Reading an email is like reading a newspaper article. Ask yourself this, do you read emails word for word like you would a novel? Or do you read the intros carefully and then scan the rest for the most relevant components? This tip follows on from my previous point. Help your readers absorb the info: write for scannabilty In other words, don’t save key info for the middle or end of your message. Add some background and the importance of your issue if necessary. Tell them why you are writing and what you are writing about. Put the most important information at the top of your email. Of course not, so don’t make your readers impatient by burying the reason you’re writing in the depths of the email. When you read an email, do you want to wait until you get to the bottom of the message to find out why you’re being contacted? Give your readers the BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front Compare ‘Quarterly Report’ with ‘Quarterly Report: review & return by Friday’.Ĭan you imagine your inbox if all your emails had meaningful subject lines like these? It would be a joy to behold. You can even turn your subject lines into action points where appropriate. You need to motivate the reader to open your email and actually read the content. So don’t write ‘Staff meeting’ or even ‘Changes to staff meeting’ when you can write ‘Staff meeting rescheduled to Monday, 15 February’. Chances are, if it doesn’t look important or relevant, they’ll park it, ignore it or trash it. Start strong: write an informative, specific subject lineĭon’t let your readers guess what your email is all about. I’ve gathered a few tips for you that will let you showcase your magnificent communication skills and give your colleagues and clients a great lesson in writing professional emails at the same time. Well, maybe you need to show them how it’s done. And where’s the action point for you? Or is this just for filing in the bin?ĭon’t they know how many emails you get each day?ĭon’t they realize you’ve got better things to do with your time than decipher their message and work out whether you need to do anything or not?ĭon’t you just wish they would write emails like a pro? The subject line says ‘project deadline’ but they’re waffling on about cost analysis, the next quarterly meeting and customer complaints. They cram their email with unrelated topics.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |