Style and Content of Business Emails

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(gentle music) Business email etiquette involves an understanding of formatting, font, punctuation, sentence structure, organization, content, language, and consistency. In the following lessons, you'll learn how to craft emails that meet the professional expectations of your industry. In professional emails, it's important to focus on formatting, font, and punctuation as much as the written content. These elements demonstrate an individual's commitment to professionalism and affect their work reputation. Business emails begin with a greeting. The body of the email may have a call to action which inspires or instructs the reader to take action or form a particular response. The end of the email typically includes a signature block, which is the name of the emailer, as well as other personalized information such as their title or contact information. Below that, an email may also have the organization's confidentiality disclaimers. The default text settings on an email service usually have an acceptable format. You can change the indentation, spacing, and justification, but this is unnecessary. If you do decide to change any of the settings, make sure they stay consistent in all of your emails. If you need to use bullet points, numbered lines, or other formatting options to organize your information, then make sure that the new elements match the settings in the rest of your email. You can keep your email visually consistent by using the same font style and font size throughout. A sans serif font, or one without extending letter strokes, can reduce visual flare and make an email easier to read. In many cases, you can defer to the default style offered by your email service provider. Unusual font styles, sizes, or colors can look unprofessional. Use the default font size unless you want to emphasize titles or headers in the body of the email or your recipient requires a bigger size to accommodate their vision. Other stylistic tools, such as bolding, underlining, and italicizing text, can be used for emphasis. Use these sparingly to avoid visual clutter. Proper punctuation can improve the clarity of your email. Observing punctuation rules for any given language shows that you are educated, respectful, and committed to professional communication. Limit the use of expressive punctuation such as exclamation points. Paying attention to formatting, font, and punctuation is especially important when communicating with superiors and external parties, but the same rule applies to emails with workplace friends and colleagues. It is good practice to be mindful of proper punctuation, grammar, spelling, and language even when emailing close coworkers. Emails can always get forwarded to superiors, coworkers, and clients with whom you don't have a familiar relationship. So it is best to maintain a certain level of professionalism in all email communications.