When you’re writing an email, do find yourself struggling to write a* great* email?
Even if you have a swipe file (for common emails and situations) it can still be a challenge to write something that:
- Is clear
- Gets a reply
- Doesn’t take a lot of time to write
Let’s talk about 5 key elements when it comes to writing great emails
Make Them ‘You’ Focused
What is a ‘you’ focused email? A you focused email is an email written with a focus on the recipient.
Avoid words like ‘I’ or ‘Me.’ Focus on words like ‘you.’
(You can read more about this at /you/)
By writing your email you the recipient and talking about them instead of talking about your company or yourself, you make your email more interesting to the recipient.
Have a Clear ‘Call to Action’
What is a ‘call to action’? A call to action (or CTA) is the instructions that tell the reader what to do next (‘call to action’) and what to expect after they do that thing.
We can compare and contrast two separate CTAs to see the benefit of a clear call to action that explains what happens next
Just hit reply and let me know your thoughts
As a next step, let’s schedule a time for a 20-minute conversation to discuss this. You can pick the time that works best for you on my calendar here (LINK). Once you pick a time, I’ll send over a short agenda before our call.
By having a clear call to action that explains what the recipient should do next and what will happen once they do that thing, you remove uncertainty.
“This is the next step. We have a meeting and we discuss it.” is a lot clearer than ‘Let me know your thoughts…’
Informative Subject Line
Your subject line has a singularly job: get your email opened.
To achieve that, an informative subject line that helps educate the reader on what to do next is your best option (/secret-getting-outreach-emails-opened/).
I, personally, fall back to
KAI from COMPANY NAME
Very often in my outreach as it’s an easy to use informative subject line. Could it be improve on? Heck yeah. Does it get the job done? Heck yeah.
Write in an Informal Style
How do you write an email to a friend or colleague? How do you write an email to a potential business prospect?
Review your emails and contrast the styles of the two. For me, my business-focused emails get a bit…
…business-y
And lose the casual, conversational style that I enjoy.
The best way to learn how to write your business emails in a casual, informal style is to read and review your casual, informal emails and see how you write them
- Do you include a greeting?
- Do you jump into the content immediately?
- How do you phrase the calls-to-action?
- How long are the emails?
And then start to mimic the positive traits you see in your casual, informal emails.
Write Short Emails
Aim for 300 words in your emails. Short with a single call to action. If there is additional information you need to share, then include the executive (tl;dr) summary and:
- Link to the additional information
- Attach the additional information as as report
- Let the recipient know you’ll share the full report for them to review before your call/meeting