At first glance, writing and sending emails is a easy. You type an e-mail address, you write what you want to forward and just send it. However, it appears that the majority of the Internet users do not know how to write a good e-mail and then are surprised that they receive no response, the client does not understand the e-mail or it went into a spam folder. Very often the result of "bad" e-mails is the loss of or failure to comply with terms of a contract and decrease the reliability of your company.

Compliance with the following rules will not only protect you against mistakes and unnecessary costs, but also will bring more money to your company (good sales and marketing :-).

1. Respect your recipient's time and decide if your e-mail is necessary at all.

Do not waste your time asking the recipient to respond to the questions you can answer yourself. You would be surprised how many people ask us about the things they can find in 10 seconds using Google. It is tempting to answer such a person: "Let me google it for you ... ;-)".

2. Subject line - the most important!!!

This happens very often at CMS Producer that we get an e-mail without a subject or solely with "RE:". What happens to this e-mail? Most often it goes to a spam folder, we do not pay attention to it or delete it with other spam messages. The subject line is one of the most important elements of the message. At CMS Producer, we prefer simplicity and keywords.

Examples of useful subject lines:
"Meeting CMS Producer-Client 2015/01/13: meeting agenda"
"Graphics design XYZ: update 2015/01/11"
"Promotional content XYZ for further review"
"Photo session XYZ: change of location"

and a couple of wrong ones:
"meeting"
"re:"
"request"
"file to download"

Have you got a problem with writing a proper subject line? A good subject line is when the recipient does not have to open the message to find out what exactly it refers to.

3. Specify what response or action is required from the recipient.

Require the recipient of your message a specific action: confirmation, reading, acceptance, forward an update or make a phone call. Simply - "Call to action".

4. An e-mail should be specific and to the point.

"I have a great idea that will help you improve your site. Want to learn more?" - The typical advertising gibberish. When you want to make someone interested in the topic, write specifically what you are offering, or meet the person and present your ideas.

5. Address an e-mail to a specific person.

Find out an exact email address of your client. This often results directly from a business card, but sometimes we talk on the phone and then make sure your client gives you an e-mail address of the person who will definitely read your message.
Once you get to a specific person, give the recipient all the contact details for your business. You can use the e-mail signature / footer = saving time and less stress.

6. Before you press "Send" double read your e-mail.

Spelling mistakes happen, so please an e-mail before sending it to avoid possible misunderstandings.

7. Give a good example

Check your e-mail regularly and answer on time. If the message requires you to provide a large amount of detail and you do not have time at a given point, confirm the receipt of the message and inform the recipient when you provide an answer in detail.

Most of you probably have their "golden" rules on electronic correspondence. Some of you are quite strongly supported by the corporate enterprise networks, which offer many a lot of help in this issue. Despite this, remember that the goal is to create an e-mail, which will be read on the other side, will be well understood, and the reading will not take much time.

Author: Robert Zgoda, CEO/CMS Producer Ltd