How to write an email

How do you write an effective email that your recipient finds clear and easy to understand? There's more to it than just typing a few words and clicking the Send button. These notes give guidelines on technical issues, document structure, the importance of knowing your audience, language issues, and layout and visual design.

Technical issues

A clear distinction between technical issues and content issues does not exist. For practical purposes, that's not important. Often there are no rights and wrongs; you just need to be aware of the options available and the implications of your choices:

HTML or plain text? HTML email has many advantages over plain text email. However, it can carry worms and viruses. Therefore, many people prefer plain text email. If you send an HTML email, and if your recipient's system is set up for plain text, then usually the recipient will see the email as an attachment. Often, the email software can convert the message so that there is also a plain text version. Sometimes the conversion goes wrong, and the HTML code is displayed, as shown in the example below.
Character sets. Have you ever sent an email that contains, for example, the £ symbol. In the reply, did your original "£" appear as the "?" character? That's due to the character set. In the UK, the best option is to use ISO 8859 (in Microsoft Outlook: Tools > Options. Internet Email tab).
Attachments. Your recipient may use a dial-up connection, so don't send large attachments. Instead, include a link to a web page or a file on a web page. Can you be sure that the recipient has the correct software to read an attachment? Instead of a small attachment, could you send the information as part of the email text itself?
Bulk commercial email (BCE) and unsolicited commercial email (UCE) may well soon be illegal in the EU. Even now, your contract with your ISP probably doesn't allow you to send these. There's no problem until someone complains. But then your ISP must investigate.
The Data Protection Act says you must not divulge personal information. Is an email address personal information? The safest course of action when you send an email to many people who don't know one another is to use the Bcc option, so that they can't access the email addresses. (Another problem with putting many email addresses in the To or CC fields is that if the email is printed, they appear. I have come across emails where the addresses completely fill the first two pages of the printed email.)
Avoid free email addresses, such as john_smith27@yahoo.com. In addition to looking unprofessional, it's easy to get a false positive with spam filters, and so your recipient may accidentally blacklist your email address.
If you use Microsoft Outlook, don't use Word as the email editor. If your recipient doesn't also use Word, then all the formatting will be lost, and the email will look terrible.

Document structure

Even though an email is usually a short document, you can structure it to improve its effectiveness. In particular, consider these points:

Subject field. Use this to give your readers an idea of what the email is about. If you send and receive replies, and if the subject changes, change the content of the subject field. It will make your emails easier to deal with.
Opening salutation. Some people don't bother with any form of introduction. Other people are formal. There are no absolutes here, but I know of people who have been extremely irritated because an email didn't conform to their preferences (probably a case of not being able to please all people at all times!).
Call to action. Exactly what do you want the recipient to do? Is the email for information only? Do you want the reader to do something? If so, what exactly, and by when? Probably the best place to put this information is either at the start or at the end of the email.
Include contact details, both of yourself and of third parties, unless you know for sure that the recipient has this information.

Know your audience

As with all communications, you need to understand your readers' requirements. I'm not suggesting that you spend a long time thinking about this for every email, but consider:

Define the audience. What do they already know? What do they need to know? Do they need to receive the email?
What are the recipient's preferences: plain text, HTML, attachments? Being kept informed regularly or just receiving an occasional digest? This is probably most relevant if you are sending out newsletters or ezines.
Before you send the email, ensure that it is addressed to the right person! It's all too easy to make a mistake, and there's no recovery.

Language issues

Some people consider email to be informal. Whether it is or is not, is irrelevant. Poor writing makes a bad impression. Common errors include:

Grammar (and/or, its/it's)
Spelling (principle/principal, their/there)
Vocabulary. Don't use long or obscure words for the sake of it. Short and common words help to make the email easy to understand.
Verbosity. Reduce the number of words as far as is practical. For example, instead of "on a regular basis" write "regularly".
Ambiguity. For example: "When the switch is pressed, the valve should be closed". This could mean:
- Press the switch. The valve will close (that is, the system will close the valve).
- Press the switch and then close the valve.
- Verify that the valve is closed. If it is, press the switch.
Unnecessary information. This wastes a reader's time and gets in the way of your message, so be as brief as possible. When you reply to a message, remove all the text that is not needed. To show that text has been removed, the convention is to use a word such as "<snip>" or "<cut>" (including the angle brackets) in place of the deleted text.
Terminology and acronyms. Do the recipients know the meanings of specialist words that you use? AFAIK, FWIW and IMHO, TLAs are best avoided. VBG! (As far as is I know, for what it's worth and in my humble opinion, three-letter acronyms are best avoided. Very big grin!)

Layout and visual design

Make the document easy to read:

With long emails, it's useful to include headings to aid the reader. With plain text emails, you can use capital letters and underline these to make a clear heading.
Don't use ALL CAPITALS for the entire text. It's harder to read than normal lower-case text. Some people consider it to be the email equivalent of shouting.
Use bullets and numbering to help the reader to identify specific points. With plain text email, to ensure that the reader sees what you sent, insert bullets (use the asterisk character) and numbers manually, rather than relying on the formatting options in the email editor.
With plain text email don't use formatting, because it may not appear on a recipient's machine. For example, your email editor may allow you to use paragraph spacing. But if this is not available on the recipient's system, then there won't be any spaces between paragraphs of text. A safe solution is to use single line spacing and use an extra blank paragraph between paragraphs of text (this method goes against the normal good practice guideline for using word processors).

Example of HTML in a plain text reader

This email was sent to me a while ago. My email system is set up for plain text email. Usually, a HTML email appears as an attachment, but in this case the underlying HTML code appeared as text.

<TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=696 border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=Arial12Black width=137 bgColor=#ffffff> </TD> <TD class=Arial12Black width=401 bgColor=#ffffff> FAO: Mike Unwalla @ Techscribe 24 Spooner Road South Yorkshire S10 5BN Tel. 0114-266 6933 Fax. </TD> <TD class=Arial12Black width=136 bgColor=#ffffff> </TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=Arial12Black width=23 bgColor=#ffffff><IMG height=57 src='http://www.centralcontracts.com/email/centralcontracts.gif' width=128></TD> <TD class=Arial12Black width=387 bgColor=#ffffff> Toyota Corolla T3 1.6 VVT-I 3 door </TD> <TD class=Arial12Black width=119 bgColor=#ffffff><IMG height=57 src='http://www.centralcontracts.com/email/centralcontracts.gif' width=128></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=Arial12Black width=700 bgColor=#ffffff colSpan=3> <IMG height=90 src='http://www.centralcontracts.com/email/ToyotaCorolla.jpg' width=150> 3 Yr/60000 Warranty, ABS + EBD, Air Conditioning, CD Player, Electric Front Windows, Electric Mirrors, Front Fog Lamps, Immobiliser, Outside Temp Gauge, PAS, Remote Central Locking </TD></TR>

Email resources

For help with writing email newsletters, ezines or e-flyers, contact:

Chantal Cornelius, Apple Tree (www.appletreeuk.com)

Rebecca Cruz, Cruzing (www.cruzing.biz)