How formal do buisness emails have to be?

Question

I am a gr 9 student, and have been sending emails all my life. To my friends i just put the message in, but right now i have to send a formal email to a buisnessman, and i dont know what would be appropriate. Are headers and footers necessary?

Thx in advance!

Answer 1

It depends on the relationship you have with the person and who you are sending them to, just remember:

!) Emails don't disappear so what you write can be around a long time.
2) You really don't have control on who somebody else sends it to.
3) Spelling and grammer should be as good as they would be in a formal letter.
4) Concessions are made for the format to be a bit more loose in a person to person email thatn they would be in a paper letter.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Charles W, some formality would be appropriate. But since it is an email, you can make the formal bits simple.

Headers and footers that would be essential in a letter aren't needed in an email. However, starting with their name and ending with "Thank you" and your name is good.

Assume that he is busy. He won't have time for slang, long sentences or fluff. Get to the point.

I would also separate questions into a simple list:
What is it that you want?
When do you want it?
How can you be contacted?

Like that. If you ask a question like this, or like this, or like this, then he won't be clear what you are asking or how to answer it.

Read over a few times before you send. Spell-check.

Best of luck.

Answer 3

I would use the person's proper title, and your own, student or Freshman, Park view High school. Treat it just like a letter, Greet the person, and sign it with sincerely.
Limit, or eliminate the computor jargon. Limit the length of the e-mail, get directly to the point.
E-mails are only used for less formal communications, for instance, "I recieved your order on July 19th, I will get it approved. I will send a copy of your order and the confirmation letter via US mail." Or: "Nice to see you, Mr. Brown, at the seminar, I will send the copy of the brochure you requested via US mail right away. Let me know if our comapany can be of further service."
Never use e-mail to discuss confidential matters, or do something that would jeaprodize the security of your workplace, or the person's who you are e-mailing. Even though your workplace is your school or home computor, still be careful what you put in an E-mail. some corporations monitor their employees computor use and e-mails.and some send advertizements to any e-mail senders.And you would want not to embarrass your school by doing something not nice! You would never see the 10th grade! LOL.
If you wish to address the "letter" itself like:
Mr. John doe
Rayview Corporation
29029 West street,
Chica...
Dear Sir:
It is oK to do that, and OK to put your return address at the top of the "letter"
good luck.

Answer 4

It totally depends on what you're sending. If it is business related, such as a cover letter, a resume, a formal request from the company or other such business, you will want to make it formal. The rule of thumb that I always use is:
If Mr. ________ were to print this off and show it to other people, could the email stand in place of a normal document (that's word processed and printed)?
I hope that helps!