5 Steps to writing better emails
How to send emails that people will want to respond to.
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Email has long been an essential tool for communication, but that’s not to say it’s been the most effective.
Studies have found that email can be the culprit of confusion, tension and other negative consequences in the workplace. Not to mention, it’s low-key addictive.
A recent survey found that most professionals spend an average of 4.1 hours per day writing, responding to and managing emails.
We spend a lot of time on email — so how can we get the best results from it?
Here is a 5-step plan to help you craft and send more effective emails:
1. Craft a clear Headline
We judge a book by it’s cover, and we ignore or respond to emails by their headline. So what makes a good headline and subject line? Two things…
CURIOSITY
A study by Psychologist George Lowenstein found that people are more likely to read emails with subject lines that create curiosity.
When an information gap exists it creates a tension, whereby the reader is curious to get the missing piece of information in order to ‘close the gap’ and be satisfied.
Curiosity Example Headlines:
We’ve been waiting for MONTHS to announce this …
Black Friday Secrets Revealed!
1 in 4 employees are about to quit… Here’s what you can do about it.
When to use curiosity: Sales and marketing campaigns, invitations, events etc.
UTILITY
A headline that lacks utility will confuse the reader and get a low rate of response.
Consider this example: Fred sends an email to John: “FWD: John… your thoughts?”
John looks at this headline and (a) has no clue what it’s regarding, (b) whether it’s urgent or not, and (c) what specific action is required.
John will ignore this email for the moment and more than likely forget about it altogether by day’s end, all because Fred’s subject line lacked utility. Bad Fred.
Utility Example Headlines:
(a) Important: Read this before you submit your tax. Due: Nov 30.
(b) Action Required: <Name> — Submit your tax before November 30.
When to use utility: Non-sales emails, internal emails, whenever you need to inform someone of important and/or urgent information with required action.
2. Start with a Call To Action
When you open an email, you brain is immediately scanning to see what the call to action is, is it urgent, is it even clear what this is about? You are internally processing the question of “can I deal with it now, later or at all?”.
Stating a clear Call To Action (CTA) at the header of the email, before giving the context and run-down of events, will make it easy for the reader to ‘get to the point’.
An email with a clear call to action will increase the chances of success for the sender desiring action to be taken.
Example CTA: “John, can you meet me tomorrow at 9am in the Boardroom? See details below…"
In this example, the sender may have paragraphs of information below pertaining to the boardroom meeting. Adding the CTA to the top of that information priorities the key action over the minor details, making it easier for John to respond to.
3. Quickly define The Stakes
Communicating what’s at stake helps the reader quickly assess the urgency and seriousness of the email and what potential consequences there are for not taking action by a certain timeframe.
Example: “Hi Julie, please send us your last 2 payslips. If we don’t receive these by 5pm to the bank your home loan settlement will be delayed.”
What’s at stake if the reader does not take action? Make it clear and your emails will get better and faster responses.
4. Check your tone, and spelling!
It can be easy to get to the end of composing an email and hit the send button, only to stop, go back to the sent inbox and wonder… could I have said that better?
We’ve all had ‘email regrets’ — sending an email too soon, wishing we had paused for a minute or two longer to fix our tone or typos.
One solution is to use a spell-check tool like Grammarly. This tool can check for
Grammar
Punctuation
Style
Sentence structure
Readability
Eliminating sentence and spelling errors isn’t the only thing to review… How you say something, your tone, is just as important.
Words can mean various things to different people, so it’s important to stop and think about the receiver. How will they likely interpret what you’re saying?
Example: “You screwed up and now the invoice is wrong” vs “It looks like there’s a mistake on the invoice.” (two very different tones!)
5. Send on Schedule
You’re ready to send, but hold up — is now the best time? We spent so much time thinking about what to say, and yet we often don’t think about when to say it.
Take a moment to consider:
Is this message urgent for the reader?
Am I sending this email at the most effective time of the day?
Would this be better received at a later time or date?
In many cases, the emails we send and receive don’t require an immediate response.
This creates space to pick a strategic time to send your message and potentially improve how it’s received. Most inbox tools, such as Outlook, allow you to schedule ahead, even down to the minute.
Here are some tips:
Avoid rushing to send an email or reply.
Sometimes scheduling ahead gives you time to rethink what you’ve said or adjust to new information.
Avoid sending emails straight after lunch hour or right before close of business.
If it’s late in the afternoon, consider scheduling the email for first thing in the morning, so that it’s at top of mind.
I hope these steps help you write more clear and compelling emails that get you results.
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