Part Three covers how to create an excellent email that increases productivity by conveying the right message right first time.
There are five elements to an excellent email that will help you stand out from the crowd and constitute your ‘email dress code’.
- Subject line – eye-catching.
- Address box – correct use of ‘To’ and ‘Cc’ lines.
- Greeting – draw the recipient in.
- Content – crystal clear to convey your message immediately.
- Sign off and signature – impeccable and easy for the recipient to contact you.
Should an email be as perfect as a letter?
This question is posed frequently by clients, of all ages, all sectors and from business of all sizes. Some argue that email is an informal communication and that more lax rules, grammar, punctuation and layout are acceptable. However, for most of us, email is our primary form of business communication. It sends a signal about you and your business just as clearly as the clothes you wear send a message about you and your persona.
More often than not, you and your email recipient will not have met, let alone spoken. But within ten seconds of reading your email the recipient will have formed a picture of you and it may not be the one you wanted to convey. Nonetheless, it is their picture and it determines the tenor of the relationship. Sloppy email reflects badly on you because it suggests both you and your business are sloppy.
Your email must therefore instantly convey the right tone and language. This must be carried through from the initial greeting to your signature and disclaimer at its end if you want to convey a professional image.
Well crafted emails save time because they convey the right message immediately. This means no wasted time reading and re-reading emails and playing email ping-pong, trying to understand what is being said. The following chapters will show you how to optimise the use of each of the five elements of your email dress code to make your emails stand out, and further leverage the timesaving advice in Parts 1 and 2.
To benchmark the overall quality of your emails at any time, go to www.brilliant-email.com and use the ‘Email Clarity’ benchmarking tool.