Effective emails in the Age of Interruption

Part 2: Content is King (or Queen): 5 ways to write better email content — and slim down your inbox

Ping. An email lands in your inbox: “How much do your Class A Gold Widgets cost?”

You fire back a reply: “Thank you for your query. Our Class A Gold Widgets cost $19.99 each. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us.”

You go back to writing a sales brochure for the new 5-Star Platinum Widget.

Ping. “What other kinds of widgets do you sell, and what do they cost?”

You again: “Thank you for your query. We also sell Bronze Widgets at $9.99 and Silver Widgets at $14.99. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us.”

  

Ping.

Your teeth clench.

Emails go back and forth, asking and answering questions. Your inbox is busy all day, because it’s not just one person emailing you.

By six o’clock you’re frazzled, your inbox is still piling up, and the brochure is only half written.

You know there has to be a better way.

In the Age of Interruption, it keeps getting harder to find time to focus.

Former Microsoft executive Linda Stone labels the disease of our age as "continuous partial attention," never being fully absorbed or engaged in one thing. We’re so afraid of missing something that, in a way, we miss part of everything.

If we have fewer emails to deal with, we have more time to focus. Writing smarter content helps us get there.

Here are 5 ways you can write more effective emails. Along the way you’ll be:

•       reducing misunderstandings 
•       getting faster, more relevant responses
•       reducing the volume of emails you receive and send

1. Pre-empt questions

What if your first reply had gone something like this?

Thank you for your query. Our Class A Gold Widgets cost $19.99 each.

Our Bronze Widgets cost $9.99 and Silver Widgets cost $14.99.

For full information on all our Widgets, plus how to order, please visit www.WeAreWidgets.com/Widgets. The Frequently Asked Questions section should answer all your questions, but if you’re still unsure of anything, feel free to get back in touch.

You’ve anticipated questions and explained where your potential client can find out more. Chances are she’ll visit your website, check out the Widgets and order online if she likes what she sees.

2. Put your main message up front

Say in the first or second paragraph what you want your readers to do. If you don’t need a reply, make them happy by telling them so.

Busy people scan emails. If your key information is up front, they’ll know right away whether they can answer you now or need to wait for something else to happen first.

3. Don’t bury important information

When people scan, they tend to pay more attention to the beginning of an email message, but also to the first few words of a paragraph. Stick to one idea per paragraph.

If you’ve put a key point or a request into the middle of a paragraph halfway down the page, chances are your readers won’t even see it.

4. Don’t overload emails

Deal with separate issues in separate emails.

Keep your message short, focused, and to the point. Break up blocks of text into short paragraphs and leave spaces between them.

People tend to reply quickly to short, simple emails. If you stick to one issue, there’s also less chance that the person will forget to deliver part of what you want.

If for some reason you do have to deal with more than one issue in an email — for example, if you need three pieces of information for a project – start out by saying you need three things and what they are. Use bullet points. Then, if you need to expand on them, use subheads and short paragraphs to help the reader see which points relate to which issue.

5. Make subject lines informative

The subject line is like a headline, giving the reader a reason to open your email and read it.

Be specific and use meaningful words. “Budget meeting March 4th” is better than just “Meeting.” Meeting for lunch? To welcome a new client? To find out you’re fired?

Never leave the subject line blank — your message may get diverted into the spam folder. Even if it does get through and you file the reply, you’ll be hard pressed to find it a month later when you’re on the phone and scrambling to check a detail.  

Taking a few extra minutes now to write smarter email content will pay you dividends later. Try it and see.

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Next time: Effective emails in the Age of Interruption, Part 3

Managing emails to give yourself more time