Improve your business writing for emails with these three tips
17 Feb 2017
It’s no secret that a lot of things have changed in the business world. Technology has sped up the progression of almost every industry, management approaches are changing to adapt to a younger workforce and there is a need for a whole new variety of leadership skills.
Throughout all this change, there are some core abilities that will always be needed in the professional realm. One of these skills is business writing.
Employees at every level of a company will always need to be able to communicate ideas, requests and even introductions through the written word. One look at how many emails are sent, received and written each day reveals just what a critical skill business writing is, consider these stats from a recent study by technology research firm Radicati:
- The average worker receives 121 emails daily
- This number is set to increase to 140 by 2018
- Professionals typically send 43 emails per day
Email communication is a critical element of business writing and provides one of the most common forms of conversation between colleagues and professionals. That is why it is SO important to master the art of clean and concise writing.
So how can you make your business writing for emails stronger? We’ve compiled a list of three quick tips.
Keep it simple
The most important thing to remember when writing an email is to keep things simple. Don’t use a five syllable word when a two syllable word will work just the same.
Forbes suggests using short and declarative sentences whenever possible. A great way to cut down your language is by avoiding prepositions. Instead of writing “The performance review on February 3 for the management team,” write “The February 3 management team performance review.”
Don’t use a five syllable word when a two syllable word will work just the same.
Don’t sacrifice grammar, spelling or punctuation
While simple and to the point is important, you never want to shorten things at the expense of proper grammar, spelling or punctuation. There is nothing worse than sending out an email riddles with simple mistakes. Make sure when you are revising your sentences for brevity you are also rechecking these other areas of good writing.
Read it out loud
One of the best tools to check for errors in your writing is simply reading it out loud. Often when you hear what you’ve written you catch awkward phrasing or spot mistakes more easily. When possible read your own emails to yourself before pressing send.
Interested in learning more about how to improve your business writing overall? Check out ICML’s variety of business writing courses today!