In an increasingly digital world, email is unavoidable. Like any form of communication, it has its unwritten rules and expectations. While it may seem strange to give something you write so casually and frequently any weight, how you write your emails not only determines how effectively you communicate—it also tells the people you write to things about you that you might or might not intend.
If you’re wondering how to up your email game, you’ve come to the right place. Using the findings of a recent Preply survey, we’ll go over four ways to make your emails more effective, and three key things to avoid in your messages.
Tips for Effective Workplace Communication
Whether it’s to let your boss know the status of a project or to share resources with a coworker, your job probably has you sending emails all the time. With so many different kinds of messages and recipients to manage, it’s easy for miscommunication to occur. Here are three ways to make sure the emails you send are clear and effective.
1. Make Your Subject Lines Clear
Think of your subject line as the headline of your message—it should make the purpose of your email clear to the recipient before they even open it. One-word subjects like “Hi” or “Question” don’t give the reader much of an idea of what your email is about, nor a sense of the level of priority.
If your message is time-sensitive, you might want to signal that through words like “Urgent” or by including a specific date.
2. Keep Your Greetings and Sign-offs Friendly (But Not Too Casual)
Greetings and sign-offs say a lot about you to your coworkers. In fact, according to the Preply survey, nearly half (46%) of employees say they can tell a coworker’s mood based on the email greetings and sign-offs they use. 91% of people surveyed also say they’ve noticed a coworker being passive-aggressive in emails.
While it’s normal to sometimes feel frustrated or stressed out at work, you don’t want that to necessarily reflect in your messaging. Try to keep your tone friendly and, above all, professional.
A greeting like “Hi” is friendly without being overly formal, while greetings that are too casual, like “Hiya,” or too unemotional, like “[Name]:,” might make your coworkers perceive you as unfriendly. The same goes for sign-offs, with using just your name or a phrase like “Thanks in advance” to close your email coming across as colder than possibly intended. But having some kind of greeting and sign-off is always better than using none at all.
3. Keep Messages Clear and Concise
While the subject line lets the recipient know what your email is about, the body text in your message should be as clear and direct as possible. Though it’s tempting to write a lot for the sake of clarity, don’t overcommunicate. Make your sentences short and to the point. If your email includes a lot of detail, you might also want to break the information up into a more readable format, like shorter paragraphs or bulleted lists.
4. Be Polite
It’s tempting to send off an email without thinking about it, especially if you’re in a rush. But remember, there is another person on the receiving end of that message. What you say and how you say it can create an impression, even one you didn’t intend or consider.
It’s always a good idea to proofread your messages for things like data accuracy and grammatical errors, but you can proofread for tone too. Make sure that the messages you write are cordial, respectful and approachable. You don’t have to be best friends with your coworkers, but communicating politely goes a long way in fostering a healthy work environment.
The Top 3 Things to Avoid in Work Emails
In addition to providing helpful tips on how to write your emails, Preply’s survey also found what Americans hate seeing in messages from their coworkers. Here are the top three things to avoid when writing your emails.
1. Sign-offs like “Sent from my phone, please excuse typos” (65%)
Over half (65%) of survey respondents agree that you should avoid using phrases like “Sent from my phone, please excuse typos” in your emails. You might think it’s a funny sign-off that doubles as a catch-all for any typos you make, but it likely comes across more as lazy and unprofessional.
Typos happen to all of us—we’re only human—but it’s better to take the time to proofread your messages for clarity, accuracy and readability than to send them off without a second thought. And even if you don’t like to proofread, casually announcing that to your coworkers is likely to put them off.
2. Phrases like “Sent from iPhone” (51%)
Turns out that referencing your phone at all is an unpopular choice—over half (51%) of survey respondents want people to stop using phrases like “Sent from iPhone” entirely. Similar to the “please excuse typos” variation, people might perceive this phrase to mean that you didn’t feel like giving the proper time and attention to your message, or that you’re preempting any possible mistakes you make.
Depending on the iPhone you have, this phrase might be automatically included in your email signature when you send an email from your phone. You should be able to turn it off or change it in your settings.
3. Emojis (42%) and Exclamation Points (48%)
While enthusiasm in the workplace is sometimes warranted, you can have too much of a good thing. Just under half of survey respondents say that emojis and exclamation points aren’t appropriate in workplace communication.
While the occasional emoji or exclamation point is probably okay—especially in special circumstances, like a birthday or holiday greeting—it’s generally more professional to avoid them. But you can adjust how you write your messages to the tone of your recipient. For example, if your boss uses smiley faces and exclamation points in their communication, it’s likely okay for you to respond in kind.
Final Thoughts
With so much to juggle in your day-to-day, the finer points of email communication may be the last thing on your mind. But every message you send says something about you, whether you intend it to or not.
While the occasional typo or miscommunication is unavoidable, using these tips to compose your emails can help you be a more effective communicator in your workplace. Though it may take a little extra time and effort, it’s always better to be confident in your message before you click “send.”