Photo credit: Agriculture And Stock Department, Publicity Branch [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
If you send emails through the SISC or FSC, you can now use HTML formatting to make your messages clearer and easier to read.

If you’ve had any issues with the email editor, visit the SIS Updates Blog for some quick fixes to common problems.

Here are some simple tips:

Writing Effective Emails

1. Do you need to send that email?

Students have told us that while they feel that UBC sends them too many emails, they do appreciate messages that are directly related to them. Before you send your email, think about whether it will provide value or be relevant to students. For example, can you save the email and combine it with another message that will be going out in a few days?

2. Make the most of subject lines

Never leave the subject line blank – it’s a good opportunity to let recipients know what the email is about. If there’s a required action, response, or deadline, include it in the subject.  For example: “Reminder: Tuition fee deadline Sept 7”.

3. Make your email scannable

We all scan emails. To ensure that recipients can find the important information, keep your sentences simple and to the point, and think about the following:

  • Use bullets, bolding, and headers to make the information easy to scan
  • When you can, link to existing web content instead of duplicating it in the email
  • Break it up and try to avoid long paragraphs or blocks of text

4. Proofread

It’s always worth taking a minute to make sure there aren’t any spelling or factual errors in your email. It’s also a good opportunity to read the email for comprehension, clarity, and tone.

5. Be friendly

In Enrolment Services, we send a lot of emails with important policy and regulatory information. Students will be more likely to absorb the information if they feel like there’s a person on the other end of the email, so try to keep the tone conversational and professional.

  • Use salutations (even if it’s just “Dear student” for those huge bulk emails).
  • Use the first person. For example, “We’ll email you a confirmation of your application” instead of “Students will receive a confirmation of their application from Enrolment Services”.
  • If there’s helpful information online that may provide helpful context to students, provide a link to it.
  • Wherever possible, provide a contact, even if it’s a link to a contact page online.