How to Email Busy People & Not Get Ignored

Read the original full Endless Blog

How much free time do you have each day? Do you even know what the term “free time” means anymore? If you’re like most Americans, probably not, and the people you email are in the same boat. Very few people know how to effectively email busy people, and it shows – like me, you probably zip through your inbox each morning, archiving or deleting dozens of emails without ever reading past the subject line.

But then there’s that one email – the one that makes you pause as you go down the list, checking off boxes or hitting the delete key. The one that you open up and actually read. The one that maybe even makes you hit “reply.”

Keep reading to learn how to write that email.

A Few Statistics to Remember

Email is an amazing invention. We no longer need to plan out our communication long in advance; instead, we can simply jot out an email and fire it off. Almost instantly, it arrives in your contact’s inbox.

But I hope you aren’t doing this when you email busy people. You need to put at least a little more thought into these messages. Consider these statistics from Convince & Convert:

• 21% of email recipients report messages as spam, even if they know they aren’t.
• 43% of recipients mark certain messages as spam before even opening them, based solely on who the message is from and/or what the subject reads.
• 30% of email users change email addresses each year.
• Individuals below age 25 prefer text messages to emails.

Eye opening, right? When you combine these statistics with an on-the-go culture that doesn’t have time to think about anything for more than a few seconds, it’s clear that you must write your messages with busy people in mind.

Start with Your Email Address and Display Name

If the statistic above is accurate, using a generic or unrecognizable email address could ruin an email before your recipient even opens it.

For best results, make things as transparent as possible. If your email address or sender’s name sounds like spam or like something that’s not personal, try something else. Email recipients want to hear from a person, not a computer.

Spend Time on Your Subject Lines

Think about it. Subject lines are the first thing email recipients will see. Just because I’m advertising a sale, have great news to share, or use ten exclamation points, it doesn’t mean my recipient will share that enthusiasm.

I try to remember that my email recipients are busy, just like I am. If you want to capture a piece of their valuable time, first impressions are going to count. Here are some ways to make your message meaningful to the recipient, using just the subject line:

• Personal references. If you’re writing a single email to someone, use what you have in common to pique their interest. A subject line referencing a mutual contact, such as “John wanted me to reach out about an opportunity,” is bound to make a better first impression than the generic “writing to check about a business opportunity.”
• Sales language. If something sounds like a sales pitch or offers something that’s too good to be true, it’s overdone. This generally lands emails in the spam or promotion category.
• Simplicity. Keep your subject line short and simple. Remember, Gmail cuts off a subject line at about 70 characters, and iPhones cut them off around 35!
• A brief synopsis. Let your reader know what the email is about before they open it. Show the value of the connection in the subject line. Even better, use the word “quick” to let them know that you won’t take too much time away from what they’re already doing.

Subject lines matter more than anything else in your email, and because of this, they may take more time to craft then the actual email message itself. When you’re writing an important email, make sure you allow yourself an ample amount of time to craft a great subject line.

See more detail about How to Email Busy People & Not Get Ignored in full article

?