Odds are, you've received an email in the past few months that has left you speechless. Whether it's spelling, grammar, or an overall lack of direction, cluttered emails can be a nightmare to decipher.
Take a look at the example email below. Has something like this ever popped up in your inbox?
We’re guessing that most of you are nodding your head yes with muted frustration - or unmuted depending on how bad the emails were.
The good news is, we’re here to help. Click Here to download a free PDF copy of our 5 Business Writing Mistakes to Avoid Guide. Share it with your teams to improve their business writing skills and email professionalism.
If you or someone you know is in need of business writing development, check out our Business Writing Workshops and our One-to-One Communication Coaching.
Here are the 5 Mistakes to Avoid and explanations on how John Doe failed to avoid all five of them in his above email:
Multiple Subjects Per Email: When sending a business message, it’s best to stick to one topic. This allows for a clearer message and will result in a more succinct response.
John clearly makes this mistake, evidenced by the subject line itself. He’s reaching out on an old request while also looking for guidance on a new project. To keep things organized and focused, John should be sending two separate emails (or even replying to an existing chain for the older request).
Not Leaving Enough White Space: Separating your thoughts into different paragraphs will make your writing much easier to read. Plus, the added white space will make your emails look cleaner and more professional.
Judging by the large, hard-to-read block of text in John’s email, it’s safe to say he didn’t consult our 5 Business Writing Mistakes to Avoid Guide. John should be organizing his thoughts into different paragraphs in order to make his message more readable. In addition, direct questions should either end a paragraph or have their own line of text. John asks two questions in this message, both of which may be overlooked due to the lack of spacing.
Brain-to-Keyboard Writing: It's important to consider what the goal of your message is before you start to type your first sentence. Without a clear structure, your emails can become scattered and hard to follow.
An example of John using brain-to-keyboard writing is: “That reminds me, are you still able to help me by checking some numbers on that project I asked you about last week?” It is clear that John did not start this email with the intent of checking in on the older project. Rather, he was reminded of this outstanding task as he wrote this new email. It is important to think out what the goal of a new email is, and avoid sprinkling in other thoughts that may disorient your coworker.
Using Unnecessary Words: Business writing is about getting to the point. It's always a good idea to limit unnecessary words in your emails. This will allow you to get to the heart of your message quickly.
The best example of this in John’s email is: “I was going to have you look at some numbers I ran and have you double check them and make sure I didn’t make a mistake.” Here, the second half of John’s sentence can be taken out, as it would be implied even if it was not there. A better way to get this thought across would be: “Can you double check some numbers that I ran?”
Forgetting to Proofread: Misspelled words, typos, and incorrect grammar are great ways to hurt your personal brand. Make sure spell check is turned on and always read over your email before sending.
John has two glaring spelling mistakes in his email. First, he uses ‘know’ in line two instead of ‘now.’ Second, he misspells ‘busy’ as ‘busey’ in line three. These are both mistakes that a simple spell check should find. In the future, John should read over his email before sending it to avoid simple mistakes like this.
Below is the email that John wrote after consulting our 5 Business Writing Mistakes to Avoid Guide:
This message is cleaner, more focused, and easier to read. John will be sending a separate (and equally professional) email to his coworker following up on the older project.