How to Format an Email for Professional & Business Purposes

The first email was sent back in 1971 and the tool has grown exponentially as a means of communication ever since.

It’s still a challenge to be able to craft the perfect email to a person you want to approach about business or work, though.

A clear email format helps your message look polished, improves readability, and makes it easier for the recipient to understand your intent.

To help you write an email that’s perfectly on-point so you can develop relationships and grow your business, we’re going to look at getting your email started well, writing great copy for the body of your email, what makes a strong call-to-action (CTA), and how to finish up your email professionally

With plenty of examples along the way.

Let’s get right to it.

Key Takeaways:

• Every professional email should include a clear subject line, a personalized opening, a concise email body, a clear call to action, and a professional sign off.
• Good email formatting helps you hold the recipient’s attention and communicate key information without overwhelming them.
• Short paragraphs, simple plain text, and a clean email signature usually work better than overly designed or cluttered emails.

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The Anatomy of a Successful Business Email

When did you last receive a really good email?

Maybe you didn’t stop to think about what made it so great at the time, but we reckon it will have contained some key characteristics.

A proper email format is not just about appearance. It is about structuring an email message so the recipient can quickly understand who you are, why you are reaching out, and what action you want them to take.

From an aesthetic perspective, it probably looked a little something like our sample email, here:

This kind of email formatting works well because it presents key information in a logical flow. The reader sees the subject line, the opening, the email body, the CTA, and the email signature in a sequence that feels natural and easy to follow.

An opening line, a strong body text that shows exactly what the email is about, a call-to-action (CTA) to ensure you get what you need from the email, and a sign off to round things up.

Before you go hitting that send button, here’s our guide on how to write an effective email for business outreach.

Author’s note: When we give you examples, there will be points where you need to plug in information. When we use {braces}, this signifies variables that you can have Respona populate. When you see [brackets],  this is text that needs to be replaced by personalized information.

Whether you are writing a business email, a formal email, or a cold email, the overall structure stays mostly the same.

Step #1: Choose a Subject Line

Getting your email into an inbox and to have someone open the email you send is probably the most challenging thing about sending an email.

If you want to understand how to format an email well, start with the subject line. It is the first thing your recipient sees, and it has a direct impact on open rates, email deliverability, and first impressions.

One in every six emails will go into the receiver’s spam folder and a lot of that can be due to the subject line.

We’ll look at “spam words” a little further down when we look at the body text of your email – the same words and phrases should be avoided in your subject line so you don’t bounce straight into a Spam folder.

Although it varies by region and by industry, on average only about 22% of emails get opened.

When an email does make it into your inbox, think about how you decide whether to open it – it’s all in a captivating email subject line.

Professionalism is key, which means avoiding spammy or boring words or phrases.

What does that look like? Here’s some best practices to work with.

Best Practices

It’s a topic of great debate in the email marketing world – how long should your subject line be?

According to a study by Backlinko, the ideal length of a subject line is between 36-50 characters long, if you want to get a good response rate.

Use your characters wisely and be specific about the content of your email.

One of the most important best practices is matching the subject line to the content of the email body. If the subject line feels misleading or vague, the recipient may ignore the email or lose trust quickly.

A formal email still needs to have an engaging subject line and a more conversational email needs a chattier one – use the same tone for your subject line as you will for the rest of the email.

Another way to get a good open and response rate for your emails? Personalized subject lines.

The same Backlinko study determined that a personalized email subject line can increase your open rate by 30.5%!

In Respona, you can add a variable into your subject lines so the receiver’s name or company can be added before it’s sent, like in the screenshot below.

By entering information in {braces}, you can have this field filled in with contact information by Respona before your email is sent.

Things to Avoid

As much as you need to be descriptive in your subject line, you don’t want to give the whole game away – give them a reason to click to see the rest of your message.

You probably want to avoid emojis and emoticons in your subject line, even if you’re writing an informal email.

A study by Search Engine Journal found that open rates dropped by around 5% when emojis were used in subject lines in a test covering over 3 million emails.

Don’t over punctuate your subject line either. A good subject line should be specific, relevant, and aligned with the overall tone of the email.

Too many exclamation marks don’t go down well with Gmail or other email spam filters.

Let’s look at some examples of subject lines that work.

