How to write effective emails

Hi there,

OK.  Anyone who knows me knows how “particular” I am about grammar, spelling etc.  I received this article from Stephen Lynch at Results.com which beautifully identified how an email should be put together.  Enjoy.

 

The number of software tools we have for communication and collaboration is expanding all the time – but the trusty old email is going to be with us for a while yet.  

In 2010 (depending on which research you look at) approximately 300 billion emails got sent every day, and the average business leader now receives 100+ emails per day. 

Thankfully, email tools are becoming available to help us filter and prioritize the deluge of information that comes into our world.  These filtering tools will make it even more important for business leaders to improve the effectiveness of their email communication – that is, if you want to cut through and get your emails noticed:  

Clarify your intentions.

Before you even begin typing, think about the specific action you want the reader to take. Finish this sentence: “When the reader has finished reading my email they will……”

Summarize your topic in the subject line.

People receiving 100+ emails per day scan the subject line of every email to decide how soon to open, and whether or not to file or delete your message. If your subject line is vague you have already blown your first opportunity to move to the head of the queue.

Also, it is highly frustrating to have to wade through lists of emails, and re-read the content just to find the particular one you are searching for.  Do us all a favor, and take the time to write a decent subject line explaining the key thrust of your email in the first place.

Identify yourself clearly.

If you are introducing yourself to someone for the first time, always include your name, company, and any other identification information in the first few sentences.  Then provide the context for why you are writing to them.

Start with the conclusion.

As a general rule, always start with the key point you want to make in your opening sentence – and then elaborate on this point in the following sentences.

One topic per email.

If you have a number of points to make, you could number your points to ensure they are all read.  In this case, you should state that your email contains multiple points in your opening sentence.

However, it is usually better to split your key points into separate emails so your reader can respond, file, or delete each email individually.  You goal should be to keep every email short and to the point.  

Consider the reading device.

Many emails are read on mobile devices these days.  Do they really want to download and open the large attachment you have sent?  Do they really want to have to click on links and wait while the web pages load?  Do us all a favor, and summarize the key points of any attachment or link into the text of the actual email.

Stay classy.

When you are writing to a friend or a close colleague, it may be OK to use “smilies” and abbreviations.  If you are writing your email on a mobile device, typing is more cumbersome, and it can be very tempting to abbreviate and be more abrupt than you normally would be with a full size keyboard.  Resist this temptation.  Without realizing it, you can come across as being rude or overly familiar.  Unless you are drinking buddies, always err on the safe side and keep your emails friendly but professional.     

Email signature.

Add an automatic email signature with your company branding and standard contact information.  Make it easy for someone to add you to straight into their contacts folder and/or enter your details into a CRM without creating a whole lot of extra research on their part.  And does anyone really care about your screeds of legal disclaimers?

Measure twice, cut once.

Double check that you are sending the email to the right person. Always use a spell check and proof read before sending.  If it is a marketing email, always get someone else to proof read it and sign it off.  When you are too close to a project you can easily miss some glaring errors.  First impressions count.  

Never write an email in anger.

Draft something out to clarify your thoughts if need be – but don’t send it.  Just like diamonds, emails are forever.  Sleep on it. You will be glad you did – because things always look different tomorrow.  I repeat – sleep on it, and then re-craft your email the following day.  You will thank me for this.

Look on the bright side..

Hi there I’m cheating this week. I get daily emails from the great Brian Tracy. Brian is a Sales/Marketing/Personal Development Guru who I would thoroughly recommend (see http://www.briantracyintl.com). The following is a recent email I received that I thought was mighty applicable given the circumstances many of us feel we are in, economically or personally. Please enjoy.

Look on the Bright Side
By Brian Tracy

The most important application of the law of cause and effect in your life is this: thoughts are causes, and conditions are effects. What this means is that your thought is creative. You create your world by the way you think. Nothing in your world has any meaning except for the meaning you give by how you think about it and talk about it. If you don’t care about something, it has no effect on your emotions and actions.

How to be Happy
Many thousands of people have been interviewed over the years to find out what they think about most of the time. Can you guess what the most successful and happy people think about all day long? The answer is simple. Happy healthy people think about what they want, and how to get it, most of the time. When you think and talk about what you want, and how to get it, you feel happier and in greater control of your life.

How to be Unhappy
What do unhappy people think and talk about most of the time? Unfortunately, they think and talk about things they don’t want. They think and talk about their problems and pains, and the people they don’t like. Sometimes, their whole lives revolve around their complaints and criticisms. And the more they think and talk about what they don’t want, the unhappier they become.

