Making Emails More Effective

Did you know that the average person receives 121 emails a day? Do you know anyone who wants to receive more than 121 emails daily? Probably not. How do you stand out? How do you make sure your emails are read? 

 

Look at email through a different lens. What message do you convey when you end your email, "sent from my mobile phone, please overlook typos"? Simply because you use a mobile device to communicate, does that give you a pass for shoddy or sloppy communication?

 

The following can help improve your email effectiveness:

• Brevity is king. Determine what you want the reader to know and what is the call to action. Keep your emails simple, direct and easy to understand. Keep in mind though, that there is a fine line between brevity and rudeness.  One line or single word responses may also send the wrong message. If the responses you receive often ask for clarification, that usually reflects a communication problem that can be solved by providing more copy and content.
• Determine who needs to be copied. Pare down your list to include only those who need to be aware of the message.
• Lead with the most important message. Ask yourself if you have answered the following questions: Does the recipient know what I am asking for, and why should the recipient care?
• Does every email you receive require you to respond immediately or at all? The same can most likely be said for the emails that you send.
• Emails do not replace human interaction because they can't convey voice tone, facial expressions and physical gestures. Sending emails may be a cop out for not initiating a human interaction.
• Don't ignore pleasantries. Please, thank you, glad to hear from you, etc., help to humanize emails.
• Use the subject line as the call to action, such as "Need your help! Please select your vanity by Thursday if we are to maintain our construction schedule".
• In the first line of the email body, communicate what you want the recipient to do even if it repeats what's in the subject line.
• Highlight either in bold or italic type the names of those who have been assigned a task and the deadline for completion.
• Remember that email forms and reflects your business and personal brand. Take the same care and time that you would to produce a web page, ad or display that you use to make positive impressions.