AND GET MORE RESPONSES
Email length
While you are writing an email, imagine that the person reading it is in a hurry. That means you should use just a few sentences to tell them what you want in order to get a fast reply and leave a good impression. The study conducted by Boomerang involving 40,000,000 emails has shown that emails containing between 75 and 100 words received the fastest reply. If you don’t want to count words, then limit the number of sentences. It is thought that five sentences is the ideal length for most emails.Read what you wrote
Before you send an email, read what you have written and correct all grammatical mistakes and typos, check the data, leave out unnecessary phrases and rework the sentences to make sure you achieved optimal clarity. It would be best to refer to the following questions when writing (and polishing) an email.- Who are you?
- What do you want from that person?
- Why should that person do that for you?
- When do you need it by?
One goal per email
Try to have only one clearly described goal per message. That increases the probability that the recipient will read your email and reply to it as soon as possible. No one has got time to read long emails and people usually skip them and leave them “for later” or “when they have more time”, so a few days may pass before you receive a reply, if you even receive it. If you do have to write about more goals (or requests) in a single email, itemise them so your message is clearer and more straightforward. Of course, be as concise as possible.
Say thank you in the end
It is always a good idea to say thank you to the person reading your email, regardless of what the relationship is with the recipient. It is an excellent way to be courteous and respectful, alongside ensuring that the person you are writing to is willing to reply in case they found the email too long. Besides, it has been demonstrated that people reply quicker to emails which end with words of gratitude. Closing an email with the sentence “thank you” or “I appreciate it” increases your chances of getting a reply by 36 percent.