To know how to reply to a forwarded email….Read on this article…!
Forwarded email, just like every other message gotten through any platform, require that they be either reply to or not. If you are opting for the former, you might want to take extra care of how you go about it.
A forwarded mail indicates that the sender is most likely, not the original composer of the message. Hence, when sending a reply, you should pay close attention to questions such as: for whom is the response intended? Should the reply be to the sender of the forwarded mail or the original composer of the message draft? Could the response perhaps be helpful to everyone to whom the same message was copied and forwarded? The answer to these questions will guide you to effectively channel your response to the right audience and, by doing so, bring about the desired outcome. To successfully achieve this, below are five notable steps to closely follow.
How To Reply To A Forwarded Email?
1st Step: Select a preferable response option.
Select a preferable response option.
Usually, there are three options on your email page on how to respond to your received mail. The alternatives are “reply,” “reply all,” and “forward.” The three have slight differences that make each of them unique in itself. Let’s see how they work!
The Reply’ option is used when you are sending the response to only the sender of the email. It doesn’t matter the number of people who also received the forwarded email, with the’reply’ option, the response message would only be sent to the sender (last person on the thread) of the mail.
‘Reply all’ is selected when you want your response to be sent to everyone who also got the same forwarded mail as you. That is, all of the recipients listed on the “cc” and “bcc” lines of the email you received (these terms will be defined later in the article).
The ‘Reply all’ function serves best when the message you want to communicate would be useful to all those attached to the message’s thread. Let’s say the mail you received was forwarded to every member of a small team, and along with it, it was required that a response should be directed to the entire team, then the reply all function comes in quite handy. The third response you could choose to give to the received mail is the “forward” option. This would direct the same mail you have received to whoever’s mail you fill in as the recipient. Forwarding is great when you feel it is important for the person you are forwarding to have the exact content of the mail as received by you. So, based on who your response is meant for, you proceed to select one of the three response options.
2nd Step: Compose your message.
Once you are not opting for the ‘forward’ function, then it is necessary to have a draft of what you’ll be responding to. What are those things you should watch out for when drafting your response? Ensure the major message you are trying to pass along is identified. As much as it is good that you include a proper greeting, you should be careful not to let it overwhelm the core of your message. Simply put, draft your message clearly and concisely. As much as possible, endeavor to include just the essentials. Why is this? Unnecessary content may not only bore the recipient(s), but it may also obscure the main point of the message, making it difficult to identify.
3rd Step: Edit the mail subject.
Once you’ve been able to successfully draft your response, you can then go ahead and edit the subject or title of the message. By default, every response to an email usually comes alongside the prefix “RE:”, before the subject itself. This is to indicate that it is in response to an initially sent message. However, you can go ahead and delete it and replace it with a clearer subject heading that reflects the details included in the body of the mail. Something like “Quotation for goods shipment as requested.” Another thing to avoid in the mail’s subject is lengthy sentences. The title should just sum up the message of the mail.
4th Step: Add or remove recipient(s).
If you have selected the ‘reply’ option, then the recipient of your mail by default is the person who forwarded the mail to you. If it were the ‘reply all’ option, then every person on the thread would receive your response. In cases where you might want to make others outside the thread receive your mail, you go ahead and add their emails. Also, for those on the thread that you wouldn’t want to receive your response, you click on their email name right in the recipient box and delete it. The “to,” “carbon copy,” and “blind carbon copy” boxes are the three components of the recipient box. These three perform the same function of sending out the mail uniquely. “To” can be used to email an individual or multiple contacts. “cc,” which stands for “carbon copy,” is mostly used for emailing several contacts simultaneously. That is, in the “cc” box, you can add as many email addresses as you want to which you would want to send the message at the same time. For the “bcc”, meaning “blind carbon copy”, you can also add as many recipients as you would want to copy to. However, the difference between the “cc” and “bcc” options is that, with the “cc,” all recipients can see the email addresses of the others who got your response. In other words, the email addresses are made public to everyone on the thread. On the other hand, with “bcc,” the email addresses of the other recipients are not made visible to each recipient.
5th Step: Send your Response!
Now that you’ve got your response drafted, the mail subject edited, and the recipient (s) carefully selected, what is next to do? Go ahead and click send! There you have it! You carefully sent a response to the mail forwarded to you!
As this piece is brought to a wrap, it should be noted that the first four steps do not necessarily have to be followed in the same order as highlighted above, but each of them has to be carried out to affect your reply and make it worthwhile.
Conclusion:
The forwarded mails need to be replied with utmost care because it can be that the sender is not himself sending it. The article provides the step to reply to it.
