg
Germany
Phone: 040 – 657 87 90

Vocabulary:

the forefront effectively not very different politeness for instance we will look at clearly identifiable concise recipient he may recieve unless several times participants depending on among work colleagues content furthermore to avoid invitation signing off it is considered advisable to contain appropriate provided by multiple recipients visible everyone it is added to be involved in negotiation either...or sample e-mail inquiry current prices I would be pleased do not hesitate should you have any further questions prior to meeting you in person

der Vordergrund effektiv, effizient nicht sehr anders Höflichkeit zum Beispiel wir werden (uns) ansehen klar zu verstehen (identifizieren) kurz und knapp Empfänger er könnte erhalten wenn nicht merhmals Teilnehmer (Mehrzahl) abhängig von es wird als ratsam angesehen Inhalt außerdem vermeiden Einladung zum Ende kommen es wird als ratsam angesehen enthalten passend, geeignet zur Verfügung gestellt von mehrere Empfänger sichtbar jeder es wird hinzugefügt mit etwas zu tun haben Verhandlung entweder...oder Beispiel E-Mail Anfrage aktuelle Preise es wäre mir eine Freude zögern Sie nicht sollten Sie noch weitere Fragen haben vor, ehe (temporal) sie persönlich kennenzulernen