Writing Business Emails

If you are an independent/freelance or small-company web developer, most likely you use email as one of the main avenues of communication with your clients. Here are my suggestions for using email in such a way as to keep your clients happy and your business thriving.

• Never write an email to a client when you are in a dead rush. I don't know where the idea came from that emails are for busy, busy people to fire off thoughtlessly, a bit like teenagers firing off text messages, but it's dead wrong when it comes to business email. The business world hasn't changed so much that it's okay for courtesy and clarity to go out the window. Take the time to think, compose your message and re-read it once before you send it, even if it's only a brief one.
  
• Use an opening salutation, at the very least, the client's name. Don't fire off emails that contain only body text. It doesn't hurt you to include at least "Mr. Lopez," or "Hello Nancy - " (for example) at the top of your email, if nothing more formal than that. Some clients will be old-fashioned and expect this; some will be easily confused by emails, especially when forwards and CCs are involved, and this will help make your communication clear. Others have no manners themselves, and your courtesy might possibly rub off on them! It only takes a second, and can make a difference.
  
• Always "sign" your emails, by which I mean, your name should be at the bottom of your message. Too many people leave this out, and again, I think that this is a terrible mixing-up of teenage-style Internet communication with business communication. If you don't use an automatic signature, make sure to at least take the 1/2 second to type your name. Personally, in business emails, I literally always use a closing salutation (I like simply "Best,") my name, and my company name or initials. This might seem a bit formal at times, but again, it only takes a second, especially if you use an automatic signature. For me, I feel that this clarifies that this is an official business email, and gives a sense of continuity and professionalism.
  
• Maybe most important of all: never, ever, ever, ever send a business email when you are significantly uptight or upset about something going on between you and the recipient. If things have reached that point, it's time to use the telephone or a face-to-face meeting. Email is a dangerous medium in this respect: it's quickly written and sent, but it's in writing, permanent - and, it lacks almost all of the human touch which can be conveyed through phone or face-to-face. Many business relationships are harmed seriously by discussing matters which have become tense or emotionally charged by email; it simply is a terrible medium for such communication.
• Be careful when forwarding! I have been amazed, embarrassed and annoyed several times in my business experience by people forwarding emails of mine - sometimes as parts of long chains of messages - to people I absolutely did not want to see my email. I suspect that some people think that forwarding long-chain emails is a clever way to keep many people "in the loop", but it's most definitely not clever, and is actually foolish and destructive, if it's not done very consciously and carefully.
  

Most of these pieces of advice fall into the category of not using email as a super-quick, don't-have-to-think method of communication. Although email is wonderfully fast and convenient compared with typing a letter or making a phone call, this is no reason to use it thoughtlessly, or worse still, childishly. Business is still business, and courtesy and civility are still important.