Example #1: Suggesting a collaboration

Example #2: Fixing a broken backlink to your website

Example #3: Warming up for a sale

Example #4: Creating your digital network

From the subject, let’s move on to the opening sentence.

Step #2: Create Your Opening Line

When you’re not there to give your best handshake, you need to have a great opening line in your email instead.

Your opening line comes straight after your salutation. The opening line sets the tone for the rest of the email. In a professional email format, this section should quickly introduce you, reference the recipient where relevant, and explain why the email matters.

Keep your salutation simple, with “Dear Sam,” for a more formal initial email and “Hi Taylor,” when it’s less formal.

For formal emails, a greeting like “Dear [Name]” may be appropriate. In some cases, such as job application outreach, people also use “Dear Hiring Manager” when a name is not available.

Be sure to use the person’s name in your salutation so your email doesn’t look generic.

Your opening sentence should contain exactly who you are, and then use targeted information to explain why you’re emailing.

We’ve already seen how personalization in your subject line can pique interest, so continue that within your opening line – Backlinko’s study suggests you’ll get 32% more responses with personalized content in an email.

Making reference to a success or pain point that you understand within their organization straight off the bat will grab attention.

Here’s some dos and don’ts to look out for.

Best Practices

Be sure that you tell your recipient exactly who you are and why you’re emailing them – you only have their attention for a short time so need to get into details.

Personalization will make a big impression when you write your opening line.

Give at  least your first name in your opening line – you would do this when you meet someone in person for the first time, so it fits to do it in this context, too. 

Things to Avoid

As with all business communication, don’t get too personal when you’re first reaching out to someone – a reference to a recent promotion that was shared on LinkedIn is ok, but maybe avoid noting their recent holiday snaps that were posted on Facebook.

Time for some examples of good opening sentences.

Avoid overly generic greetings that make the message feel copied and pasted. Strong email formatting depends on relevance as much as structure.

Example #1: Working with a large corporation

Example #2: Giving a blogger a sneak peak at your product

Example #3: Promoting an infographic to a news site

Example #4: Suggesting to appear on a podcast

That’s the opening line dealt with, let’s move on to what comes next.

Step #3: Create Your Email Body

Now you’ve got your reader hooked in after a killer opening line, it’s time to get into details.

The email body is where your formatting choices really matter. Good email formatting makes the content easy to scan, easy to understand, and easy to act on.

The body copy of email messages needs to be clear and succinct, and get to the point!

No one has time to read lines and lines of information, so your email body needs to be short and snappy.

Using short paragraphs can make the email body more readable, especially on mobile devices and inside different email client layouts like Gmail or Microsoft Outlook.

According to research, the optimum email length that gets responses is between 75-125 words.

When looking at marketing emails, there’s data that says that emails with 20 lines of text will have the highest click through rates, as you can see in the graph below.

We’re looking at outreach emails and making personal contact with business people, rather than marketing, but it’s worth bearing the data in mind when crafting your email.  

What do you write in the body of your email?

Cover the salient points you’re trying to make, whether that’s telling the reader how you want to help their business or explaining what actions you want them to take and why.

Bullet points is an email formatting tool that can help keep your thoughts organized and easy to digest for the reader.

Bullet points and numbered lists can both work well when you need to present several ideas clearly. Just do not overuse them, or the email message can start to feel mechanical.

Let’s look at what you should and shouldn’t be doing in more detail.

Best Practices

Personalizing an email can make all the difference when it comes to engaging your reader.

When you get an email from someone who refers to you or your business – a success you’ve had or a post you’ve recently published – you give it more attention than something that’s a bulk email or a copy/paste job.

You can use an email template for your business email, but be sure to plug in variables that allow you to target a sentence or two directly at the recipient.

Use a spam check tool to check your text over for the words we’ve looked at, such as the one in Respona which gives the following information:

As well as keeping your words clear and simple, maintain an easy-to-read, flowing text.

It’s ok to use formatting such as:

• Italics
• Bold
• Underlining

To place emphasis on the most important one or two points, but don’t go overboard otherwise your email will start to look messy.

A strong professional email format keeps the email body focused on important information only. The goal is to communicate clearly, not to include every detail you know.

If you really want to get into the detail of how to format your email body text, you should adjust your line spacing to 1.3-1.5 whilst the optimum font size tends to be 12 or 14. 

