What are effective email engagement strategies for stakeholders?

1 Know your audience

Before you write any email, you need to understand who your stakeholders are, what they care about, and what you want them to do. Different stakeholders may have different preferences, expectations, and needs when it comes to email communication. For example, some may prefer concise and factual emails, while others may appreciate more personal and emotional touches. Some may want to receive frequent updates, while others may only want to hear from you when there is something urgent or important. Some may respond well to calls to action, while others may need more persuasion or incentives. By knowing your audience, you can tailor your email content, tone, and style to suit their preferences and needs.

3 Use a friendly and professional tone

The tone of your email can convey your attitude, emotions, and intentions to your stakeholders, and influence how they perceive and respond to you. To create a friendly and professional tone, you should use polite and courteous words such as please, thank you, and appreciate. Additionally, positive and affirmative language like can, will, and yes can help build rapport and trust. Utilizing personal pronouns like you and your is a great way to address your stakeholders directly and show interest in them. While emoticons or emojis can add some warmth to your email, be sure not to overuse them or use them in serious or sensitive situations. Furthermore, it's important to avoid using jargon, slang, or acronyms that may not be understood by everyone. Lastly, sarcasm, irony, or humor should be avoided as they may be misinterpreted or offend your stakeholders.

4 Keep it simple and concise

When communicating via email, one of the biggest challenges is keeping your stakeholders engaged and attentive throughout. To avoid long, dense, or rambling emails that may confuse or overwhelm them, you can follow some basic guidelines. Try to use short and simple sentences and paragraphs, and use bullet points, lists, or headings to organize your content and highlight the main points. Additionally, create visual contrast with white space, fonts, colors, or images to make your email easier to read and scan. Links, attachments, or references can provide additional information rather than including it in the body of your email. Lastly, proofread and edit your email before sending it to eliminate any unnecessary words or information.

6 Follow up and thank your stakeholders

The last but not least email engagement strategy is to follow up and thank your stakeholders for their action or feedback. This can help show your appreciation and gratitude, reinforce your message, remind them of the next steps or outcomes, strengthen the relationship and communication, and encourage them to continue to engage and collaborate. A follow-up and thank-you email should be timely, sincere, and courteous, with any relevant information or updates that your stakeholders may need or expect. For instance, you can express your gratitude for attending a webinar and sharing questions and comments; completing a survey and giving valuable feedback; or calling you to discuss an issue. Thanking your stakeholders demonstrates understanding and cooperation, which can be used to improve products and services.