Don’t let unprofessional emails cost you business or harm your reputation

Simple guidelines to help you write more professional emails

I'm Josh, a published author, technical writer, MBA, engineer, app developer, project manager, and consultant.


You want colleagues and clients to view you as the consummate professional, but bad emails can really get in the way.

With Mastering Business Email, you’ll be confident that your emails get read and that your colleagues and clients respect your work and respond when you need them to. You’ll get clear instructions on how to use each field of an email to maximize its effectiveness, and to make sure your message is received.

You’ll get the book, a quick reference guide, email templates for common scenarios, and even a presentation you can use to share what you’ve learned with others.


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What's included?

The Book

All three common formats (ePub, mobi, PDF)

The Quick Reference

One-page, field-by-field printable guide (PDF)

The Templates

Email templates for five common scenarios (Pages, Word, PDF)

The Presentation

To facilitate team discussion and adoption (PowerPoint, Keynote, PDF)

Chapter 1
Start with a useful subject

A good subject is full of spoilers. The better the subject, the less new information the recipient will find in the email. Your job when writing the subject is to spoil the entire email as concisely as possible, so make it clear, concise, and specific.

This really matters because the subject is the thing that will be displayed in every email app. Your first goal when sending an email is to convince the recipient to open it, and the subject is your best chance to convince them. Sometimes, they’ll see the first line or two of the email body in a preview, but they’ll definitely see the subject, so make it count!

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Get your free chapter

Get the first chapter—Start with a useful subject—for free.

You'll also get access to Email 101 - A free email course with simple guidelines to help you write more professional emails.

Chapter 2
Addressing your email

When you reply-all, imagine you are walking into each recipient’s office and saying whatever you write in the email. If the original email was sent by a Division President to the entire division, and your reply is "I’m available on the 25th", then imagine going to every desk in the division—starting with the Division President—and blurting out, “I’m available on the 25th!” Does Janice in Accounting need to know you’re available on the 25th? What about Bill in Sales? And Tom in the mailroom? No. They do not need to know you’re available on the 25th.

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Mastering Business Email covers...

  • Start with a useful subject A good subject is full of spoilers. I'll show you how to make your subject useful and searchable.
  • Addressing your email How to use To, CC, BCC, reply and reply-all to make sure the right people read and respond to your email.
  • Crafting an effective email body Once you’ve convinced them to open your email, it’s important to make sure they read it and respond as you intended.
  • Managing attachments How to make it clear what you’re sending, what it’s for, and how to use it.
  • Collaborating in email (if you must) How to use email for collaboration in a pinch.
  • Dos and don'ts, and formatting tips A few quick tips to improve your emails right away.
  • A field-by-field quick reference A skimmable reference to use when you're in a hurry.

For each topic, you'll get specific examples and clear instructions for writing emails that get read.

Chapter 3
Crafting an effective email body

...once you’ve convinced them to open the email, it’s important to make sure they read it and respond as you intended. If you want a reply, the body of the email has to make that clear and convince the recipient to reply. If you just want to share something with someone as an FYI, you still have to convince them to read it.

What does this look like in practice?

The text in each example below is exactly the same.

  • The "Before" example is written in a hurry It shows little thought for the recipient—it is not an effective email body.
  • The "After Mastering Business Email" example Again, this is exactly the same text. This is effectively crafted to be easily read and replied to.

Before

After Mastering Business Email


Mastering Business Email will show you how to get from "Before" to "After" so that your team's emails—to you, to each other, and to your clients—are easier to read and respond to.


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What are people saying?


Mastering Business Email makes my life easier. Using the email templates is like a weight off my shoulders.

Ashley Baxter

The Mastering Business Email templates allow me turn down work without the emotional back and forth that handwriting them over and over entails.

Chris Hawkins, Chasing Product

The email templates that come with Mastering Business Email are very useful and make difficult emails easier to write.

Chapter 4
Managing attachments

It’s tempting to just drop a file onto a blank email, type a name in the To field, and hit send. But what about the poor recipient who receives a blank email with no subject and a random spreadsheet attached? They might already know what to do with it, but what if they don’t? They’ll be stuck replying to your email to ask you to explain it.

Chapter 5
Collaborating in email (if you must)

Above all else, remember that your collaborators will not engage effectively if they have to work too hard. Don’t make them dig through multiple emails to figure out what everyone is talking about. And make sure that each collaborator’s contribution is easy to find and read.

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What's included in the full package?

Mastering Business Email is a package including a book and a toolkit to help you write more professional emails. The package includes all of the following...

  • The Mastering Business Email book In ePub, mobi, and PDF formats
  • One-page field-by-field quick reference To help you write more professional emails, faster (PDF format).
  • 5 sample email templates for common scenarios In Pages, Word, and PDF formats:
    • Turning down new business
    • Project status call follow-up
    • Requesting a customer testimonial
    • Cold survey request
    • Owning up to a mistake
  • The presentation To help facilitate team discussion (PowerPoint, Keynote, and PDF).

Buy Mastering Business Email now for yourself or your team

Large Teams—Full package

Get Mastering Business Email for your large team of up to 25 members or colleagues.

Get it for $149

Small Teams—Full package

Get Mastering Business Email for your small team of up to 10 members or colleagues.

Get it for $69

Individuals—Full package

Get Mastering Business Email for yourself and up to 3 team members or colleagues.

Get it for $29

Individuals—Just the book

Get Mastering Business Email on Amazon Kindle and read it with the free Kindle app.

Get it for $3.99

How do I share the full package with my team?

Depending on which full package you choose, you can share Mastering Business Email from 3 to 50 times. So how do you do that? Sharing with your team is really easy.

  • Download the full package .zip file When you buy the full package, you'll get a .zip file with everything in one place. Just download that file and you'll have it all.
  • Share the book, quick reference, and templates with your team Email the files to your team, or put them on SharePoint or Dropbox and point your team to that folder. They can grab which ever format works best for them and they'll be up and running in no time.
  • Use the presentation to facilitate team discussion Follow up with your team to make sure they read the book and to reinforce the concepts. You could assign each person a section of the presentation to cover on a team call or just review it in one quick session.
  • Everything is DRM-free Just download the files and share however you like. No need to mess with lincenses and all that stuff.

Chapter 6
Dos and don’ts, and formatting tips

DON'T include all of your titles, certifications, credentials, and degrees in your signature unless it’s germane to your specific business. Most people will just wonder why you need to broadcast all your credentials, and may wonder if you’re trying to compensate for poor job performance by bragging. "Dear Thomas, I would like to inquire about the refreshments you’ll be offering at next week’s Christmas Party. Will there be crushed candy canes at the hot chocolate bar? Most sincerely, Ed VanderBoreden, B.A., M.F.A., PMP, MBA" See what I mean?

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About Me

I'm Josh Doody. I studied Computer and Electrical Engineering at the University of Florida, graduating in 2003. Then I worked as an electrical engineer for a Department of Defense contractor for a few years before switching to project management and consulting in the software industry.

It wasn't long before I went back to the University of Florida for my MBA (while still working full-time), finishing in 2011.

In 2012, I moved into project management full-time, and have since managed a technical team and many projects big and small.

I'm currently writing Mastering Business Email to help people write more professional emails.

You can find me at JoshDoody.com.

Copyright © Josh Doody, LLC 2015. All Rights Reserved