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Email Construction TipsNew Statistics show what we’ve already known for years….email consumes hours from your work day. In fact, recent studies show that on average, we lose 13 hours per week to email. And even more frustrating is the news that of the messages we receive each day only 10% actually accomplish something or provide value. Even if you feel those numbers are a stretch, it still brings to light that we spend time….a lot of time on email. In an effort to help you manage the chaos and put precious hours back in your day, we thought some email tips might help you. This is a two-part series. The first part will focus on the basics of email ranging from how to craft a message to ways to get more responses. The second article focuses on ways to actually help you manage your dreaded inbox. When to send email. Much like ketchup isn’t the solution for all bad food; email isn’t the best way to communicate in all situations. Below are a few tips that highlight when it does and doesn’t work.Do NOT send email when:DO send email when:Delivering bad newsBuilding relationship. (Comment on recent job or award)Message is long and requires discussionTopic is not time sensitiveSharing confidential informationSomeone is hard to reachYou are frustrated or angrySharing a fileThe “tone” of your message could be confusedWritten record of communication is needed Grab the attention of the recipient with your subject line.A good subject line is especially important if you are using email to prospect! But even when using it for internal or communication with peers, realize that most professionals receive between 40 and 200 emails a day. Remember their actual goal is to simply clean out their inbox and move on. Your subject line helps them prioritize where your email fits in their day. Studies show you have 15 seconds to get the reader to open your email. Consequently, be clear in your subject line and “tease” them to get them to open the message. If your subject line is vague — or even worse, blank — you missed the first (and perhaps final) opportunity to get your response. Some Examples are below:Examples:Quality:Explanation:Improvement:No subject LineWeakGives the recipient no idea of content or importance. Also poor ability to track “conversation” on either end.Need input for Tecta quote by noon.“Important-Read Immediately”WeakJust because it is important to you, doesn’t mean it’s important to the recipient.“McElroy truck at Home Depot Jobsite-no one there.”“Quick Question”WeakGives the recipient no idea what the question is about and offers no “conversation” tracking.“Quick Question regarding order for John Doe.” OR if question is really quick, ask it in the subject line. “Do you need screws with your order?”“Follow-up”AverageLet’s the reader know you are following up, but offers no compelling reason to open the email or “conversation” tracking.“Final decision on Hilton job?”“File you requested”AverageAre you the only one they requested a file from? If not, the subject is vague at best.“Requested file for ABC Supply meeting.”“Help needed regarding Hilton”GoodRecipient has no idea if you are a customer or vendor, so they open the email. But tracking can be difficult“Help needed regarding Hilton Columbia, SC project.”“Approval of McElroy Shop Drawings needed by Friday”GoodTells recipient the topic, what you need and their timeline for action.Clarification needed today for Tri-County Electric projectGoodTells the recipient the project, that an answer is needed and the desired timeline. Identify?yourself clearly.If you called someone you didn’t know well, you would probably say something like “Hi Frank, this is Kathi Miller with McElroy Metal.” Think of your email the same way. This is especially important when you are using email to prospect. In the first line or two, you should give a brief introduction of who you are and your purpose for the email. It may look something like, “Good morning-I work for a metal roofing manufacturer and am interested in learning how we may partner with you more.”NOTE: If you are following up on a face-to-face contact, avoid leading with something like, “you may not remember me.” This approach makes you appear unconfident and not memorable. (Both of which aren’t true!) But you can drop casual hints to jog their memory such as: “I enjoyed talking with you about your recent job at the chamber meeting last week.” Open your email with a question.This is hands down one of the most successful email tips I’ve found. Think about it, as soon as you start to read an email, what are you thinking? Probably what you need to do for the sender. By starting with a question, it helps the reader formulate their thoughts and reply more quickly. It will feel odd at first, but I think you will be VERY pleased with the results!Example: “Do you have time to sit down next week?” Then the body of your email describes everything you would want to accomplish during the meeting. As the recipient reads the email, he can easily evaluate if in fact he wants to meet. Keep the message?focused.We’ve all been there. You open an email that is SOOO long, you just close it and figure you will read it later. This is “death by words” in the land of email. People want to know “what do you need from me?” Answer this question as early as possible in your email. If action is needed, make it clear what the desired action is from the recipient. And if nothing is expected, say that! “No reply necessary.” It’ll be like music to their ears.While a short salutation is important to appear friendly, long intros can also kill your chances of getting a reply. Remember, most folks receive 40-200 emails per day. They simply don’t have time to read a long intro for each one. Not to mention, spending less time creating extensive intros save you time too!Understand that almost 50% of emails are now read on mobile devices. This makes being brief mandatory. Full screens of text can cause your recipient to move on and plan to read/respond to your email from their computer. And of course you know what happens. When they get to the office, there are 100 things more pressing than an email the size of a novel. To help keep email short, try to limit to only one topic per email. If you can’t get around it and need to address several points in the same email, number them and state in the intro that you have 4 points.If it’s more than 5-6 lines, ask yourself again if email is the right format.Make your emails easy to read and quick to scan.?Highlight keywords (bold or italic) for emphasis, without overdoing it.Use white space to visually separate paragraphs into separate blocks of text. Bullet important details so that they are easy to pick out. Write?short paragraphs, separated