Business Email Format Ideas for Everyday Work Dilemmas

Quick Navigation:

Best ways to choose a business email format

Business emails are a popular choice for professional communications. It’s important to use a neat format that allows your recipient to quickly get to the essential information. Use a standard business email format stripped of unnecessary details so you can deal with critical situations efficiently.

When you need to choose a business email format, ask yourself these questions to find the right format for your situation:

  • Who is the key point of contact for this situation?
  • When eliminating extraneous concerns, what is the pressing problem?
  • What needs to happen to resolve this dilemma?
  • What is the timeline for this resolution?

A well-written email can communicate the key points of a difficult situation at work and direct employees to take the appropriate actions. You can use the basic formula below to write an email that will address most work situations.

How to format business emails for everyday challenges at work

Follow these steps to format a business email that will address most work-related challenges:

1. Write a clear subject line

Email inboxes can get cluttered. Make your message stand out with a clear and concise subject line that’s between three and eight words in length. Make your purpose clear.

2. Address your audience

Specify who the email is to, especially if you’re including more than one recipient. If your work dilemma affects the entire team, the most efficient response is often to send a single message to everyone.

For example, you could address your email with ‘Attention Employees’ or ‘To the Chicago Project Team.’

3. Include a warm and professional greeting

You should still be polite and professional, even if you have a challenging or time-sensitive situation at work. These kind words can soften the blow if you have bad news or encourage forward action if you need to push employees to meet a pressing deadline.

For example, ‘Thank you for your work on this project’ or ”We appreciate your patience with the recent delays’ will begin your message in a positive way that will help maintain your working relationship. Keep this part of the email brief. One sentence is adequate.

4. State your purpose

Get to the point quickly so you can address the situation as efficiently as possible. A lengthy message that covers all the whys of the situation will likely lose your audience. When there’s a problem, you should keep the focus on actionable points.

Explain that you need to increase output, but don’t use this email to detail the changes in business climate that have caused this demand. You can go into further detail at a later time. When faced with a pressing situation, your focus needs to stay on actionable tasks that will resolve the issue.

5. Provide supporting information

After stating the purpose of the message, you can include essential information that will help the recipient accomplish the task. This might include a link to important documents on the cloud, critical contact information and details on your deadline. If the job requires several steps, format this part of the email with a numbered list or bullet points. Make the information easy to read and understand.

6. Include a call to action

Conclude your email with a specific call to action. Tell your recipient what needs to happen and when. If you have multiple recipients, mention specific individuals here. Let each person know what their role is. This helps all recipients see how tasks are being delegated.

7. Sign the email professionally

Include a professional closing to your email. Include your first and last name, professional titles, and contact information such as your phone number.

Email template for work dilemmas

Workplace dilemmas often require you to act fast. Having a standard email format will help you respond quickly to any issues that may arise.

Subject: [Project Name]: [Call to Action]

Dear [Individual or Team]:

Thank you for your dedicated efforts on the [project name]. Due to a recent change, we need to perform a [clear action] by [date]. This will require three important steps:

1. [step one: i.e., stop the problem from worsening]

2. [step two: i.e., develop a solution]

3. [step three: i.e., implement the solution]

Please complete [the first step] by the [delivery time]. Address [the second step] by the [delivery time] and finish [step three] no later than [delivery time].

Thank you for your assistance with this important task.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your title]
[Your contact information]

Example email for work dilemmas

With a direct approach, you can neatly address pressing issues in the workplace in a professional email. This sample demonstrates how you can keep the focus on the issue and resolution without going into discussions of how the problem came to be. This solves the dilemma fast while diverting further questions about the issue until a later and more appropriate time.

Subject: Chicago Trade Show—Urgent Changes

Chicago Trade Show Team:

Thank you for the hard work that you’ve put into the upcoming Robotic Chicago trade show. Our allotted booth space is smaller than anticipated, so we must make some rapid adjustments to our presentation. Attached is a diagram of the booth area that we will have as well as a map of the overall trade show.

We must design an engaging trade show booth that will fit into this space, utilizing as many of our previous plans as possible. Sally, please design and deliver an updated floor plan for the booth by 2 p.m. today. Don, pack the appropriate materials for the new design and schedule this shipment to arrive on-site by noon Wednesday.

Thank you for your quick assistance.

Sincerely,
Alex Boone
Marketing Manager
555-555-4435 ext. 334