Say what you need to say: A short guide to writing business emails

As the primary means of communication in most companies, emails have become the formal way to contact people in a business setting. Sending emails isn’t as easy and straightforward as it seems. Emails must be concise and informative, striking the proper tone accompanied by well-structured sentences. With that, here are the steps to creating a well-composed business email:

1. Address your recipient

This is to simply establish to your recipient who you’re sending the email to. Whether it be he or she alone or to a group of people is actually very informative and brings people up to speed about who knows what. With this step, it’s important to just be simple. A simple “To ____” or “Hi, _____!” is sufficient. Words like “Hey” or “Salutations” may be too lax or too archaic respectively.

2. Get to the point

The first thing to do in a business email is to address why you’re sending the email in the first place. Whether it be good news or bad news, emails shouldn’t be wasting precious time with formalities. Give the news you need to give, then try to mention all the vital points that the news revolves around.

3. Why are they supposed to care?

You messaged them and told them news, now tell them why. What will the news you told them mean to their particular responsibilities? How does your news affect the entire organization? This is where you go in-depth to what your message has done and how it either propels your company forward, halts their progress, or puts them a step back. Try to be as detailed as possible without inputting data that will be irrelevant to those you’re sending the email to.

4. What’s going to happen now?

This might be awkward, especially with giving bad news, but this is your plan to move forward. What happens next? Elaborate your plans to mitigate the situation, or capitalize on a job well done. Whether it be just setting a meeting to brainstorm new goals or a plan of action already set in place for you to do, it’s important that the organization knows how it’s going to proceed from here.

5. Farewell

After your entire message, just add a small note to bid your teammates well. Anything from “Good luck to us.” to “Hope this email helped you in your endeavors!” Then of course, as most companies have them, make sure your pre-made email signature is at the end of the email to clarify who sent the email to them.

6. Proofread

This deceptively simple task is actually one that requires your undivided attention. Checking for anything as simple as grammatical errors to anything as crucial as unverified facts and unattached documents is an absolute must to make sure your email is one that can be sent out. Make sure everything is in tiptop shape, because your company deserves the best from you, even in emails!

To help you with your email writing, here’s a sample email that you can use as an example.

Kalibrr is a technology company that aims to transform how candidates find jobs and how companies hire talent. Placing the candidate experience at the center of everything it does, the company continues to attract the best talent from all over, with more than 2 million professionals and counting. Kalibrr ultimately connects these talents to companies in search of their next generation of leaders.

The only end-to-end recruitment solutions provider in Southeast Asia, Kalibrr is headquartered in Makati, Philippines, with offices in San Francisco, California and Jakarta, Indonesia. Established in 2012, it has served over 18,000 clients, and is backed by some of the world’s most powerful start-up incubators and venture capitalists. These include Y Combinator, Omidyar Network, Patamar Capital, Wavemaker Partners, and Kickstart Ventures.

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