3 Tips to Getting your E-mails Read

1. Keep it short and sweet. People don't want to read a dissertation. If you need to have a discussion, set a meeting, or make a phone call. It helps to read over the e-mail and see if there are parts you can remove. If in doubt, keep it brief. People are busy.

2. Make the subject line compelling. We get A TON of e-mail these days. People have very short attention spans and you need to really grab their attention to keep them focused. Whether it's an e-mail to a friend, colleague, boss, or prospective client, use language that would give them a compelling hint at why they should invest the time in YOUR e-mail, not the other hundreds that they have waiting in their in-box.

You receive an e-mail from your boss after a team meeting. Which e-mail are you more likely to open based on the subject line?
Good: The most important thing I learned in the meeting was….
Bad: Regarding the meeting we had last week….

3. Make it easy for them to take the next step. What are you trying to accomplish with your e-mail? Are you selling something? Are you informing a friend about golf round, movie night, or party? Venting to a co-worker?

Consider your end goal in mind with each e-mail you send. If you are pushing the recipient to click a link, then make that link the most visually-important element on the page. If you want your boss to consider a project idea for an upcoming meeting, convincingly set the stage for the meeting in the e-mail and then get out of your own way.

Good luck.

Until next time,

Dan Naden