Things to Avoid

Your email will be scanned for spam content before it even lands in your recipient’s inbox, so you want to avoid using words or phrases that are commonly filtered out.

This table is a good starting point for language you want to avoid at all costs in your email body text. 

Just like with your subject line, avoid excessive use of emoticons or punctuation. 

For most professional emails, plain text or lightly formatted text is usually more effective than heavily styled HTML emails.

Exclamation points have a place in the body of your email, but think about how you would say the sentence out loud.

If your tone of voice wouldn’t be particularly excited, an exclamation point is probably unnecessary.

Finally, avoid poor spelling and grammar.

Avoid grammatical errors, bloated wording, and blocks of text that make it hard for the recipient to find key information quickly.

Be sure to proofread the body of your email for typos and errant capital letters, and consider using tools to do extra checks, such as Grammarly.

Here are some examples to see what your text could look like.

Example #1: Connecting with an industry leader

Example #2: Offering your new product to a company

Example #3: Requesting a missed backlink opportunity

Example #4: Requesting to place a guest post

Step #4: Add a Call-to-Action (CTA)

After making your pitch to your reader, it’s now time to ask something of them.

Your CTA is the whole purpose of your email and needs to be a simple action that they can take, preferably from within the email, such as:

Your CTA is what turns a well-written email into effective communication. Without a clear call to action, even a strong email body may fail to produce results.

• Replying to your email
• Clicking on your calendar link to book a meeting
• Connecting on LinkedIn or other social media through an embedded link
• Completing a contact form through a landing page you create

Focus on just one CTA; too many options and you’ll not only confuse your reader but start eating into your ideal word count.

A clear call to action helps direct the recipient’s attention toward one specific next step. That is especially important in business email, outreach, and email marketing contexts.

The best email format for a personal connection is plain text-based – an image email can look like marketing and we’re looking to make a real business connection – so adding a text hyperlink is the simplest way to have your email recipient take an action.

What are the things that you should do and things to steer clear of?

Best Practices

Include an active verb as part of your CTA, so your receiver will know exactly what to do after they’ve read the great copy you’ve put together.

Examples of active verbs that should get them to take an action include:

• Choose
• Send
• Connect
• Book
• Read

Make your CTA easy – it should take one click for your reader to know what to do, anything more and you start to lose the recipient’s attention.

The best practices here are simplicity and clarity. One email should usually ask for one action, not several.

Things to Avoid

When using an external link in your professional outreach email, don’t overdo it.

We recommend using no more than three links throughout your email, so if you’re linking back to your recipient’s blog or website and your own, then consider if you need to include a calendar link when a simple request for a reply would work just as well.

Having your CTA fade into the background visually isn’t a great idea – highlight it by changing the font color so it stands out from the rest of the text, like this:

Some examples will help.

If your CTA is buried under too much text or too many links, it becomes harder to hold the recipient’s attention.

Example #1: Getting a reply

Example #2: Booking a call

Example #3: Making a connection

Example #4: Clicking on a link

Step #5: Add Your Email Sign Off

This part of the email is the last thing your recipient will read and needs to match the rest of the email in tone.

A sign off helps complete the professional email format and reinforces the tone of the message. A strong closing makes the email feel intentional and polished from beginning to end.

There are lots of ways you finish up your email, whether you’ve gone for a corporate, formal style or a more personable messaging, style there’ll be a sign off for you.

You also need to be sure to optimize your professional email signature; this says a lot about your and your business.

Your email signature should include the contact information your recipient may need, such as your full name, company name, role, and other relevant details. In some cases, adding your job title also helps provide context.

As well as having your company name and traditional contact information like your phone number, consider adding your professional social media buttons for LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

Here are some useful rules of thumb for you.

Best Practices

When signing off a proper business email, you need to try and match the tone of the person you’re contacting.

For formal email and business email communication, a sign off like best regards is often a safe choice because it balances professionalism and warmth.

If you’re emailing people in creative industries or who post jokes and memes on their business page, you should be safe to use relaxed email closings.

When contacting a person in a corporate environment, you should pitch your closing remarks to the formal end of the scale.

Even in an informal email, leave your full signature so that your social buttons are there along with your full name so you can be Googled.

