How to Write Professional Email Openings and Closings

In this lesson, we'll look at how to start an email, what we write in the first sentence, and how to end an email with a friendly closing sentence. At the end of this lesson, you will be able to use what you've learned earlier in this module to write a well-formatted and organized email with an appropriate subject line and tone. In professional emails, we usually give the reason for writing in the first sentence. We often start with, "I'm writing to" and then a use of a verb phrase. Some common verb phrases are request, inquire about, inform you about, or form you of. As you've learned in the last lesson, these are more formal verbs. Here are some examples: I'm writing to request some information. I'm writing to inquire about your program. I'm writing to inform you of our new product. And here are some examples using the more neutral verbs: ask for, ask about, and tell you about. I'm writing to ask for some information. I'm writing to ask about your program. I'm writing to tell you about our new product. Instead of a verb phrase, we can use a noun phrase. After "I am writing," we can use a word "regarding" followed by a noun phrase. For example, I'm writing regarding my order. I'm writing regarding the advertisement. I'm writing regarding the package you sent me. In a more neutral style, you can use "about" instead of "regarding": I'm writing about my order. I'm writing about the advertisement. I'm writing about the package you sent me. So if you want to be less formal in the opening sentence, you can start with, "I wanted to" instead of "I'm writing to." Here are some examples: I wanted to ask for some information. I wanted to let you know about our next conference. I wanted to ask about your new service agreement. Remember that using the past form "wanted" is a way of being indirect. Sometimes you need to answer someone's email. So how do you start? Well, you can start like this: I'm writing in response to your email requesting information. In a more neutral style, you can write: Thank you for your email asking about our new software. Notice that the purpose of the previous email is given by adding -ing to the verb: I'm writing in response to your email requesting information. And thank you for your email asking about our new software. We can also use the word "regarding": I'm writing in response to your email regarding our new service agreement. Thank you for your email regarding your order. Or in a more informal style, "about": Thank you for your email about last week's meeting. A common mistake is to include your name in the opening sentence. It's not considered professional, but you can use your position like this: I'm the new head of marketing for Moonstone and I'm writing.