An email is a letter

Consequently there are rules to follow

Though there are some differences :

• Shorter
• Maybe (slightly) more informal

• Be brief
• Avoid UPPERCASE !!!
• Don’t be too informal
• Easy on emoticons OK ?
• Be careful with acronyms YKWIM ?
• ASAP / COP / CU / B4N

There basically 4 different ways to start an email

• Dear Sir or Madam,
• Dear Mrs, Mr, Miss, Ms Smith,
• Dear Tom,
• Hi,

State clearly and right from the start why you are writing
2 options :

• Emails are usually received by dozens a day and should be easy to read and straightforward.
• Make your point.
• Be brief.
• Use short sentences / a limited number of paragraphs

Consider adding some small talk to the content of your email.

But not:

• On first occasions / contacts
• Formal situations (when addressing your supervisor or CEO for example)

Basically there two ways to do that

• At the start of your email
• Before signing off

• Long time no hear,
• How are you? How’s life back in...?
• Hope you’re fine and that life is treating you well

A nice way to conclude your email before signing off :

• Thanks a lot / Thank you very much
• Looking forward to hearing from you
• Let’s stay in touch,
• Keep me posted
• All the best, Best of luck ...

Depends on the opening :

• Dear Sir or Madam,
  Yours faithfully
• Dear Mrs, Mr, Miss, Ms Smith,
  Yours sincerely
• Dear Tom,
  Best regards / Kind regards
• Hi,
  B4N, Best, Take care, etc.

For typos and mistakes

• Spelling
• Grammar
• Is the file attached?

Dear Mr Jones,

Thanks for your last email. I’m fully aware that any delay in delivery may result in production problems and financial loss on your side. Consequently, I can assure you that we will do the best we can to dispatch goods in due time. However we are working with subcontractors that have their own issues to deal with so I cannot be 100% sure you’ll have the goods by Friday. However, if there are any problems, do not hesitate to get back to me and I will see if we can set up a compensation scheme.
Yours sincerely,

Deborah Clark
CEO ACME Trading

Dear Tom,

Hope you’re fine. Just a quick word to ask you whether you could send me your new catalogue and a price list. As the year is drawing to a close, we’re anticipating our orders and supply needs for 2017.
Kind regards,

John Sullivan
Purchasing Manager
P&O

@	at
Cc	Carbon copy
Bcc	Blind carbon copy
jo-smith	Hyphen
jo_smith	Underscore
josmith/	Slash
josmith\	Backslash
josmith.com	josmith dot com
ABC	Uppercase
abc	Lowcase

Boîte de réception	Inbox
Messages envoyés	Sent
Brouillons	Drafts
Joindre	To attach (to enclose)
Fichier	File
Suite à	Further to
Dans l'attente de ...	Looking forward to + BV-ing
Transférer	To forward