Due to its practicality, e-mail has replaced postal mail for the past ten years, and is used in both private and business environments. In a business context, e-mail remains the most commonly used communication tool, despite the significant growth of social networks and other instant messaging services. It is useful to know some rules of politeness so as not to offend the recipient and not damage existing relationships.
Professional email refers to a professional email address
It goes without saying that personal addresses to contact someone in the context of a business relationship such as:
- pretty girl @…
- Greatman@… should be avoided at all.
A professional e-mail address is required, or failing that, a personal address with your first and last name, which will thus be a signature of your identity.
Choose Your Recipients Carefully to avoid obstacles
Fill in your recipient’s address in the field provided for this purpose and do not make any mistake. It would be annoying and very rude to send a letter addressed to your manager to your supplier. Great care should be taken with recipients that are copied, especially for e-mail containing confidential material.
state the subject clearly
It depends on the subject of your e-mail whether your interlocutor would prefer to read it or not. Clearly mark what it is:
- “Rendezvous from…/on…, back…”,
it is possible to indicate in front of the object “Urgent” Or “high priority” If and only if the mail is really urgent. If this is a corporate or general company email, also specify who the email is addressed to before entering the subject line, for example: “ pay attention. Director General, offer of cooperation”,
Begin by Addressing Your Recipient
It would be abhorrent to go straight to the bottom of the matter. Start with your recipient’s correct title: “Mr. X / Mrs. Y” or by their work: “Mr. Director”, Avoid starting your email with a simple word like ” Good morning “Especially if this is the first contact.
formality required
In a professional e-mail, formality is required, especially if this is the first correspondence or relationship between two different companies, or even two different departments. Of course, it is possible to go from this “thou” to “thou” if one of the interlocutors suggests it with the aim of de-escalating the relationship, or if both interlocutors already use “thou” in the daily world of the company. It should be noted that in some areas introductions are necessary as soon as the first meeting takes place. If you use familiar words with people during meetings, don’t use formal address.
structure your email
Pay attention to the content of your email. Be clear and specific about your intentions. The text should be readable, if necessary divided into several paragraphs. It is not advisable to use abbreviations, the rules of punctuation and capitalization should be respected, avoided as much as possible, or even the use of exclamation marks should be prohibited so as not to be too personal. Avoid writing too long and proofread email to avoid any spelling mistake.
To draw conclusions with courtesy
At the end of your e-mail, don’t forget to end by thanking your interlocutor for paying attention to your letter.
“Thank you for looking into my request. ,
“Whatever information you can ask me, I am fully ready for that. , Then, end up with the formula for
Kinds of Courtesy: “Best Regards”, “Best Regards”, “Respectfully” Or “good for you” To show respect to your recipient. A comma must be placed after these formulas. You can also use traditional forms of politeness to show some respect.
“Please accept, madam and sir, my hearty greetings. ,
It is true that we live in an instant world where people like to do everything quickly, without any shortcuts and straight to the point. But submissive characters fortunately survive this rule and remain in good standing in all areas.
At the risk of being accepted, you must not forget to respect the privacy rules issued by the RGDP.