- Hi, everybody, and welcome back to English for Professionals. I'm Derek, and I'm here with another short lesson for you busy people. In this Business English Emails Lesson, I'm going to show you the differences between formal, semi-formal and informal emails. 

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Before we get started, if you need English for work and you're interested in short lessons to help you with your business English, then subscribe to my channel now. Hit the red button and don't forget to click on the little bell. That way, you'll be notified every time I upload a new lesson. And now, let's get started. 

We're going to do three things in this lesson. First of all, we'll talk about the different kinds of people we write emails to, and we'll categorize them into formal, semi-formal and informal. After that, I'll show you example emails in each style, and at the end of the lesson, I'll show you lots of extra example phrases in each style. 

Let's start with formal emails. We usually use a formal style when we write to new customers, suppliers, and business partners, and also to people who are in higher positions, managers, bosses and directors. We usually use a semi-formal style with colleagues we know, but not very well, and also with existing customers, suppliers and business partners. We use an informal style when we write to friends and family, and also to colleagues or business partners we know very well and work with on a regular basis. 

The most common style to use in business is the semi-formal style, but of course there are exceptions. For example, it's quite possible that we could use an informal style to write to a customer or a supplier, but only if we know that person very well, and if we have a good and long relationship with them. And one more thing. The style you use also depends on the culture in your company, as well as the business culture in the countries you work within. So you need to be aware of those factors. 

And now it's time to look at some examples. We'll start with the formal style, and the email we're going to look at is a follow-up email after a formal business meeting with a potential new business partner. We start with a formal greeting. "Dear Ms. Amer, First of all, I would like to thank you for the productive meeting on Monday. It was lovely to meet you and learn more about your business." Here, we have formal phrases like "I would like to," and "it was lovely to meet you." 

"As discussed in the meeting, I am sending you the additional information about ... that you requested. I have attached a document with all of the details." And here we have more examples of very formal phrases, "as discussed in the meeting," "that you requested," and so on. "If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me." Again, a typical formal style. "I look forward to our next meeting on January 10th. Best regards, Derek Callan." 

"I look forward to" and "best regards" are typical phrases we use to close a formal email. So there we have the formal style. Now let's compare that one to a semi-formal version of the same kind of email. In this case, it's a follow-up email after a less formal meeting with a potential new business partner. And as you'll see in a moment, we're already using first names. 

"Dear Nidra, first of all, I just wanted to say thanks for the productive meeting on Monday. It was great to meet you and find out more about your business." So here, you can already see a big difference. First of all, first names. So imagine that first meeting was less formal, and by the end of the meeting, we were using first names. 

Also, in that first line, we don't have the "I would like to." We have, "I just wanted to say." And also, rather than saying "It was lovely to meet you and learn more about your business," we have the less formal, "It was great to meet you and find out more about your business." 

"I've attached a document with the extra information about ... that you asked for." Here, we see more examples of a less formal style. Instead of "I have attached," We use the short form, "I've attached." We don't use words like "additional information" or "that you requested." We use less formal style, "extra information that you asked for." 

And now let's look at the last part of the email. "Please let me know if you need any more information. Looking forward to our next meeting on January 10th. Regards, Derek." So again, much less formal. "Please let me know" instead of the very formal "please do not hesitate to contact me." 

"If you need any more information, instead of "if you require any further information." And also, in the closing part, "looking forward to," instead of "I look forward to." And then we have "regards," which is slightly less formal than "best regards." 

So there, we can see the differences between the very formal and the semi-formal. And as I said before, the semi-formal formal is the one we use most often in business correspondence. But of course, as I said earlier, it always depends on who you're writing to. Company culture, the business culture, those are things you need to be aware of. 

Now, let's take a look at the comparison between the semi-formal and the informal style. This time, we have another follow-up email, but it's after a very informal meeting with a colleague you know very well. "Hi, Tom, Just a quick mail to say thanks for the meeting on Monday and to send on that extra info you asked for. See attachment." 

The first difference we can see here is in the greeting. "Hi, Tom." "Hi" is less formal than "dear." And then also in the start of that first sentence, "just a quick mail to say." This is a typical way to start an informal email when you're giving someone information. 

And then we also have phrases like "to send on that extra info." Very informal. Let's continue. "If you need anything else, just get in touch." So, again, very informal expression here, "just get in touch." "See you at the next meeting. Cheers, Derek." So, typical way to end an informal email. "See you at the next meeting. Cheers." "Cheers" can mean "goodbye." It can also mean "thank you." This is just one possibility. If you want to see more ways to end an informal email, check out my other lesson, 17 Ways to End an Email. 

Now it's time for the last part of the lesson, where I show you more examples of typical email phrases for formal, semi-formal and informal emails. Let's start with friendly openings. It's often a good idea to use one of these after your greeting and before you say why you are writing. "I hope everything is going well." Semi-formal, "I hope all's well." And in the informal version, "Hope all's well," or nothing. We don't always need to include a friendly opening, especially to people who we are writing to on a daily basis or who we write to very often. 

And now an example for saying why you are writing. "I am writing to update you on..." semi-formal, "I just wanted to update you on..." and in the informal version, "Just wanted to keep you in the loop on..." "Keep you in the loop" is a very informal phrase, which means to keep somebody informed about the latest information about something. 

Requests. Formal style, "Would it be possible to..." Semi-formal, "Is there any chance you can..." and the informal, "can you..." Making arrangements. "I was wondering if you would be available for a meeting next..." Semi-formal, "Would you be available for a meeting next..." and informal, "Can we meet next..." 

Confirming arrangements. "I would like to confirm our meeting." "just want to confirm our meeting." "I'll be there." Giving information. "I am afraid I will not be able to..." "I'm afraid I won't be able to..." And "Sorry, but I won't make it to..." And one more example. Closing line referring to next contact. "I look forward to hearing from you soon." "Looking forward to hearing from you soon." And "Talk to you soon." 

So that brings us to the end of another short lesson. I hope you liked it and I hope you found it helpful. Don't forget to check out all of my other email lessons here on YouTube. I'll leave a link in the description. If you did like the lesson, hit the Like button and share with your friends and colleagues. Subscribe to my channel if you haven't done that, and don't forget to join my email list. 

Every two weeks, I send out my free vocabulary email with additional business English, words in the news, and everyday English for you to learn. The link is also in the description below. Thanks a lot for watching, and talk to you soon.