Emails Worth Responding To

Most of us receive way more emails than we can ever hope to keep up with. I feel like I’m constantly editing my inbox (delete, delete, delete) and truth be told, most of the time I’m simply highlighting entire blocks of emails (especially if they look like ads or newsletters) and hitting delete. This act of de-cluttering is also the reason I stopped writing a newsletter and switched to blogging. Why add more stuff / junk to someone else’s inbox?

On the other hand, emails are invaluable touch points to contact someone who may not, for whatever reason, be answering their phone.

What’s the best way to make emails professional, easy to read and worth responding to? I had to learn this etiquette myself, as my novice email tendency was to ramble on and on, and on…

Here are five strategies (four by Michael Hyatt and one by me) for you to keep in mind when writing emails:

1. Put their name in the “To” field. This should be obvious, but if you want a response from a specific individual, put that person’s name in the “To” field and that person’s name alone. If there is more than one name, he or she might assume that one of the others will answer. Also, never use the “CC” field for any purpose other than FYI. (Note: I even have an email rule that sorts these messages into a separate folder. I assume these are lower priority and only look at this folder once a day).
2. Double-check the email address. A few months ago, one of my colleagues wasn’t getting a response from one of our authors. He said, “I’ve emailed him five times.” I was a little irritated myself, so I said, “Forward me your last email and I will follow-up.” When I got the email, I noticed that my colleague had one character missing in the email address. I asked him to re-send the original email with the correct address. The author responded within the hour.
3. Put your question at the top. Writing a good email is like writing a good blog post or magazine article. As they say, “Don’t bury the lead.” Put the most important information (the “lead”) in the very first paragraph. Don’t assume that the recipient will read beyond that. You can use the rest of the email to provide support or background information.
4. Keep your message short. Long emails only encourage procrastination. Think of your own behavior. What happens when you get a long email? Right, you save it for later. Unfortunately, many people never get around to “later.” If you keep the message short, you make it easy for the other person to digest what you have said inviting them to respond now.
5. When you are sending professional correspondences, make sure your signature / contact information is in the email. This makes it much easier if the person receiving the email needs to quickly call with questions or verification.

And while we’re talking emails, let’s take a moment and look at some examples of good and bad subject lines from Clay Hebert:

Examples of horrible, time wasting subject lines:
- Website
- My flight
- Meeting
- Please review
- Status?
- Thx (or thanks)

Here are those same subject lines, improved:
- So many orders…our website is down!
- Confirmed MSP to LGA this Friday – arrive 10:20 p.m.
- Friday meeting with Ms. Alba – Les Halles or Bridge Cafe?
- Please review this Gladwell article and reply by EOD
- Status update on Rodriguez steroid story? (due 3:00 p.m. today)
- Thanks for speaking at our conference – rave reviews

Emails are a quick and easy way to correspond and emailing can save a lot of time. Make sure you are using email to your best advantage!

Comments

[Lindsay Colitses]

I really like your idea about having a list of relevant subject lines to draw from or use for inspiration. Saves time and brain power - excellent idea!

[Richard Sherman]

Excellent and concise! After all these years that we have been living with email, I am regularly amazed how often I have to coach people about it. And then turn the coaching on myself as well, as I tend to go on and on.

One additional bit that I find helpful for subject lines is to use some standard terms to prompt you to tell the reader right from the start what it's about. I keep a handful of these where I can refer to them and if I find my subject is too vague, I use them for inspiration.

Submission for...
Request for...
Information about...
Follow up regarding...

Thanks!
Richard