When you’re writing an email, do you capitalize every word? Do you capitalize only the first letter of every sentence? Or something else entirely? How can you be sure which capitalization rules to follow without coming off as unprofessional? Let’s face it—email is a tricky medium. There are many different rules that must be navigated in order to keep your messages clear and concise for both your audience and the people reading your message. And it’s not just capitalization that we need to think about when we’re sending an email. There are plenty of other little things that can make or break how your message is received by whomever it is sent to. When it comes to writing emails, there are several intricacies of grammar and spelling that most people wouldn’t think about until they see them slipped up in a message from someone else.
Does capitalization matter in emails?
Capitalization does not matter in email addresses. However, it is important to use proper capitalization in the subject line and body of your email so that your message is clear and easy to read.
Why Does Capitalization Matter In Emails?
1. Capitalization is Important for Email Scanners
Email scanners, such as Gmail and Outlook, rely on capitalization to determine whether a message is a personal email or an official email from a company. Gmail scans the first line of your message as the Subject line and will automatically add the subject line to your email if it does not exist. If you do not capitalize your subject line, your message will be marked as spam by Gmail. Outlook displays the subject line in bold text when you open it. If you do not capitalize the subject line, Outlook will display it in plain text. These are just two of many examples of how capitalization can affect whether or not someone receives and reads your message.
2. Capitalization is Important for Search Engines
Many search engines use capitalization to determine whether a word should be included in their results. This can be especially important when sending emails to multiple people at once because some search engines only show search results for words that include capital letters. For example, if you have an email address like “bob@example” and “Bob@example” appears in Google’s results for those two words, Google would try to match those emails with both addresses instead of just one of them, resulting in unnecessary duplication of emails that could be sent from any one person instead of only one person’s address.
3. Capitalization is Important for The Reader
Capitalizing each word helps readers understand what they’re reading more easily because they have less to process. If a reader has to read every word individually, it could be easy for them to overlook a key piece of information.
4. Capitalization is Important for Human Memory
Capitalization can help readers remember what they’ve read by making it easier to recall the information later. If you have ever had trouble remembering a name or address that you saw in an email, capitalizing the name or address words will help you remember them better because they are easier to recognize and retain in your memory.
5. Capitalization is Important for Reading Comprehension
Capitalizing each word helps readers understand what they’re reading more easily because they have less to process. If a reader has to read every word individually, it could be easy for them to overlook a key piece of information.
When To Capitalize In Emails?
1. When Capitalizing is Important
Capitalization is particularly important when sending emails to multiple people at once. Some search engines only show results for words that include capital letters. If you have an email address like “bob@example” and “Bob@example” appears in Google’s results for those two words, Google would try to match those emails with both addresses instead of just one of them, resulting in unnecessary duplication of emails that could be sent from any one person instead of only one person’s address.
2. When Capitalizing is Not Important
In general, capitalization does not make much difference in whether or not someone receives and reads your message. However, there are some exceptions to this rule: Capitalization can make a difference if you have an email address with all lowercase letters like “bob@example” or if you are sending a message to someone who uses all lowercase letters as their email address. In these cases, it can help the reader identify which person they are reading the email from more easily because they are easier to recognize and retain in your memory.
3. When Capitalizing is a Good Idea
Capitalization can make it easier for readers to remember what they’ve read by making it easier to recall the information later. If you have ever had trouble remembering a name or address that you saw in an email, capitalizing the names or addresses words will help you remember them better because they are easier to recognize and retain in your memory. Capitalization can also help readers remember the purpose of an email. If you are writing an email to a person who is part of a department or has a particular job title, capitalizing the name or address words will help readers understand what they’re reading more easily because they have less to process.
Tips For Writing Emails With Effective Capitalization
- Capitalize words that are the names of people or departments.
For example, instead of writing “Bob@example”, write “Bob Smith” to help readers identify who they are reading the email from in their memory. Instead of writing “Customer Service” to refer to a department, write “Customer Service Dept.”
- Capitalize the first and last letters of names or departments.
For example, write “Bob Smith” instead of writing Bob@example. If you want to be really sure that your reader is going to know who you’re talking about, you can capitalize the first and last letters in their name as well: Bob Smith instead of Bob@example. This can also help readers if their email address is unusual or if it’s not clear what their job title is: Customer Service Dept instead of CS@example
- Capitalize words that are part of titles like “Executive Director” or “Vice President”. For example, Executive Director Smith instead of EDSmith
- Capitalize words that start with a letter or two (or more) when they follow some other word in a sentence: Executive Director Smith instead of EDSmith5.. Use proper capitalization where appropriate (e.g., use lowercase for department names). For example, use EDSmith when talking about an executive director and Vice President Smith when talking about a vice president. Use proper capital
Summary
Capitalization is very important for effective emails because search engines like Google use capitalization to determine whether or not someone has seen your email.
FAQs:
Q. Should I capitalize the first letter of every name?
- Yes.
Q. Should I capitalize the last letter of every name?
- Yes.
Q. Should I capitalize words that start with a letter or two (or more) when they follow some other word in a sentence?
- Yes
