Tip of the Week: Need to Write an Email? Keep These 5 Steps in Mind

There are good emails, and there are bad emails. You know them when you see them, but can you write an email that’s more likely to be read and acted upon? There are a few key steps to writing them more effectively. For this week’s tip, we’ll walk you through five steps to improving your emails.

Brief is Better
What’s your knee-jerk reaction to a long email? Best-case scenario for the sender, you skim it briefly before moving on to the rest of your inbox. You have other things to do, after all, which probably include reading the rest of your emails. Your contacts are in the same position, so it is better to keep your emails concise and direct. Any extra information that doesn’t serve the email’s purpose can be chopped. If an email is too long for you to read, it will be too long for the recipient to read as well.

Write a Persuasive Subject Line
Your subject line is your first, and only, opportunity to convince the recipient of your message that it is worth their time to read. You want to introduce the topic of your email in such a way that grabs the attention of the reader and encourages them to open the email and at least see what is inside. Give them a reason to open the email, not fluff.

Personalization can Help
If your email messages read like they could be sent to anyone, from any company, you need to revisit them. Each email that is sent out should look like the time was spent to create a genuine message, which means that you need to take the time to create that genuine message. You should always identify yourself and your company, especially when communicating with vendors, new clients, and prospects.

Check Your Spelling
If you want to immediately discredit everything you have to say in your email, try misspelling a word or using improper grammar. These embarrassing and reputation-harming mistakes are easy enough to avoid by proofreading any message that is about to go out before clicking the Send button. Furthermore, don’t write anything that may be conveyed as unprofessional, like a sentence with Caps Lock activated.

Business Messages Should be Professional
We’re not saying that you shouldn’t share the occasional meme or joke with your organization, we’re saying that some ground rules need to be established. Provide your employees with an outlet that they can use to share these kinds of casual messages, so that their business inboxes aren’t filled with clutter that distracts them from their work. Otherwise, your email could start to contribute to a lack of productivity and focus.

For more information on possible business communication solutions, including email, give Directive a call at 607.433.2200.