It’s becoming more common for people to add their pronouns to their professional email signature, which will ensure that no one will misgender you.

Things to Avoid

There are some well-known phrases in the world of business that are seen as passive-aggressive or plain rude.

Clearly, you don’t want to use these!

Some examples of what to avoid at all costs would be:

• I trust this clears everything up
• I await your response
• Thanks in advance

Even “Best” is debated as to whether it’s short and sweet or rude and blunt, so use it with caution.

The final lines of an email can shape the lasting impression you leave, so avoid phrases that sound passive-aggressive or overly demanding.

Examples are coming right up.

Example #1: The formal sign off

Example #2: The semi-formal sign off

Example #3: The informal sign off

Example #4: The neutral sign off

That’s everything in this business email example, let’s check out the next step.

Step #6: Send a Reminder Email

Even with the right professional email format, some emails will not get a reply the first time. That is why follow-up is part of the overall email communication process.

Roughly 91% of business emails are read within 24 hours of being received and are replied to within that time period.

Even with that, we recommend that you should follow up your first email three to five working days after your first contact.

Your follow up email should follow a similar structure as the initial contact you made, although having two emails – one for those who read and didn’t respond and those who haven’t yet read your initial email – will be most effective.

We’ve got some guidelines on how to handle the follow up.

Best Practices

When you’re doing a follow up email when your first one was read and didn’t get a reply, you don’t need to go over your proposition again.

What you can do is consider offering something of value to the person you’re emailing to gain their attention.

Nothing of clear value to offer?

Professional flattery can work – find a way that your prospective contact has added value or influenced you and your business in some way and tell them about it.

If the first email went unread, you need to strengthen your subject line by checking it for spammy words and making sure you really hit the point in around 50 characters.

Continue to follow up – in the same piece of Backlinko research we’ve referred to earlier, it says that two follow ups definitely increase your overall response rate, as you can see below:

A follow-up should preserve the same tone, formatting, and professionalism as the original email. It should feel like a continuation of the conversation, not a completely new email template.

Things to Avoid

Don’t be too eagre with your follow up.

Although if an email is going to get a response, it’s usually within a day, that doesn’t mean you should be back in someone’s inbox too quickly.

You should also know when to quit; sending too many follow ups can come across as annoying.

Do not sacrifice formatting or tone just because it is a second message. Clear structure still matters in every follow-up email message.

Now for some examples.

Example #1: Follow up when the first email wasn’t read

Example #2: Follow up when the first email was read

That’s the whole process of writing a professional business email done; let’s wrap this up.

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Now Over to You

We’re all done with the fundamentals of writing and formatting a professional email.

A strong email format helps you communicate clearly, make a better impression, and guide the recipient toward the action you want them to take. 

From the subject line to the email signature, each part of the message plays a role in how professional, persuasive, and effective the final email feels.

That is especially true in outreach.

If you want to earn backlinks, build partnerships, and grow your authority through outreach, formatting your emails well is only one part of the process. 

You also need the right prospects, the right message, the right follow-up cadence, and a strategy that consistently turns outreach into results.

If you would rather not handle all of that in-house, our team can help.

Our done-for-you link building helps brands earn high-quality backlinks through personalized outreach, relationship-driven prospecting, and strategic content promotion. 

Instead of writing, formatting, sending, and following up on outreach emails yourself, you can rely on our team to manage the process from start to finish.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How do you format an email professionally?

To format an email professionally, start with a clear subject line, use an appropriate greeting, write a concise email body, include a clear call to action, and end with a professional sign off and email signature.

What is the proper email format for business communication?

A proper email format for business communication usually includes a subject line, salutation, opening line, body text, CTA, sign off, and contact information in the email signature. The structure should be clear, relevant, and easy to scan.

Should professional emails use bullet points?

Yes, bullet points can help organize key information in the email body. They are useful when you need to present multiple ideas clearly, but they should be used sparingly so the email still feels natural.

Is plain text better than HTML emails?

For many outreach and business situations, plain text works better because it feels more personal and easier to read. HTML emails can be useful in some email marketing cases, but heavily designed messages are not always ideal for professional outreach.

What should an email signature include?

A professional email signature should usually include your full name, company name, job title when relevant, and contact information. You can also include links to professional profiles or a website if they support the message.