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Anatomy of business emails

Abhinava Pratap Singh
Abhinava Pratap Singh

This document outlines the anatomy of a business email and common questions about email communication. It discusses the key sections of an email including the To, CC, BCC, subject, salutation, introduction, body, closure, signature, and disclaimer. Each section is defined and its purpose explained. The document also provides some good practices for writing effective business emails such as checking relevance of recipients, spell checking, specifying needed actions, and using action-oriented language and formatting to improve readability.

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ANATOMY OF A BUSINESS EMAIL A B H I N AVA P R ATA P S I N G H
EMAIL COMMUNICATION How do I avoid Foot in the Mouth Syndrome?
COMMON QUESTIONS ≒ When do I use the To, CC and BCC fields? ≒ How do I write a Subject Line? ≒ How do I address people? ≒ Is writing Dear more informal than Hi? ≒ How should my signature look? ≒ When should I use a Post-Script? ≒ How do I structure the main content? ≒ Is a signature needed? ≒ Why do we need a disclaimer at the end?
SECTIONS OF AN EMAIL 1. To 2. CC 3. BCC 4. Subject 5. Salutation 6. Introduction 7. Body 8. Closure 9. Signature 10.Disclaimer Introduction to these sections is the scope of this presentation.
TO ≒ Name of the Actor ≒ Person(s) Taking Action ≒ Person(s) Needing the Information
CC ≒ Non-Actor who needs to be Informed ≒ Person(s) not directly taking action ≒ Person(s) supervising the actions of others ≒ Person(s) generally interested in a thread ≒ Person(s) acting as back up for Actor
BCC ≒ Discreet Distribution List ≒ Person(s) who need to be informed, but you dont want the other people to know about it ≒ When you dont want a chain mail to get started with Reply-To-All ≒ e.g. Your Vendor and Client Lists, Mail to all employees of a firm etc.
SUBJECT ≒ Wrapper of the Email Body ≒ Should be meaningful ≒ Related to the Body of the text ≒ Should be interesting enough
SALUTATION ≒ Formal Greeting ≒ Can change based on relationship with Actor ≒ Dear, Hi or First Name
INTRODUCTION ≒ Brief Positive Stroke in Context ≒ Greeting, Compliment or Gratitude about the context ≒ Setting a positive base for take-off
BODY ≒ Main Content of the Email ≒ Conveys the Action Items ≒ Conveys Observations or Opinion ≒ Structured, non-verbose communication ≒ Brief, Bulleted, Numbered etc. as required
CLOSURE ≒ Parting Remarks ≒ Closing Thoughts ≒ Summary ≒ Most Important point ≒ Leaving on a Positive Note
SIGNATURE ≒ Identity and Contact Details ≒ Clear Establishment of Identity ≒ Complete Contact Details
DISCLAIMER ≒ Legal Safeguard against potential mistakes ≒ Unintended Recipient ≒ Limited Liability
SOME GOOD PRACTICES ≒ Check if all people receiving the email are relevant ≒ Do a spell check before hitting Send ≒ Do not just Forward, specify the action needed ≒ Respond to an email within a day ≒ Change the Subject, if necessary ≒ Use Action oriented language ≒ Use Bullets and Numbering to improve readability ≒ Avoid using P.S. and BCC as far as possible
FOR YOUR ATTENTION

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Anatomy of business emails

  • 1. ANATOMY OF A BUSINESS EMAIL A B H I N AVA P R ATA P S I N G H
  • 2. EMAIL COMMUNICATION How do I avoid Foot in the Mouth Syndrome?
  • 3. COMMON QUESTIONS ≒ When do I use the To, CC and BCC fields? ≒ How do I write a Subject Line? ≒ How do I address people? ≒ Is writing Dear more informal than Hi? ≒ How should my signature look? ≒ When should I use a Post-Script? ≒ How do I structure the main content? ≒ Is a signature needed? ≒ Why do we need a disclaimer at the end?
  • 4. SECTIONS OF AN EMAIL 1. To 2. CC 3. BCC 4. Subject 5. Salutation 6. Introduction 7. Body 8. Closure 9. Signature 10.Disclaimer Introduction to these sections is the scope of this presentation.
  • 5. TO ≒ Name of the Actor ≒ Person(s) Taking Action ≒ Person(s) Needing the Information
  • 6. CC ≒ Non-Actor who needs to be Informed ≒ Person(s) not directly taking action ≒ Person(s) supervising the actions of others ≒ Person(s) generally interested in a thread ≒ Person(s) acting as back up for Actor
  • 7. BCC ≒ Discreet Distribution List ≒ Person(s) who need to be informed, but you dont want the other people to know about it ≒ When you dont want a chain mail to get started with Reply-To-All ≒ e.g. Your Vendor and Client Lists, Mail to all employees of a firm etc.
  • 8. SUBJECT ≒ Wrapper of the Email Body ≒ Should be meaningful ≒ Related to the Body of the text ≒ Should be interesting enough
  • 9. SALUTATION ≒ Formal Greeting ≒ Can change based on relationship with Actor ≒ Dear, Hi or First Name
  • 10. INTRODUCTION ≒ Brief Positive Stroke in Context ≒ Greeting, Compliment or Gratitude about the context ≒ Setting a positive base for take-off
  • 11. BODY ≒ Main Content of the Email ≒ Conveys the Action Items ≒ Conveys Observations or Opinion ≒ Structured, non-verbose communication ≒ Brief, Bulleted, Numbered etc. as required
  • 12. CLOSURE ≒ Parting Remarks ≒ Closing Thoughts ≒ Summary ≒ Most Important point ≒ Leaving on a Positive Note
  • 13. SIGNATURE ≒ Identity and Contact Details ≒ Clear Establishment of Identity ≒ Complete Contact Details
  • 14. DISCLAIMER ≒ Legal Safeguard against potential mistakes ≒ Unintended Recipient ≒ Limited Liability
  • 15. SOME GOOD PRACTICES ≒ Check if all people receiving the email are relevant ≒ Do a spell check before hitting Send ≒ Do not just Forward, specify the action needed ≒ Respond to an email within a day ≒ Change the Subject, if necessary ≒ Use Action oriented language ≒ Use Bullets and Numbering to improve readability ≒ Avoid using P.S. and BCC as far as possible