The reader sees the address and the subject line before a single word of the message.
Most guides to professional email start at the greeting. That misses the two things the reader sees first: the subject line and the address the message came from. By the time they reach “Dear Ms. Okafor”, they have already formed a view.
This is a practical guide to all of it, in the order the reader encounters it.
Before the greeting
The address. If you are writing for work and your address is a nickname at a free provider, the reader has to do a small piece of work to place you. An address built from your real name removes that work. If you write for a business, an address on the business’s own domain does more: it tells the reader which organisation is speaking before they read a word. A business email address on your own domain is the simplest version of this, and it costs a few minutes to set up.
The subject line. State the purpose, not the topic. “Invoice 0412, due 30 September” tells the reader what to do. “Invoice” does not. Aim for six to eight words. Avoid capital letters for emphasis and avoid exclamation marks entirely.
The greeting
“Dear” plus a name remains the safe choice for a first message to someone you do not know. Use the surname with a title if you can find one, and the full name if you cannot: “Dear Amara Okafor” is better than guessing. Once the other person signs off with their first name, you may use it.
“Hi” is acceptable in most workplaces after the first exchange. “Hey” is not, and “To whom it may concern” tells the reader you did not look up who they are.
The opening line
State why you are writing in the first sentence. Not the background, not the pleasantries, the reason.
Weak: “I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to reach out because I have been following your work for some time and…”
Strong: “I am writing to ask whether you would review the attached proposal before Friday.”
If you need to soften a request, do it in the second sentence, not the first.
The body
One idea per paragraph. Short paragraphs. If you have three questions, number them, because the reader will answer the ones they can see.
Prefer plain verbs to formal ones. “Use” rather than “utilise”, “ask” rather than “enquire”, “help” rather than “facilitate”. Formal vocabulary does not make writing more professional. Clarity does. The Plain Language guidelines published for US government writers are a useful reference for this, and they apply to every kind of business writing.
Avoid hedging phrases that add length without meaning: “at this point in time”, “in order to”, “please be advised that”. Cut them and read the sentence again.
The close
Say what happens next. “I will call on Thursday to follow up” or “Could you confirm by Wednesday?” A message that ends without a next step tends not to get one.
“Kind regards” and “Best regards” are the safe sign-offs in British and American English respectively, and either is understood everywhere. “Yours sincerely” is for letters. “Cheers” is for people you know.
The signature
Four lines at most: your name, your role, your organisation, one way to reach you. Not a quotation, not an image, not a list of every social profile you have.
Keep it in plain text. Decorative characters and special fonts in a signature are unreadable to screen readers and unsearchable in an inbox, and they signal the opposite of what you intend.
Before you send
Read it aloud once. If a sentence makes you pause for breath, split it. Check the recipient’s name against their own signature. Check the attachment is attached.
Then send it, from an address that matches who you are.
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