It doesn’t matter which job you do and which position you are in, most of us receive at least some emails each day. Knowing how to write an email response professionally is one of the must-have skills. If you are not confident enough in this skill, let’s improve it by reading this post.
1. What is a response email?
The name has already told us all. A response email is simply an email to reply to another email. In business, this is the type of email you will have to write every day. This could be a meeting confirmation email, approving an application email, inquiry response email, declining an invitation or contract email, acknowledgment email, etc. Therefore, our receivers could be anyone you meet while working: your partner, your customer, your boss, your colleague.
Since maintaining high standards in business emails is a sign of professionalism, email response must be written well in every case. Poorly structured and unprofessional responses can even potentially result in business failure. So how to write an email response?
Before we dive further into different types and formats if you’re on the way to learning English, especially for practical purposes such as writing emails, preparing presentations, etc., eJOY English App 2 is an excellent app for you to boost your English through personalized courses with real-life situations and AI Technology that help you remember new words deeply.
2. Types of responses and their format
There are many different types of email responses, depending on how you divide them. You can base on your intention, your format, or on to whom you are sending the email. In this post, we will list response emails into 2 types:
2.1. Auto-reply
In this technology era, you don’t need to send emails one-by-one to notify your customers that you have received their order or something like that. With help from a smart application, we now can easily send automatic responses. This type of response tells them that you can’t possibly respond instantly but you are on it.
2.2. Personal reply
This type of email is what we really need to learn how to write. Basically, in business, an email response will also follow the normal etiquette of writing professional emails. When learning how to write an email response, you should remember to include:
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The Subject Line
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It should serve two purposes: Delivering the information that you have received their emails and letting them know that their request should be replied soon.
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Ex: We got your email! Hang tight!
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The Opener
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Just simply think that this line is to greet your receiver. Of course, we should say hello by their name. Some software will help you insert your receiver’s first name into your email (from their email name) automatically. If not, a simple greeting such as “Hello” is good enough.
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Ex: Hello Mr.Smith, / Dear Mr.Potter,
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The Body: In this part, you will clearly convey why you’re sending this email:
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For auto-reply, your purpose should be to let them know that their request was received and that you’re going to give a detailed reply to help them.
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For a personal reply, the content can be anything depending on what the receiver had written in the last email. If they had asked/requested more than one thing, answer each question in a separate paragraph so your receiver can easily grasp your answers. There’re many examples below for you to learn how to write a response email.
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The Ending:
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“Thank you” is a must in almost every email. Some words such as “Thanks for the email!” is polite enough.
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You also can write a thank-you sentence and another closure such as Yours sincerely, Best Regards, etc.
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Read more
3. Examples of how to write an email response
3.1. Approving an application
“Dear Mrs. Black,
Welcome! Your application to ABC has been approved. We are very glad to have you as one of our new coders.
Mrs. Black, as we said before in the last emails, our vision at ABC is to be one of the best sites where provides online English lessons to students all over the world. With millions of users, our site needs great coders to maintain. And of course, we hope you will the one who can make this.
Here are your login details:
Username: Melina Black
Password: 12345678
The entire ABC team looks forward to a friendly and professional working relationship with you. If you want any information or support, please feel free to let us know.
Thank you.”
3.2. Declining an Invitation
“Dear Mr. Chen,
Pardon the delay in responding to your email. Recently, I have been in the process of setting up my own startup so I have been quite busy.
I very much appreciate your invitation to work for your company. However, as I said above, time may not be appropriate for me to accept your invitation.
Thank you for understanding.
Best regards,”
3.3. Reply to customer’s request for information about your product or service
“Dear Mrs.Jones,
Thank you for your inquiry about our new office cleaning service. We are currently providing top-rated service in the Chicago area. In order to provide you an estimation of the cost of our services and more information, I would like to schedule a meeting at your office on any working day.
Do not hesitate to email or call me via the hotline if you have any further questions. I hope we can provide our service to you soon.
Sincerely,”
4. Things to keep in mind
From these samples above, I bet you should’ve known how to write an email response effectively whether positively or negatively emails that come your way.
As a recap, we had better make sure our email replies are:
4.1. Clear and direct and unambiguous
You need to know what they ask you for and what you want to say in the email. Just write it shortly and briefly because there’s no point in writing thousands of useless words.
Make your responses one-to-one (between you and the reader)
You should definitely be the one who takes responsibility for your email response and speak directly to the receiver.
For example, instead of writing:
It would be appreciated if you are able to send the final contract tomorrow.
You should write:
I would really appreciate it if you are able to send the final contract tomorrow.
4.2. Remember to respond within 24 hours
In business, everything should be fast. Responding to an email within a day (24 hours) is good etiquette. Certainly, we should respond as soon as possible so your receiver will be assured that you respect them and their concerns are being heard.
In some cases, if the email you receive is emergency or powerfully expressed, a phone call may be more appropriate than taking the time to write an email.
4.3. Keep it Short and Simple
Just write straight into the main matter. Long greet and thank you are not considered polite. The length of your email replies can even determine if the receiver will read it or not. If it’s too long, sometimes they can miss the point you want to convey.
We hope that after reading this post, you will know how to write an email response properly. There’re still many other business emails you have to learn which also can be found on eJOY Blog.
