PMO Standard | Writing Professional Emails

Effect Email is fundamental for business communications. I share with you several suggestions for professional and effective email communication. 

1. Start with One Meaningful Subject Line
The email subject line should summarize why you are contacting others in an email. It's important not to overload one email with multiple purposes because when the email could lead to an expanded discussion in an email chain. Mixing numerous unrelated topics can cause confusion. 

2. Annotate the Subject Line to Make It Your Friend
This refers to creating a subject line with more information and driving results. The subject line needs to clearly describe the email and answer the recipient's question, "Why did I receive this email?". The subject can also include Call to Action (CAT) wording to be clarified for the ask, such as: 

• [5 Minutes Feedback]
• [Action Request by <Date>]
• [Approval Needed]
• [Task Due <Date>] ​

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3. Keep the Email Content Clear, Professional, and On Purpose 
Email is meant to be short, concise, easy to read, and nicely serve its communication purpose. Create the content with simple language, highlight the main points, and discuss questions upfront. Make the content scannable with bullets and bold or colored font to emphasize. Email content at work needs to be formal and professional. This means the email content should follow business etiquette. Things like "Hi Guys.." "What's Up?" would generally be avoided. You also would assume that the email can be forwarded without your content.

4. Create Your Email Signature
You might easily overlook the importance of your email signature. You don't know how often people contact and get to know you. An example signature in the plain text is as follows: 

Name | Role 
Team Information 
Phone: | email: 
"Something links or information about your work." 

When setting up emails, set up the email signature right away. It's critical to show professionalism, connect with colleagues, explain your roles, and publish your expertise.

5. Spicing up with various proper sign-offs can catch people's attention. Avoid using the boring "best regards" every day. Making a change sparks joy. Please include your contact information in the signature so they don't need to look up for you when they need to reach out. 

Tip: Creating a Sign-off to Save Time 
The following is an example signature—the "Hi" reminders to add greetings. The name is added to void repeatedly typing names. The main signature content tells the role and contact information. We leave out the sign-off so we can be creative to add variants. The benefit is that we maximize the retyping in each email. 

Example Email: (Bad)
Subject:  FY2023 Budget Planning
Email Content:
Hi All, 
​
The budget planning for FY2023 is starting, and we request your input by Monday, 05/31 (May 31). Please provide your best budget estimate, including the number of projects, project timelines, including start, end time, and the go-live date, and estimated support hours per month before the due date.

Please forward this email to your teams as appropriate. Thank you.

Best regards,
Sukee 

​Example Email: (Good)
​​Subject:  [Action Request by 5/31/2022] FY2023 Budget Planning Inputs
Email Content:
Hi All, 
​
The budget planning for FY2023 is starting, and we request your input by Monday, 05/31 (May 31).

Please provide your best budget estimate, including: 

• The number of projects
• Project timelines, including start, end time, and the go-live date
• Estimated support hours per month before the due date.

Please forward this email to your teams as appropriate. Thank you.

Best regards,
Sukee Parker 
Managing Director, PMO Advocates
Phone: (670) 543-2222 | Email: [email protected] 
http://pmoblog.weebly.com/pmo PMO who makes innovation thrive.

6. Select Recipients with Consideration 
Every To, CC or BCC name should be well studied. Putting the recipient's name later or after the email is ready can avoid accidentally sending out unfinished emails. BCC is often used when the recipient doesn't need to receive replying emails. If anyone is not included in earlier emails, you can add them via " + Name for visibility" or "+Name for the discussion." Avoid replying until it is necessary. It's polite to avoid jamming others' inboxes. 

7. Stay on One Email Thread for the Same Topic 
​The suggestion tells that you reply to the previous email instead of creating a new one if the discussion is still on the same topic. This helps the audience quickly determine the context. If the email is about a request or an issue follow-up, replying from your previous email emphasizes the history of the discussion and demands attention to resolve the issue in time. We can't emphasize more the importance of clear context for email discussion. If the context is not said correctly, you can summarize the previous discussion or recap the earlier discussion before replying. 

8. Never resolve conflict and differences in email 
This is a golden rule. Because email doesn't capture emotions, tones, and even body gestures, you will have difficulty understanding others' perspectives and showing your empathy via email. If a conflict arises, pick up a phone or schedule a meeting to discuss this in person. We saw people use the inline comment multiple rounds or even quote others' earlier emails to clear and respond. There is an alert telling me it's time to discuss in person. 

9. Reading over 
You need to proofread emails before sending them. Take time for each email you send as they are permeant records. As we talked about earlier, there is no need to rush on anything. Others can wait. Make it right, not quick. Pause before sending to check if there could be any miss understanding. ​​

Follow these tips for your next emails. ​

Editor's Notes: There are some additional tips for emails. (1) Assuming people can forward it to anyone without your permission but not forwarding any email yourself without asking for sender’s permission. (2) Knowing it is a permanent record. (3) Stopping when the discussion becomes emotionally and sensitive. Picking up the phone or meet in person instead. (4) Changing sign-off to fight the boringness.