So many different elements go into forging a successful career. While you’re busy working on your ideas, your tech skills, and your strategies, it can be easy to neglect the basic stuff. Communication is a major but underrated factor in most jobs. While face-to-face or phone interaction can seem intuitive, when it comes to sending a professional email, there is a whole new level of etiquette and technique of which you need to be sure.

The 36 Fundamentals of Email Etiquette

While you can trace many aspects of a professional email back to the traditional business letter, times are changing and creating an effective email is discipline in itself. You need to pay attention to the subject line, for example, which will pop up as just one of many in the recipient’s daily inbox. Trying to get to the top of the virtual pile by using the word ‘URGENT’ in your subject line is not advisable unless you and the recipient are likely to share that opinion. People today receive so many emails that they have to prioritize the order that they read and respond to them. It can be very annoying to put aside what they’re doing to read an email that isn’t, after all, urgent.

[RELATED: The Three Crucial Steps of Business Etiquette]

You can, however, work towards making the most of the reader’s attention once you’ve got it. Opening with the purpose of the message, using numbered points to make it seem actionable, and leaving plenty of white space all make reading an email a less arduous or uninviting task. Hopefully, the recipient might even make it all the way down to your signature!

If you’re concerned that your work emails aren’t creating the impression they could, have a run through of this new infographic from The Business Backer. It contains 36 email fundamentals that you need to be aware of when you’re reaching out across with electronic mail.