How should you write for impact…and a response?

Do you often send a detailed e-mail, clearly articulating (at least in your head) what you want the other person to do, only for it to be met with an incomplete or late response, or worse, total silence?

It’s a feeling that can evoke frustration, disappointment and even resentment towards the recipient of your missive. But aside from those recipients who are games-players and as a matter of principle will only reply to a follow-up mail (yes, they do exist) what could be the reason for your important message being ignored?

To give yourself the best chance of getting the response you need, in the time you need it, a judiciously crafted mail should contain the following aspects:

1.       Attention-grabbing title

 Make the title relevant and eye-catching, like a newspaper headline.

 Vague titles like “as per our meeting” or “Following-up” are less likely to solicit a response compared with “Contract renewal – actions” or “Budget - Your input required”

As many messages are read on mobile devices, the fewer the number of characters in the title, the better (target no more than 25~30 characters)

2.       Correct addressee

 This practice is routinely abused, much to my annoyance!

 The person / people who you’re requesting to take action should be in the “To” field. It is then clear that they are on the hook for completing your request.

 By the way, “CC” should be used for those people who you simply wish to be informed. Don’t expect anyone in “CC” to take any action.

 3.       Be succinct

 As the adage goes, “sorry for the length of this e-mail, I didn’t have time to write a short one”. Creating an effective e-mail takes time. The fact is, long e-mails don’t get read, let alone actioned!

 Try drafting your mail, re-reading it back to yourself and checking whether you really need all of those words in your draft. What does each sentence or piece of detail actually ADD to the message you want to convey? You can even turn it into a little game, seeing how many words you can strip-out before you press “Send”.

 If you want to have the best chance of obtaining the response you require, it really is worth spending the time to eliminate superfluous words / sentences that add no value.

 4.       Structure

 Structure your mail with a brief introduction, a call to action and a close. This is especially important given that many of us are inundated with e-mails daily, and we’re only likely to skim-read.

 Use paragraphs so that there is a well-ordered and logical thread from beginning to end. You could also use bullet points to delineate multiple points within the same paragraph. This will aid clearer comprehension.

 5.       Precision on your “call to action”

 Convey the precise action(s) that you require the recipient to take and the date by when you’d like the action to be completed. Use bullet points if there’s more than one action, so that multiple requests don’t get lost within a paragraph, but ideally no more than 3 points. This could look something like this

 “Katie, could you please…

1.       Complete and send me the new product brief – by Wednesday.

2.       Update the budget tracker – by Friday”

 6.       Close

 Close with an action-oriented statement, and some context on why the information is important. You could use something like “Thanks in advance for providing the above information to help us meet project timelines”.

I hope you find this useful. If you can employ these 6 tips, you’re on your way to becoming a talented communicator -your mails will read more crisply, your credibility will be enhanced, and you’re more likely to get the response you want. Click on the link to find out more about Communicating For Impact course.

The best days lie ahead.

Martin