How to write a professional email; Every day, 300 billion emails are send and received around the world, making the average office worker receive 121 emails per day, or the equivalent of food poisoning. This is according to statista.
It was either too long, too annoying, or simply had a typo in your name, which happens way more frequently than food poisoning. You remember why it sucked and perhaps it even gave you that similar feeling in your stomach.
Let me tell you about the worst email I've ever received. I used to work for this large German corporation, and a lot has changed since then. On my last day, I was expecting my boss to call me in to say goodbye. Instead, he sent me an email because he was too busy to do so. I was devastated that this was how he chose to say goodbye.
I guess that's one of the reasons I'm standing here today. Some emails should never be sent in the first place, but emails are critical and, in many cases, cannot be replaced by any other means of communication for traceability to have many people read the same thing due to time differences.
A Microsoft-sponsored study that examined approximately one million emails It was discovered that the average employee spends 28 hours per day working on emails but only about half of that time physically communicating with colleagues, but did anyone ever teach you how to write an email?
I've dedicated more than half of my life to learning and teaching. I've trained scouts, and now I teach management at a university in Germany. Like the rest of you, I send and receive a lot of texts and emails.
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I use them to stay in touch with my students, partners, and colleagues all over the world. In fact, I only get to meet many of them in person a few times a year, but I still need to maintain strong relationships.
So, how does one do this successfully?
The trick is to focus on small things that make a big difference. As a result, while coaching and working with thousands of people all over the world who work in car dealerships, who sell Swiss watches, who work in pharma, real estate, and private banks, my students and I analyzed and optimized the one tool we all use every day, email.
According to research, simply tweaking five minor details can ensure that your email hits the mark, allowing you to spend less time working on it and, believe me, writing an email can even become enjoyable.
How to write a professional email?
Here are the five ingredients for a really great email. Imagine the queen of England has invited you to dinner at Buckingham Palace. Which language do you believe it is written in?
The first line is a call to action.
Number two is as brief as possible and almost mysterious.
Number three denotes a connection to the receiver, and I wanted to know which of the three is the best.
I added two more boring subject lines to these three: a bank statement and some generic welcome message, and I polled another 300 people to see which of these emails they would open first.
Here's what I came up with: The clear winner is the call to action, followed by the short one and finally the one indicating connection. I was surprised that 17 people chose my boring subject lines, but then I remembered that many of my contacts are bankers.
So I guess there's only so much I can do, so ingredient number one is to say what you want in the subject line. Ingredient number two is to say what you want in the subject line because emails are boring to look at and written in black and white it's like us speaking without using our voice our face and our body so how can one add color and more importantly feeling into that email well by using different types of punctuation and yes, emojis.
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I like to call it digital body language, which we desperately need even if we're just writing an email. For example, if someone wanted to send me a thank you note, they could write it like this dear guy thank you for visiting and this is how I'd read it in my head because the full stop really closes off that sentence. Did you know that when a teenager finishes a text message with a full stop they're really really angry at you?
The exclamation mark is essential in writing a good email. When did we become too lazy to include a greeting in our emails? It's the same teenager who was furious at you before, but now they're overjoyed. The smiley is very noticeable, and I didn't even get the colorful one. Should we always use an emoji or a gif in business emails?
You should never compare digital body language to spices in your email recipe because depending on your background, setting, and culture, you may want more or less hot curry or hot sauce in your pot number three. I vividly recall that day when I was about ten years old and we were about to begin our first computer class; everyone was ecstatic.
The average business email is skimmed and sometimes deleted rather than read. If your email is longer than a tweet or 140 characters, you should call that person. The section in which you want something to happen or require someone to do something can and should be clearly separated from the rest of the document.
According to Dale Carnegie, a person's name is the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Use names in critical situations to increase your chances of getting an answer. The power of the name can also work against you if you misspell it and all the thought you put into the email is lost.
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What are the components of an professional email?
- First and foremost, state your desired subject line.
- Number two, depending on the situation, employ digital body language.
- Number three, keep it as short as a tweet.
- Use names and key moments in number four.
Many people may argue that there is no such thing as a perfect email, and they are correct. Each email has a different goal, but most emails have two things in common: one, you want something from someone, and two, that someone is still a human being, and with these two, the magical ingredients can definitely help.
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What matters is the dose; you can have the perfect list of ingredients, but without the right quantities, your cake may take a terrible twist; therefore, the next time you write an email, break out of your email writing habits by picturing the person you're writing to and attempting to bake your email to their liking using all of these ingredients.
One more thing, and this is number five, do you remember how Steve Jobs used to present the coolest product right at the end of his keynote?
He would say one more thing, and boom out came that brand new iPhone. The one thing you require from the reader, the one thing that is most important to you, the one thing you may be hesitant to say, should be placed under the ps line.
This is known as the last impression, and it is far less well-known than the first impression. We've all heard of it, but it's just as effective because it stays in the reader's mind long after the rest has faded.
Let me give you an example. When someone forgets to pay me, I can't send an email saying, "Hello, where is my money?
What I can do is send an email saying, "Hey, you're a great audience, thank you for having me.
The last invoice has yet to be paid smiley and that always gets the job done thank you mr jobs Finally, this one is for the boss who sent me that goodbye email, sir. Some emails should not be emails in the first place, but even if they are, they could probably look a little more professional.
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