Tips for effective Business Communication

Useful Tips for Business Email Writing

“Communication”! That’s always a hot topic in our one o ones where our manager makes us realize the importance of effective business communication. Here are few tips for effective business email communication.

Now communication is a very wider topic where one part emphasizes the importance of communicating with the client which I’ve already discussed in my previous article ( please click this link for reference) . The other part comprises the most important thing and that’s “ what” and “how” to communicate. One very basic way of communicating is emails or any source of written communication where comes into the picture the importance of writing effective business communication. Here are basic points to consider while doing any formal communication:

Maintain the email chain
Email communication is like an open loop so while we are working on it we are actually working towards closing that loop. So it’s very important to use the proper context and to pick the right end and take it towards closure. Most of the time in a hurry we just initiate our own loop that causes 2 things:
A) Your new chain will lack the context and background so either you have to tell the complete story again or we just expect that the end-user knows it all and will understand everything
B) There will be a missing link in the whole communication loop and when you’ll backtrack to complete the whole story you’ll have to go back and forth


Right subject Line
One of my project managers taught me this; he actually said me to deliberately put the subject line as “Roadblock” or “Help needed” though it was a usual update. But that subject line actually did catch his attention when he opened his mailbox the next day and as a result, he marked that as important in his diary. That doesn’t mean I am saying to send every mail with explosive keywords but yes do use your subject line well as these are the keywords that are going to reflect your whole mail.

The “To” and “CC” recipients
Most of the time we just reply all and don’t actually observe who’s actually in the to and whose in CC. To the unknowns, the “To” recipients are actually responsible for the further action of that mail and “CC” people are only kept for keeping them informed. So please check your recipients and their category well before sending out any communication as you are actually passing the ball to someone else’s court so pass it well!

Structure
While composing your mail do structure it well. It should be like a flow first answer the “What” as in what is the problem. Second answer the “why” as in why the problem occurred and finally answer “ how” that will be having the possible actions we can take for the rectification.

Use pointers
Pointers are the best way to write a crisp and precise formal mail. The process includes first break your content into the defined structure as above and then move forward with breaking the content into pointers and finally summarise the pointers to keep it precise and clear.

Avoid attachments
If you are presenting any results then instead of going with attachments just copy and paste your results in the body of your mail. As it will not only add an extra edge to your content but also catch the viewer's attention.

Be careful of your tone
This is very important that you use your tone well as sometimes we don’t intend to say something but the words in your mail give that tone that just ruins the tempo of conversation. So be very subtle while writing to your stakeholders as there is a very fine line between asking and commanding, thanking, and acknowledging.

Basic hygiene checks
Sometimes we emphasize more on the important stuff that we ignore the obvious. So, before hitting that send button just check few basic things like your signature at the end, the format, dates, and any other basic stuff.