Rules of business correspondence by e-mail. Business letter: a sample. How to send an email by e-mail

For the last ten years, business correspondence by e-mail has gained immense popularity and has become one of the main ways of business communication. Today it is difficult to find a person who would not use e-mail in the practice of interpersonal communications. Despite this, many people today are asking themselves: how do I send an email by e-mail so that all the rules are followed? How to use a literate letter to form a good impression on the addressee about the sender?

This article describes the rules of business correspondence by e-mail, and the practical advice presented in the article will help you learn the correct business communication when composing e-mails.

Many start their work day with checking the mailbox for new messages. But, to the great regret, despite the prevalence of this method of information exchange, many do not know how to correctly use the language of business correspondence, taking e-mails for an informal way of communication.

Thanks to the speed of delivery of emails, e-mail simplifies the exchange of important official documents, forms, applications, but even here people make mistakes when sending letters. Very often it happens that when composing an e-mail when exchanging any files, the addressees for some reason do not compile the accompanying essays and do not enter the topics, which can complicate the work of the recipients. The purpose of this article is to answer the question: how to send a letter by e-mail and follow all the rules of business written communication by means of e-mail?

When composing e-mails, all submitted fields must be filled out

The rules of business correspondence by e-mail oblige the sender of the letter to fill in all the fields provided in the e-mail, such as the address and name of the recipient and the sender of the letter. Be sure to describe a topic that briefly describes the essence of the email sent. Very often, from the correctly described topic depends the fate of the sent letter and the speed of resolution of the problem stated in it. A business e-mail should begin with a greeting - this simple display of respect for the recipient is very important in the correspondence. After the greeting, the text that is called the "body of the letter" should follow, and at the end a signature is left, for example, "Sincerely, Brisov Petr Ivanovich".

Greeting in business correspondence

At this moment, it's worthwhile to sharpen your focus, since a gesture of respect is very important in any aspect of business communications. The optimal welcome phrase is "Good day" or "Hello". Conducting business correspondence by e-mail restricts the sender in using the phrases "Good evening" or "Good morning", since the recipient can read the letter much later than receiving it. It is also not correct to use in the greeting of the vernacular expressions used in informal communication.

After the word or phrase greetings, you should refer to the recipient by name and patronymic, and in case the name is unknown to the sender, you can skip this moment. After the welcome word, you can proceed to the statement of the purpose of the letter.

Attached files in business correspondence by e-mail

If the main purpose of the letter is not only a written narrative and a statement of the substance of the matter, but also the sending of the file, it is better to attach the sent object first. It often happens that many senders, because of inattention, having stated the essence of the question in the text of the letter, forget to attach the necessary investment. Such negligence can negatively affect the business reputation of the sender of a business letter.

The e-mail address must be recognizable and concise

The rules of business correspondence by e-mail oblige the sender to have a recognizable electronic name, which must carry in itself true information about the sender's name. Very not laconic and silly look official letters and addresses, when the electronic address indicates informal expressions or words, for example, the electronic address "limon_petya". It looks very untenable for an adult. To conduct business correspondence, it is better to create a separate email and follow the etiquette of business correspondence by e-mail.

Using the fast Reply (Response) function to respond to previously received emails

The Reply or Response function (in the abbreviated form it looks like Re :) helps the user to respond quickly to previously sent messages from the sender. This function also has a universal opportunity to read the previous correspondence with the interlocutor for a given topic. But the rules of business correspondence by e-mail oblige the sender to rename the subject of the business letter, if during the correspondence the essence of the discussion is changed.

Before sending a business letter, you should check for spelling mistakes and punctuation

E-mail simplifies the exchange of information, but business correspondence should not neglect the rules of the Russian language, since a careless mistake can affect the authority of the sender. Before you send a letter, you should review the text several times and carefully check it for ophographic and punctuation errors. Many e-mail clients have a spell-checker function, so pay attention to the words underlined by the red line. If you have any doubts about the correctness of the spelling, you should ask for help on the Internet or check spelling with a spelling dictionary.

The destination field must be filled in the last place

To avoid sending uncompleted or unedited messages, the address of the recipient of the business letter should be entered at the last moment before sending. This rule is also included in the basics of business correspondence by e-mail. It happens that when the recipient's field is filled in, e-mail can offer a list of previously used recipients, here, too, should focus their attention, in order not to mistakenly send a compiled business letter to a foreign addressee.

