Email Style

Business emails have a very specific style. They are professional but brief. They should be written to be skimmed, but with enough information to allow a complete response.

If you like this article you may be interested in our online email writing course.

Tone

Finding the correct tone can be the biggest headache in drafting an email. The tone changes based on your audience. It can range to formal to friendly but is always professional and should always be matched to your audience. Wordy politeness can often be overlooked in efforts to be brief in emails. However, please and thank you should be included anytime it is appropriate.

Avoid ALL CAPS because it SOUNDS LIKE YOU’RE YELLING (and could route your email to the spam folder). If you wouldn’t shout the statement in person, don’t shout it in an email. Instead, use italics, underlining or boldto emphasize important points.

Example: Vacation requests must be submitted at least two weeks in advance.

Notice the harsh tone if the bold text is swapped for caps: Vacation requests must be submitted AT LEAST TWO WEEKS IN ADVANCE. 

One exception: Do use all caps in email headings when writing to any organization that strips html formatting from email. The military, military academies, and some financial institutions with strict security protocols often strip html formatting.  Headings are very helpful to readers. They allow a reader to skim and find information easily. They're a business writer's best weapon against information overload. Avoid excessive use of punctuation or emojis. Exclamation points should be used sparingly! Emojis continue to have a larger role in digital communication and several style guides have approved their judicious use in business writing. I follow the rule of only using them after the other party has sent one. They should never be used in formal business emails.

Format

Emails are meant to be skimmed, so they should have plenty of white-space to assist the reader. Use shorter paragraphs, lists and bullet points to streamline the information. And, use headings to break up concepts and allow a reader to skim. In addition, awkward formatting copied from other documents or emails can be distracting. To have seamless formatting for your email, strip the text formatting of the new content by using your email client’s Remove or Formatting function. Here are the most common formatting features and how to use them.

Font: The font is the typeface that you should choose for your email. It is best to choose a sans serif (a typeface without decorative strokes at the end) as they are more modern and simple and easy to read onscreen. They are also easier to read at a small size. Gmail uses Sans Serif as the default. You could also use Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, Terbuchet MS, or Verdana.

Text Size: You should try to keep your email in the normal size. This is between 10–12pt.

Bold: You can use bold for headings and to emphasise important text. Bold text catches the eye of readers as they scan the email.

Italics: Italics are a softer way to draw attention to an area of text. They are used to bring emphasis to an area of a sentence. They do not make words stand out when the user is scanning a page the way bold text does. Italics should also be used for titles of full works.

Underline: Underlined text can easily be confused for a link. When writing an email, it's best not to use underlined text to draw attention to an area of an email. It is better to use bold or italics.

Text Color: You should avoid using multiple text colors in an email as it draws the eye in to multiple locations and looks unprofessional. It is likely that your email program makes your hyperlinks blue. 

Alignment: Business writing uses text that is fully aligned left. Academic writing indents the first sentence of a paragraph five spaces. In business email, you will never need to indent the start of a paragraph. 

Users scan pages in a F-shapped pattern. By changing the alignment it makes it more difficult for the reader to skim.

Numbers: Using a numbered list can help organize content where the sequence is important. For example if you were describing steps you would want to use a numbered list.

Bullet Points: Bullet points are a great way to create white space on your page and draw attention to related items. Bullet points work best for unordered lists. 

Indent More: In business emails you should not indent the first sentence of a new paragraph. A line break represents the start of a new paragraph. The indent more button allows you to add an indent to text. This is useful on rare occasions when you want to indicate that some information is a subset of what preceeded it. It creates a visual indication that the indented information is less important.

Indent Less: This allows you to move your content to the left

Quote Text: If you are referring to quoted text you should use the quote text function. It provides a slight indent to your content and a grey vertical line to the left. This shows readers that you are quoting text.

Remove Formatting: If you are pasting text into your email it is vital you use the remove formatting function. Otherwise you will paste the text styles and it will be obvious to your reader that you copy and pasted that text. To use this function select the text you want to remove formatting. Then click the remove formatting button.