The Most Important Quality
Based on many psychological tests, the happiest people seem to have a special quality that enables them to live a better life than average. Can you guess what it is? It is the quality of optimism! The best news about optimism is that it is a learnable quality. You can learn to be a more positive, confident, and optimistic person by thinking the way optimists do—most of the time.

Look for the Good
Optimists seem to have different ways of dealing with the world that set them apart from the average. First, as we mentioned, they keep their minds on what they want, and keep looking for ways to get it. They are clear about their goals and they are confident that they will accomplish them, sooner or later. Second, optimists look for the good in every problem or difficulty. When things go wrong, as they often do, they say, “That’s good!” and then set about finding something positive about the situation.

Seek the Valuable Lesson
The third quality of optimists is that they seek the valuable lesson in every setback or reversal. Rather than getting upset and blaming someone else for what has happened, they take control over their emotions by saying, “What can I learn from this experience?” Fully 95% of everything you do is determined by your habits, good or bad. When you repeatedly look for the good and seek the valuable lesson in every obstacle or disappointment, you very soon develop the habit of thinking like an optimist. As a result, you feel happier, healthier, and more in control of your world.

The Body-Mind Connection
More and more doctors are coming to the conclusion that 80% or more of all diseases and ailments are psychosomatic in origin. This means that “psycho,” the mind, makes “soma,” the body, sick. You do not get sick from what you are eating, but from what is eating you.

Action Exercise
Resolve from now on to see your glass of life half full rather than half empty. Give thanks for your many blessings in life rather than worrying or complaining about the things you do not have. Assume the best of intentions on the part of everyone around you.

A new approach to manufacturing

 

Had a very interesting evening listening to Tim Groser, our Minister of Trade, on Friday. The setting was Bracu, and with Branka Simunovich also in attendance, we were spoiled with attention, food, not to mention some samples from their skin care range (very handy for Mothers Day on Sunday!).

Tim is obviously a very busy man, having come off a flight that morning that started in Europe, with events thrown in with great regularity. However, he had kindly taken time out from what is clearly a hectic schedule to give a very personal account of his views of policy, international trade and NZ politics in general. While all of the content was fascinating, and Tim is clearly a comfortable orator, the “revelation” comment for me came around manufacturing.

As someone who studied economics at University, I saw manufacturing as a game where you produce first or faster/leaner/cheaper/smarter than the competition with products that had mass (and therefore the largest market) appeal. Demand being greater than supply meant better prices, greater profits, better returns for investors. Size and production capabilities was therefore paramount. Our distance from larger markets (mass appeal), our more expensive labour structure (look at what the ipad production line staff get paid for a 10 hour day), our lack of heavy machinery and accessible mineral resources all made me think we had to either:

• Rely on agriculture/horticulture products as our principle export.
• Rely on tourism or services to for local employment.
• Become a service orientated economy.

However, Tim Groser gave four clear examples that showed how limited my thinking was. We can still be a manufacturing economy (in fact we have to be), we just need to ensure we don’t approach it using the historical model. All four examples were clear on why they were successful:

• Specialist, almost insanely niche markets.
• Mass production was not the focus, targeted production was (specific to the end users requirement).
• Utilisation of local people with incredible “smarts”.
• Partnerships with foreign interests to finance the operation, and/or provide channels through which to distribute.

There were even some businesses at the event who ticked the above boxes, proof that this model is becoming more of a reality all the time.
It certainly makes me think differently when I hear the word Manufacturing.

Till next time.

Lincoln

Friday night drinks anyone?

Another month almost over, the first of the 2012 financial year. Every last Friday of the month we have “formal” work drinks (the informals happen most Fridays) for staff to kick back and have a couple of quiets to mull the week/month over and talk about something other than work.
When I started work out of university, the Friday drinks were one of the highlights of my fortnight (Gosling Chapman had them fortnightly), where you would have a few and then consider a night out on the town with your colleagues. But is this culture, which I would have thought quite common, is changing?
With people increasingly becoming more time-poor, are these casual Friday night events becoming a thing of the past?

We have 57 staff at Campbell Tyson Cooper White, but only managed to rumble up 10 staff to our drinks. We have some staff who don’t work Friday’s, work part time, have Friday night sport (mainly kids of staff, Friday night sport being a relatively new development), but is the Friday night drinks still relevant?
With Twitter, Facebook, 4 out of 5 couples meeting on-line (in the US), Friday night “demands”, more varied and complex social circles, are work place drinks losing their attraction and relevance? Or do the Friday night drinks needs to evolve? Do they need more than the “nuts and crisps”, the “get together and talk stuff”?
Do they need to have better food, a specific reason for being there, time off work?
This blog is more of a question mark than a statement, so have your say and tell me whether you think Friday drinks are still relevant or what they needs to have to be relevant to you.

Till next time.
Lincoln