25 formal email writing format examples & best practices

Formal vs informal email writing

Formal email writing is usually in a B2B or B2C scenario or a professional email between colleagues, businesses, or partners. Informal email writing is something you might send a friend, family member, or sometimes even a quick email you’re firing off to a colleague.

When you’re emailing a friend there is not much risk in getting your words or meaning wrong, and there is little risk of hurting your reputation or wrecking an incredible business opportunity. But when writing a business email there is much at stake and many things that can go horribly wrong. This is why our article will deal mostly with formal email writing and how to get it right every time.

Here, we’ll go over all the ins and outs of what goes into an email structure, different email formats you can use, as well as short email templates that you can use in various scenarios. Keep reading to learn how to write the perfect email.

Basic formal & professional email structure

Before we get into different email templates, it’s important to know how to build an email yourself. For the most part, every email, regardless of its contents, will follow the same structure with the same basic elements. You should get to know these elements in order to ensure proper and effective email writing as a whole.

The basic elements of professional email writing:

1. Your email address
2. Subject line
3. Email Opening
4. Email body
5. Email ending
6. Email Sign off
7. Email signature/footer

Now let’s break these down, one by one.

Professional email address

Your email address is oftentimes out of your control. If you’re working for a company or operate under the umbrella of a brand your email address will likely include the company or brand name domain.

For example, the emails in WiseStamp are all in the following format: [employee_name]@wisestamp.com. This ensures that we all have a professional business email address. Since only the owner of wisestamp.com can issue email addresses under that domain name, this ensures our emails appear legitimate.

Imagine if each employee would have a random Gmail address like [name][email protected], which anyone can create, that would be a bit suspicious. Email open rates are first and foremost dependent on trust, so make sure you have a trustworthy email address or suffer very low open rates.

If you are a freelancer professional, working separately from an established brand, consider buying a domain name for your personal brand. You can look up available domains on Google domain registrar.

Subject lines

Your subject line will be the single most important element in your formal email writing. It is the first thing your recipient will see and unless you convince her then and there that your email is safe, relevant, and high priority (in that order) it may never be opened. If this happens, any effort you put into the rest of the email elements will go to waste.

Your subject line will depend on the purpose or content of your email, but overall, you want it to be something engaging enough for a recipient to click on.

Email subject line guidelines:

• Be clear and specific – avoid using generic or clickbait subject lines that say nothing or make unrealistic promises, like “find out how to double your business in a week”.
• Be original – avoid using those all too common subject line templates you find on the internet. Instead make original subject lines that are relevant, personal, and concise.
• Add relevancy – address something that the recipient will recognize, like an acquaintance’s name or an article/ show/ book they appeared on.

Studies have shown that personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened. You also want to tailor your email subject line to your email goal, whether it’s a sales email, a personal email, a newsletter, or something else. I advise that you take the time to think of 3-4 refined options then consider which of them will likely be most appropriate.

Email Opening

The next most important way to hook a recipient into your email is by writing a strong email opening line. Like your subject line, the email opening is mostly used as another filtering stage for most people. If it fails to meet the promise made in the subject line, your readers will ditch.

Therefore, it’s extremely important to define your main point in 1 or 2 paragraphs tops. If you clearly convey your request or question and your reader feels it’s relevant and interesting, then they’ll continue reading your email. If you manage to get them to stay after this point, in most cases, they’ll return your email. Good for you.

Email opening guidelines:

• Address your recipient by their preferred name – look up an article they’ve written or their LinkedIn page and see what name they use. Some people will use their full name or their nickname accordingly (for example David vs Dave, or Anastasia vs Ana).
• Establish a connection – connect your email to a personal experience that involves the recipient, like an article or a news piece you’ve read about them, or a conversation you had with an acquaintance.
• Match the opening with the subject line – your opening message has to mirror the promise made in the subject line because this is how the reader validates relevancy. If you don’t connect the subject line to the opening, readers will be confused and even assume clickbait.
• Get to the point fast – tell your reader why you contacted her and what’s in it for her.

Email body

The body of your email is where you get into your main message. Whether you’re composing an email to establish a new business connection or just following up on a meeting, the body of your email should be detailed enough that the reader isn’t confused, but also brief and to the point. No one wants to sit and read a long-winded email when they have dozens of other unattended messages in their inbox.

Email body writing guidelines:

• Be concise – detail only what’s needed to get your point across.
• Use words that convey (authentic) positive personal emotional – words like “glad”, “excited”, “intrigued”, “confident”.
• Use the word “because” when asking for something – it’s been scientifically shown that people are more easily convinced to do something if told why, and more so if the reason is important for them.
• Show don’t tell – if you can’t explain something in few words, see if you can add a screenshot, a video or a link that explain it better.
• Use headings to split long content into sub-topics – if you can’t avoid writing a long email, make sure to break it up into subsections with headings. This will help your time-scarce readers to scan and find their points of interest.
• Add your concrete request or question in bold text – to ensure your readers do not miss the most important piece of content (your request or question) – set it in a separate line and put it in bold. You can also use some color. If you do avoid light shades (you want high contrast between the text and the white background. Once you pick a color – stick with it.

Email ending

After you’ve addressed all your main points in the body of your email, you’ll want to end it with a respectful and brief salutation. You can either invite your recipient to reach out for more questions, wish them success, or ask a question. It all depends on the motive for your email. If it was a long email it could also be a good idea to gently reiterate your main request, question, or motivation.

Email sign-off

When closing your email, you’ll want to choose a suitable email sign-off. There are different sign-offs you can use for each occasion, such as “best regards,” “sincerely,” or “with love,” but you obviously wouldn’t want to send the last one to your manager. Make sure your signoff is appropriate to your email content and your recipient.

Note:

A cool tip you can apply is to add a handwritten signature sign off.
A handwritten signature give your recipient the feeling that you gave the email special attention and a personal touch. You can  create one here.