In today’s digital age, billions of work emails are sent every single day.It’s no wonder that so many of us are so overwhelmed by our inboxes. With hundreds if not thousands of messages vying for attention, only a select few ever get opened. And even fewer emails get read or acted upon.
That being said, how do you get your work colleagues to notice your email in a sea of unread messages? And how do you write your emails so that you can get the results you want? The secret is to apply effective communication techniques to your emails. Doing so can help you positively influence your colleagues to act on your emails. If you want to learn how to write more persuasive emails for work, read on for some tips and tricks.
1. Create an Attention-Grabbing Subject Line
If you’ve left your subject line empty, you’ve missed your first opportunity to grab your reader’s attention. It’s best to think of subject lines as having the same function as newspaper headlines. This is the part of your email where your recipient can initially decide if your email is worth reading or not. It’s also how you can inform them of what to expect in the body of the email.
That’s why it’s worth taking some time to carefully craft your subject line. It should be worded in an interesting way to entice the reader to open it. Indeed, it’s best to use the subject line to deliver the most important information to the reader at a glance.
2. Be Specific About What You Want
When it comes to business emails, it is best to get to the point quickly. There is no point ‘beating around the bush”. Don’t waste your recipient’s time by adding irrelevant points to your message.Instead, be as direct and specific as possible. If you can say it in one sentence instead of three, do so. And if you know exactly the kind of decision you want them to make, include that in your message.
The important thing here is to not assume that your reader can read your mind. So, tell them exactly what you’re hoping to accomplish from the get-go. Then, provide only the most necessary information for achieving that goal. The clearer the goal, the more persuasive your email will be.
3. Arrange Your Points Strategically
Your reader doesn’t have time to read long emails, not when they have so many other important tasks to attend to. Hence, place the most important points at the start of the message. That way, they’ll be the first thing your recipient sees upon opening your email.
First, you should start with what you’d like the reader to do for you. It should be clear, concise, and purposeful. Next, list some easily digestible supporting points to help bolster your argument. Finally, end with a call to action that clearly defines the next step the recipient has to take.
4. Explain How Helping You Will Benefit Them
Again, your reader likely already has a lot on their plate. So, they’re probably not enthusiastic about being asked to take care of yet another task.Thus, it’s important to make it clear to your recipient that you aren’t making a selfish or irrelevant request. You’ll have to find a way to communicate that helping you out will also benefit them.
The best way to do this is to answer this question: what’s in it for them? Or why should they bother carrying out what you’re asking them to do?If you can frame your request as resulting in a win-win scenario, then they’ll be more likely to oblige.
Give these tricks a try the next time you boot up your inbox. By following these tips, you’ll greatly increase your work emails’ open and response rates. And there’s no better time to start writing more persuasive messages than now.