Structuring a business letter

Text structuring rules apply not only to paper carriers, but also to business correspondence rules by e-mail. It is not always convenient for the recipient to read large volumes of text messages on the monitor screen. To simplify this point, you should break the text into logically generated small paragraphs and not allow complicated sentences to be written in the text of business letters. The optimal length of one sentence in a business letter should not be more than fifteen words.

The essence of a business letter should be stated on the merits

In addition to the subject matter of the business letter, the recipient should be interested in the clearly stated first and second sentence of the main text. The sender's task is to state at the beginning of the letter the essence of the problem or question, on which he addresses the recipient. The first sentence should indicate the purpose for which the business letter is sent. Sample: "We inform you that the terms of the obligation under contract No. 45 of 02/01/2017" On the supply of bulk materials "are coming to an end. To renew the contract, you should file a second package of documents. " Thanks to this goal, the recipient has the opportunity to penetrate into the main idea of a business letter. If the text of the letter is too large, it is better to use the attachment function of the object as an attachment in the form of a text document, but with the text field you should leave an accompanying essay that illuminates the business letter. Sample: "We send you an electronic copy of a letter from the company Makstroy LLC for your reference. We ask you to inform your decision on the extension of contract No. 45 of 02.01.2017 "On the supply of loose materials" to the time specified in the letter. "

Each business email should be answered

There are negative examples of business correspondence, when the recipient ignores a business letter for any reasons. Sometimes there can indeed be cases where the answer can not be given due to certain situations, for example, the time period for resolving the problem may take several days or the recipient is in the process of thinking and can not immediately answer the question posed. In this case, there should be a brief comment on this, for example, "Hello, Peter Ivanovich. I received your letter, but to date I find it difficult to answer, since I must consult with the higher management. I will report the problem to the CEO of our company about your problem and give an official response by the end of the week. Sincerely, Sales Manager, Belov Ivan Gennadievich. "

It is worth remembering that if the answer was not given within three working days, then the silence of the recipient of a business letter can be assessed as ignoring and refusing to communicate with the sender.

When composing response letters, all the questions should be answered

If the letter sent to the recipient bears a questioning character, then when writing the letter it is necessary to give answers to questions in the order that is present in the received text of the business letter. If questions have been asked, the sender hopes to receive specific answers to them. When composing a letter, the answers should not be numbered, you just need to state the idea in order. In order to answer all the questions posed, first you need to re-read the received business letter several times and in case if there are too many questions, it is better to write them separately to prevent a pass. If it is not possible to answer some of the questions posed, it is worth pointing out that at the moment for some reason the answer can not be given.

Do not abuse abbreviations, emotional design and capital letters

There are negative examples of business correspondence, when senders dilute it, using informal signs in the form of smiles. Their application is popular when communicating in social networks, but the rules of business correspondence do not welcome such manifestations of emotion, since the recipient may not know their true meaning and take them for an incomprehensible set of punctuation mistakes.

Also it is necessary to refuse writing a text in capital letters. On the Internet, a set of words written in capital letters are called "screaming phrases" and more often such phrases carry a negative color. The recipient, when reading an electronic business letter, may regard such a font negatively, which will have a detrimental effect on the perception of meaning. In case if it is necessary to emphasize the importance of any moment in a business letter, it is better to use the introductory phrases, for example, "Please note that you need to provide a package of documents for the extension of the contract no later than 10.02.2017" or "Please note that the documents For the extension of the contract should be submitted until 10.02.2017. "

It is not necessary to send secret information by e-mail

To transfer personal or confidential information, it is better to abandon e-mail boxes, since there is a threat of interception by intruders for use in their own mercenary purposes. Such information can include: phone numbers, bank card passwords, personal bank accounts, etc. It is important to remember that the information is stored on the mail agent's server and in case of hacking it can be stolen.

At the end of the letter must be the sender's signature

As mentioned earlier, each letter sent must contain a specific signature. Often the developers of mailboxes introduce the function of the signature block, into which you can enter your data about the post, name and contact phone number. Subsequently, this block will be automatically displayed at the end of each letter, which will simplify typing. It is important to correctly draw up a signature so that the recipient can answer the sender correctly when replying to the letter. An example of a signature might look like this: "Sincerely, Head of Sales Nikolay Petrov, +79810000000".

Drawing conclusions, it can be noted that in order to understand how to conduct business correspondence by e-mail, you do not need to learn additional and complex elements. It is only necessary to adhere to the elementary rules of etiquette and observe the norms of the Russian language.