No matter how responsible people are about going through all their emails, the sheer number of incoming messages can be overwhelming. How do you cut through the noise and make sure it’s your email that gets noticed and replied?
Make your headline attractive
If you want to increase your chances of hearing back after sending out an email, forget boring headlines, like ‘Monday meeting follow-up’ or ‘Introducing ABC company’. A good headline should stand out and make it impossible not to click on it.
What’s the big idea behind your email? What’s the key information you want to deliver today? Don’t wait till the end of the email to evaluate. The headline is the most valuable property of your email, so dive straight in. Headlines like ‘Additional steps to increase sales next month’ or ‘The best resources to promote your business’ are more attractive and memorable. Imagine you only have this one line to summarise your message and use it to your advantage!
Repeat your big idea
Established the core message in your headline? Make sure you drive it home by repeating it inside the email. Try to use similar, if not exactly the same words. For example, if your headline is ‘Additional steps to increase sales next month’, say ‘Here are our recommended steps to increase your sales by at least 25% next month’ immediately after your greetings.
Some experts suggest describing the content, the ‘why’ of this email first, and only then repeat the core message, which is also a successful strategy for a business email.
Use recipient’s name
Ideally, a few times. There is nothing we love to hear more than our own name. Well, maybe ‘You’ve inherited 65 million dollars’ can compete but what are the chances of ever hearing that… So, back to the names. By addressing someone personally, you’re creating an invisible bond, making that person trust you, making them feel special and seen. And how else can they express gratefulness if not by replying to your email?
Talk about them, not yourself
OK, it’s pretty obvious that since you’re writing that email, you want something from your recipient. Still, it’s not cool to make it all about you and your needs only. Try to deliver your request through explaining why it’s actually something useful and beneficial for them instead, put their priorities and goals above your own and explain how your company can help them achieve those goals.
Find the perfect length
We’ve got used to the high speed of the world we live in. We’re taught that no one has time to read detailed letters these days, so the only way for our message to be heard is to make it as short, brief and straight to the point as possible.
Well, according to business experts from large and busy companies like Facebook, short doesn’t always equal efficient. Sometimes, lack of context makes your email look too impersonal or even rude, making replying to it the least of the recipient’s priorities. Moreover, if you don’t include enough facts and reasons for your request straight away and the recipient of the message has too many additional questions, they might put off replying for later, when they’re not that busy. We’re all human, so, not surprising, putting off a reply often leads to simply forgetting to reply at all.
Finding the perfect balance between too short and too long is probably not the easiest advice to follow but unfortunately there is no specific word count that screams ‘this is the perfect length that deserves a rapid reply’. According to data gathered from 40 million sales emails in 2018, emails between 50 and 125 words in length have the highest reply rate – over 50%. Our personal suggestion? Simply make sure you’re including everything important and answering the most obvious questions before they are even asked.
Don’t be too smart
A funny but important research was made by Boomerang in 2016. They analysed the response rate based on the reading grade level of the emails. Reading grade level measures the number of syllables in the words and the number of words in the sentences. All the emails were divided into four categories: kindergarten reading level, 3rd grade reading level, high school reading level and college reading level.
The research showed that emails written at a 3rd grade reading level have the highest response rate – 53%. Compare it to 39% response rate to emails written at a college reading level and here is your truth: appearing too smart, using long sentences and difficult words in your emails will lead to a less than enthusiastic reaction from your recipients.
Of course, the context of your message matters a lot. You can hardly discuss the latest discoveries in sustainable organic hemp farming without using ‘smart’ words. If you want to learn more about reading levels, articles explaining Flesch-Kincaid Reading Levels will be a huge help. Otherwise, simply imagine your recipient enjoys reading Harry Potter and hates afternoon napping next time you’re emailing something of significance to someone important.
Include more people in your email
People tend to think less and act faster under pressure. Adrenaline, stress response, cavemen instincts – whatever it is, it works all the time.
Including a few of your colleagues in the email you’re sending out to another company, your client or your contractor might not really create any extra stress for your recipient but being in the spotlight is still outside anyone’s comfort zone. It’s a proven fact that emails with several CC’ed people tend to receive faster replies. It’s like we can feel those people watching us, silently judging us and we reply straight away, subconsciously trying to avoid any possible trouble or accusations. Psychological trick? 100%. But hey, whatever works, right?
