Small Business Email Guidelines
For Successful Messages

Here are some very useful small business email guidelines I've picked up along the way.

1) Remember that your email represents YOU. If you send out junk, or you're constantly hyping products, or you write in a used-car-salesman kind of voice, potential customers will begin to tune you out.

2) The address box is probably one of the first things at the top of your email window. But it should be the very last thing you fill in. That way, you can't make a slip and send off a half-done, sloppy email to a few thousand people by accident. Not good for your image.

3) The subject line is your first and best opportunity to connect with your reader. It's truly valuable real estate. Make good use of it! Remember that there is a real, live person reading it at the other end.

4) In general, make all your small business emails as clear and as specific as possible. Keep them brief. Email isn't the place for lengthy, breezy chitchat, or for a 19-page, benefit-rich sales letter.

5) Be conscious of the "tone" of your writing. Your written words are all the recipient has to go by in an email. They can't see your smile or look into your eyes. So be professional in a warm, friendly, always polite manner. It's very easy to come across too cold, or too pushy, or too chummy. Getting the right voice is well worth your time and effort.
Your words are you, so be the best you that you can be!

6) Use the other person's name, but don't overdo it. I haven't tested this, but I think using the recipient's name in the initial greeting is plenty.
My defenses go up and I feel irritated when I'm meeting a stranger – in person or by email – and they use my name a lot. Behave politely and recognize them by name, but don't paw at them.

7) Run your email through a spell checker and a grammar checker. It's very easy to miss your own mistakes and omissions. Too many typos, or lots of bad grammar, and your readers will come to think you're either careless (which suggests you may not be very trustworthy) or not very bright (which means they won't value your opinions as much as you might like). You don't need to be a nitpicking perfectionist, but you do need to get it right most of the time. Again, your email is you.

8) Imagine that your mother, or a respected colleague, is reading the email you're about to send out. Would they be pleased? Or are you writing in a style or tone that you'd never use with someone important to you? Remember, once it leaves your computer, it could get forwarded almost anywhere! Perhaps even to your mother!

9) The signature line is as important as the subject line in a small business email. Always include a pleasant, professional closing, your name, and your contact information (briefly). It doesn't matter if a lot of that info is already in the header. Use it here anyway.

10) Finally, it will help if you adopt this attitude:

"I'm in business to meet the needs and wants of my customers."
"Does this email message meet any of the needs or wants in my target market?"

If not, you might as well be writing to yourself.

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From this page on Small Business Email Guidelines