The email address you use
As a general rule, firstname.lastname@emailprovider.com is a good format for your email address.
To/from field
From
It should simply be your first and last names, appropriately capitalised and spelt correctly, with no extra bits like hearts or exclamation marks.
To
your recipient’s email address
CC
“CC” field stands for “Carbon Copy”, and it means that they will see the email but will also see that it’s not directly addressed to them. Don’t use it unless there is a real need for this person to see the communication.
BCC
If you’re emailing several people, it’s bad form to include all their email addresses in the “To” field. In this instance, you should put your own email address in the “To” field and put those of your recipients into the “BCC” field. This stands for “Blind Carbon Copy”, and it means they’ll all see the email but won’t see who else you’ve sent it to.
Subject line
Write something descriptive in the subject line that summarises what the email is about. Don’t make it too long.
Salutation
However, go by how they address you; if their emails to you start “Dear”, you reply with “Dear”; if they start “Hi”, you can reply with “Hi”. An alternative email greeting that lies somewhere between formal and informal is “Good morning” or “Good afternoon”. This is perhaps a little friendlier and more personal than “Dear”, so if your style is not naturally very formal then this is an acceptable form of email greeting.
Signing off an email
These common conventions include:
- Best wishes,
- Kind regards,
- Best regards,
- All the best,
- Thanks,
- Thanks in advance,
- Many thanks,
- Sincerely,
- Yours truly,
- Thanks again,
- Appreciatively,
- Respectfully,
With all of these, make sure you have a comma at the end of the line, as in the examples above.