Today, email has become one of the most important ways of communication in modern business. Many business people also use emails with company domain names. For cross-border e-commerce, email is also very popular, and more formal and important content will be conveyed through email. The emails sent by business people using company emails are very different from private letters, and there are new problems in workplace emails.
(I) About the subject and title
The title is the eye of an email. It can play a role in summarizing the main points. The main content of the email can be seen through the title, so that the recipient can judge the importance of the matter. Therefore, there must be no blank title, which is the most impolite. The title should be short, not too long, not too large or too empty, and should reflect the main content and importance of the article. It must not be ambiguous.
(II) About the title and greeting
The beginning of the email must have a greeting and title. Although this title may not be as formal as an ordinary letter, it must also show the humility and courtesy of the sender. You need to strike a balance when addressing people. At the beginning of the email, you should address the recipient. This is both polite and can remind the recipient that this email is for him and requires a certain response. If there are many recipients, you can address them as “Everyone” or “A!” If the recipient has a position, you should address him by his position, such as “Manager XX”. If you don’t know the position, you should distinguish the gender and address him as “Mr. XX” or “Ms. XX”.
(III) Body
The body should be concise and fluent. If there is a lot of specific content, you should only make a brief introduction in the body, and then write a separate file with the specific instructions as an attachment and send it. If the matter is complicated, you can use the “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” method to explain it in several paragraphs, and ensure that each paragraph is short and clear, because no one wants to read a long article without paragraphs.
The body should be fluent and use simple and commonly used words to make the content clear. Try to avoid obscure words and don’t write emails that make people scroll to read. In the body of the text, do not use capital letters, bold, italics, or color fonts to highlight key points, as this will affect reading. Too many symbols will make it difficult for people to find the key points.
(IV) Attachments
Sometimes, emails may contain a lot of content, or special files such as tables and pictures. In this case, the attachment function is needed. When using attachments, you should be careful to remind the recipient in the body that this is an email with attachments. Attachments should be named with meaningful and directional names, and incorrect or ambiguous names should not be used. When there are multiple attachments, the attachments should be briefly described in the body. The number of attachments should not exceed 4. If there are too many attachments, they can be packaged and compressed into one file. If the form of the attachment is special, the way to view it should be explained in the body to avoid affecting its use. If the file is too large, it can be divided into several small files.
(V) Language selection and Chinese character encoding
Foreign language emails are often used in cross-border e-commerce. If the recipient is a foreigner, English email should be used. If the recipient is a Chinese from another country or region, a foreign language email should also be used. Due to the problem of Chinese encoding, Chinese emails may be displayed as garbled characters in other regions. However, business people should remember that language is only a way of communication, not to show off or exercise language skills. In terms of language, you should respect the habits of others. You should take the initiative to send foreign language emails to foreigners, but if the other party sends a Chinese email, there is no need to be smart and reply to the foreign language email.
(VI) Signature and date
The end of the email should be signed, and you can also add company, address, telephone and other information as appropriate. In general, the font of the signature should be slightly smaller than that of the body of the text, and the date can also be indicated on the line below the name. But in the context of cross-border e-commerce, when there is a time difference, there is no big problem if the time is not marked.