1. Recipient’s Email Address: Check the recipient’s email address for accuracy. One small typo in the recipient's address can cause the email to be rejected on the other end or even be sent to the wrong person. There is nothing more frustrating than receiving those bounced email notifications or thinking your email reached its destination when, in fact, it didn't. Why bother wasting the time to create an effective email if it never reaches its sendee. And, verify the accuracy of any additional recipients you copy (cc) or blind copy (bcc) too.
2. Attachments: If referring to attachments in your email message, make sure that you have actually attached the files. You can look very foolish if you talk about a vital attachment and when the recipient goes to view it, it’s nowhere to be found. Keep the file size of attachments as small as possible. Be careful if attaching files ending in "exe". These may be rejected by the recipient's email server as potential virus attachments (even when they are not). Also, respect the wishes of your recipient. For example, if the recipient expressly states that he or she does NOT accept email attachments, do not include any.
3. Subject Line: Write a summary in the subject line of your email. Make it as short and concise as possible. This way, the recipient has an idea of the purpose of your email before they read it.
4. Spelling and Grammar: Most email software programs have a spell and grammar check function. You should use these, especially if copying content from another program into the body of the email. Fix typos and minor grammatical errors (again, proper word usage and major typos or grammatical errors should be fixed during the edit stage).
5. Embedded URLs or Hyperlinks: Whenever you type (or copy) a hyperlink (or URL) into the body of your email message, you should make sure that the link is valid. This only takes a few seconds (and helps save the recipient the hassle of trying to deal with dead links). Once you type the link, highlight it, copy it, and then paste it into your browser’s address line. Press the Enter key on your keyboard and make sure that it loads the desired URL (whether it be a file to download, a web page, etc.).
6. HTML or Plain Text Formal: Believe it or not, there are still many people that prefer just plain text emails (or their email software cannot handle any HTML coding within an email). You should determine if the email recipient can (or even wants) to receive HTML or just plain text emails. Then, set your outgoing email options to meet these formatting requirements so your recipient will be able to read your message.
7. Digital Signature: You are writing a letter each time you write an email. So, be courteous and type your name at the bottom of each email message. Whether you include just your first name or your full name with additional title and / or contact information will depend upon the type of email you are sending. You might consider creating an email signature card that you can use for each email you send (for consistency and ease).