by blank lines.?Most people find unbroken blocks of text boring, or even intimidating. Take the time to format your message to make it attractive to your reader.Never use all caps. It can appear that you are upset or shouting.Distinguish?between formal and informal situations. While you may use and shortcuts such as LOL when writing internally, chances are that your correspondence with clients will look different. Always know the situation, and write accordingly. Close your email.The closing of your email is almost as important as the opening. The closing is your opportunity to motivate and remind your reader of what you need from them. Wrap up emails with a punchy statement, a leading question or a call to action. Remind the recipient exactly what you need.Be sure to thank your recipient for their help or input.Close on a friendly tone.Share your follow up schedule. Ie. “I know you are busy, so if I haven’t heard from you by x, I will give you a call to discuss how you want to proceed.” This alone can help you get a response, because your reader knows it’s likely they will need to deal with the topic (and you) eventually.End with a closing such as: Thank you; Best wishes; See you tomorrow, RegardsMake it Easy to Be Found. In your signature, include appropriate phone number; URLs for our website; your email address and path to LinkedIn profile. Make sure the links are functional so they can read more about you in one-click.Avoid attachments.While sometimes a necessity, realize that attachments aren’t the end all be all! You may get faster results if the reader can see the entire picture without having to click on something else. Beyond sheer convenience for the recipient, attachments can be troublesome for the following reasons:Requires the recipient has the correct program to open the attachment Consume bandwidthCan carry viruses Can be difficult to read on portable devices Proofread.Make sure your message looks professional and is free of typos. This is especially important if you are sending a message to folks you don’t regularly interact with. Look for ways to make it shorter. Read through the finished email and trim out words, sentences, and paragraphs that don’t add value. Also remove little words such as “a,” “that” and “the.” I personally find that I can remove 20-30% of my content with no negative impact.If you don’t have “Spell Check” enabled in your email program, make the change today. Consider showing a draft to a colleague for those really sensitive topics. Read your email with fresh eyes before sending. Will it make sense to your recipient? Check the Tone before sending. When talking to people in person, we can see their reactions and adjust our approach. Email robs us of this information. Consequently, your choice of words, sentence length, punctuation, and capitalization can easily be misinterpreted. Think about how your email "feels" before sending. If your intentions or emotions could be misunderstood, find a better way to phrase your words.Think before you click “Send.”Don’t pour gasoline on a fire without carefully weighing the consequences. Remember, the bad thing about email is that there is a written record of your words. And ask yourself if you really want to be reminded of your frustration years from now, when perhaps a big project or a promotion is on the table. Bottom line: If you find yourself writing in anger, save a draft, and go do something else. The next morning re-read the email and see if it’s still the image you want to portray. Chances are you will decide that there is a better way to accomplish your goal.Respond Promptly.If you want to appear professional and courteous, make yourself available to reply to email. Even if your reply is, “I’m out of the office for the day but will return emails by first thing tomorrow morning,” at least your recipient knows and won’t be waiting in vain for your reply but make sure to fulfill your commitment and respond as promised.General Tips:Don’t assume privacy. Don’t send anything via email that you don’t want circulated — with your name attached!Realize that Email is NOT secure. Your emails can be read by just about anyone with the desire. And there’s always the chance that your email is forwarded on to someone that you didn’t intend to see it.. Don’t be Rude. If someone emails you a request, it is perfectly acceptable to forward the request to a person who can help — but forwarding a message in order to ridicule the sender is tacky.Delete what’s not Needed. Before forwarding any message, always read through the entire string and ensure there is no sensitive or confidential information included. Cleaning up in appropriate or even non-relevant info from earlier email chains saves your reader time, appears professional and is just good business.General Tips (Continued)Consider single recipients. In today’s fast past society, everyone (including you!) is busy. And so when one email is sent to 2-3 people, the natural tendency is for each to assume that they are busy and someone else will handle it. Instead, try sending the email to a one person and putting the others on copy. That way everyone knows whose court it is in to handle but the information can be shared if desired with a “reply all” function. Avoid the Open-Ended. Try to make statements in your email instead of using open-ended questions. An open ended question begs discussion…which should be a live conversation instead of an email. Example: I think we need to get the material on a dedicated truck to deliver by the end of the week. If you disagree let’s talk. Instead of: What do you think the best solution is.Use the PS. Its human nature to be worried that we’re missing something so using a PS after your signature is a great trick to gain the reader’s attention to the end!Kill future emails. Ending an email with the following save you the obligatory “thanks” email in return. It’s one less interruption in your day and one less thing for the recipient to do.No reply necessaryFor your info only-no response neededSpend the time. Good emails take time. It’s not unusual for me to spend 10+minutes crafting an email especially when it’s to a new prospect or even a challenging internal situation. Think of it like this: the time you’re spending upfront will save you the time/trouble of unraveling confusion later. Add recipients last. We’ve all accidentally copied the wrong person on an email. One of the easiest ways I’ve found to combat this is to add my recipients last. It allows me to work on crafting the message and clearing out non-relevant info from previous emails first. Then once I know the full picture of what I’m sending, it’s easy to ensure I send the message to the proper folks. ................
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