Emailing- giving advice on business communication

Give advice on emails and other business communication
Emailing/ The language of advice

Cross off any tips below which are usually bad ideas.

Starting business emails
1

I suggest using “Dear Mr/ Ms + full name” if you know the person’s name.

2

It’s best to use “Dear Sir” if you don’t know the person’s name.

3

If there has been some kind of previous contact, it’s a good idea to mention it in the
first line of your email.

4

If it’s your first contact with someone, you should normally start by saying your reason
for writing.

5

You can start emails to people you don’t know with “How are you?” to sound friendly.

6

It’s worth making any friendly greetings as specific as possible.

7

I’d recommend starting most business emails by giving your name.

The main body of business emails
8

It’s important to start each sentence on a new line.

9

You shouldn’t often use one-sentence paragraphs.

10 You can use “Please+ verb”, “Would you…?”, “I’d like you to…”, “I’m afraid I have to

ask you to…” and “I need you to…” for requests.

11 Make sure you give very specific reasons with lots of explanation for saying no to any-

thing (e.g. rejecting a request or suggested arrangement).

12 It’s best to mention any attachments.

Ending business emails
13 I recommend using “Thank you for your cooperation” to end most business emails, es-

pecially requests.

14 Why don’t you finish with “I expect your quick reply” every time you need an answer?
15 Why not use a sentence starting with “If…” if there might be a reply but you don’t need

one?

16 My recommendation is to use “Best regards” to finish all your business emails.

Brainstorm suitable phrases to do the good things or ways of doing something better than
the bad things that are in italics above.

Underline useful language for giving advice above.

Use those phrases to give more advice on business emailing, then do the same for other
business skills, for example:


presentations



negotiations



telephoning



teleconferences



meeting new people/ networking



socializing

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014