7 Templates for Mastering the Corporate Email

Email is its own entire language.

Oct 17, 2022

Our corporate jobs can sometimes make us feel like we are just professional email-senders.

Some days, we spend hours just picking through requests, follow-ups, attachments, confirmations, and slews of mundane logistics that slowly siphon away our time for doing any "real work."

Part of the reason for this time-suck is that many people are not formally trained in email communication, so there are subtle inefficiencies and disorganization that get amplified via the hundreds of emails sent across an organization on any given day.

Common faux pas include (1) too many words and blocks of text, (2) too many back and forth messages that create giant, unreadable threads, and (3) lack of clear and concise business writing etiquette.

By learning the foundational email skills and applying good habits, you'll not only make your own life easier and free up time to do better things, but also stand out as a polished professional who's two steps ahead of the game.

Links to each template

Any other email templates you'd like to see or have questions about? Let me know in the comments!

1. Asking a Question

To: [Colleague Liz]
From: Me

Subject: [To Confirm - Sales for Month of June and Q2 Presentation]

Tip #1: Subject lines should be as descriptive as possible so that in the future, anyone who needs to find the email again can quickly pick it out both visually and through key-word search.
If you're requesting the recipient to take some form of action, such as providing, confirming, or approving of something, then consider including that verb in the subject line to give extra clarity.

Hi [Liz],
Hope all is well. Regarding our monthly sales numbers, we were wondering if you could [provide the following information/answer a few quick questions below].

Tip #2: Wherever possible, wait until you've gathered all your questions to send in one email and use bulleted lists instead of paragraphs of text.
Try to limit yourself to 2-3 bullets if you can - like the examples below. Think about how tired you get when reading huge blocks of text and how often you start losing attention after just a few points of information!

Example 1: Final numbers for this month's sales
Example 2: We noticed a discrepancy between the numbers in the two attached spreadsheets - did you have any insight to this?
Example 3: Please see the attached final presentation for this quarter's meeting. Let us know if you have anything to add.

Please let us know if you have any questions or need any additional information from us. Thanks in advance for your help.

Best,
Me

2. Responding to a Question

Tip #3: When responding to other people's questions, unless it's a situation where you'd want to be overly formal, it's acceptable to type your answers into the email they originally sent you - like below. Just make sure it's in a different color or otherwise really visible so it doesn't get confusing which person is talking.

To: [Colleague Sam]
From: Me

Subject: [Re: Fwd: Quick question re last month's numbers]

Hi [Sam],

Thanks for checking on this - please see my responses in [insert a different color] below.

Regards,
Me

To: Me
From: [Sam]

Subject: [Fwd: Quick question re last month's numbers]

Hi,

Could you please confirm which of the numbers below we should use for the final report? Do you know where the discrepancy might be?

325 sales - from the auto-generated report
- This number does not include the additional sales we weren't able to enter due to a system outage early in the month.
348 sales - from the manual tracker
- This is the correct number - please use this one for the report and make a note explaining the additional sales.

Thanks,
[Sam]

3. Sending an Attachment / Submitting Materials

Tip #4: It can be tempting to drop an attachment in a blank email and just hit "send," especially when digital technology has made us so accustomed to easy file sharing and highly sophisticated search capabilities to locate the file later on.
However, there are two reasons why you should include a quick 1-2 sentence cover letter message in your email too. One, it serves as a written record of why you sent something on a certain date for a certain reason, and this could clear up confusion later on. Two, unfortunately not everyone is used to the same digital technology and some people are still used to seeing everything done in a more formal way, so this is an audience to keep in mind.

To: [Colleague Jay]
From: Me

Subject: [Final Sales Report Q2]

Hi [Jay],

Please [see/find] attached the final report for this quarter's sales. Let us know if you have any questions or comments.

Tip #5: For attachments that have large file sizes or unconventional formats, you may want to try sending it to yourself first to make sure it goes through and looks normal on the other end.
However, even if you can successfully send it to yourself, the recipient's email server might not be able to process the same file sizes. If that's a concern, then consider setting up a file-share link instead if your company uses a file share system.

We are happy to discuss at your convenience.

Best wishes,
Me

4. Acknowledging Receipt

To: Me
From: [Jay]

Subject: [Re: Final Sales Report Q2]

Received - thanks. Have a great weekend!

Tip #6: It's usually acceptable to drop the greeting line (the "Hi ____,") after a few emails back and forth.
For external communication, it depends on both the culture of your workplace and the culture of the other person's workplace.
For internal communication, you should follow your team's lead, but in general, people don't usually mind dropping the greeting after the first email. It saves time on busy days and it's one less line of text to process when you're thinking about a million things. It might even come off as weirdly formal if you rewrite the greeting line every time in a long email thread, so keep that in mind as well.

Thanks,
[Jay]

5. Following Up

To: [Colleague Lisa]
From: Me

Subject: [Re: Final Agenda - Q2 Meeting]

Hi [Lisa],

Hope all is well. Just a [friendly] follow-up on the [email below/final agenda] for next week's meeting. Please send us a copy when you can so we can confirm from our end.

Tip #7: Follow-up emails are standard operating procedure, so don't be afraid that you're offending someone by following up - they probably get these once an hour on a busy day. If you're nervous, you can add the words "friendly follow-up" just to be safe.
How long to wait before following up is such a context-based question that general guidelines probably wouldn't be helpful. Instead, try to gauge the appropriate timing based on the overall timeline - if it's been a few days out of a one-week deadline, or a few weeks of radio silence and the deadline is end-of-month, then maybe it wouldn't hurt to check in. As always, ask your teammates first if you're unsure.

Thanks,
Me

6. Urgently Following Up

To: [Colleague Lisa]
From: Me

Subject: [Re: Final Agenda - Q2 Meeting]

Tip #8: As a last resort, you could include "Urgent" in the subject line or select any "urgency" option on the email system you're using (such as the red exclamation mark ! on Outlook email).
This option is reserved for real emergencies, such as when someone (i.e., you) would get into trouble if a deadline were missed, so use your judgment here.

Hi [Lisa],

Hope all is well. Following on up the final agenda for tomorrow's meeting. We just need to take a quick review so we can sign off on the speaker bios and run it by our department head.

Is there any way you can send it by [early afternoon] today?

Let us know if there are any issues or questions. Thanks in advance for your help!

Best,
Me

7. Running Late

To: [Colleague Pete]
From: Me

Subject: [Re: Q2 Prep Meeting]

Hi [Pete] - Apologies, I'm [running a little late/in a meeting that's running a few minutes over] - I will be there in a few. See you soon!

Tip #9: When we're eager to make a good impression, being a few minutes late can seem like the end of the world! Spoiler alert: It's not.
Being punctual is important - it's a good, efficient practice that shows respect for other people's time as well as your own - but let's be honest, none of us can throw the first stone on this one.
As long as you're not planning to make a habit of it, if you find yourself running late, simply apologize once and then don't make it a bigger deal. As long as you acknowledge that you're being respectful of people's time (by apologizing just once), no one is even likely to remember the moment.