Email is the most common form of written communication in the business world. Although emails are often seen as less formal than business letters, they still need to be professional in tone and structure, and are quite different from the casual messages you send to friends and family. However, business emails are not just letters sent via a computer – they have a style of their own which it is important to understand.

　　电子邮件是商业界最常见的书面交流形式。虽然电子邮件经常被视为不如商业信函那样正式，但他们仍然需要专业的语气和结构，与你发给朋友和家人的非正式信息有很大的不同。然而，商务电子邮件不只是通过电脑发送的信件，它们有自己的风格，理解这点很重要。

　　Length of a business email

　　注意商务邮件的长度

　　One of the most important things to remember when emailing business colleagues is to be concise. Many professionals receive a multitude of emails throughout the day and often don’t have the time to read thoroughly each piece of correspondence. Because the recipient may have to evaluate which incoming messages have the greatest priority, choose the contents of the subject line carefully and use it to give a clear summary of the email’s purpose.

　　给商务同事发电子邮件时要记住的最重要的一点是简明扼要。许多专业人士整天收到大量电子邮件，常常没有时间仔细阅读每一封信件。因为收件人可能必须评估哪些传入消息最重要，因此请仔细选择主题行的内容，并使用它对电子邮件的目的作出明确的摘要。

　　Email signatures

　　注意电子邮件署名

　　Email messages being sent outside of the company should end with a closing signature that includes the sender’s full name and business affiliation. Most email programs provide an option whereby a closing signature may be created and automatically appended to all outgoing messages.

　　公司以外发送的电子邮件应以关闭签名结束，其中包括发件人的全名和业务关系。大多数电子邮件程序提供了一种选项，可以创建关闭签名并自动附加到所有传出消息。

　　Reply vs new message

　　回复与新消息

　　It is good business practice to use the ‘reply’ option to an existing message rather than opening a ‘new message’ page. The ‘reply’ gives the recipient a link, commonly called a thread, to the original message, and a path to follow if several replies to one message pile up. Or, if the incoming message is lengthy and only certain items require a response, the sender can copy only those relevant parts and paste them into a ‘new message’, then key in the appropriate responses.

　　将“应答”选项用于现有消息，而不是打开“新消息”页是一种很好的业务实践。“回复”给收件人一个链接，通常称为一个线程，针对原始消息，以及一条路径，如果一条消息有好几个答复堆积起来。或者，如果传入消息是冗长的，只有某些项目需要回复，发送方只能复制相关的部分并将它们粘贴到“新消息”中，然后在适当的回复中键入密钥。