Tip #4: To Get Your Email Read, Start with a Strong Subject Line

Email is opened and read immediately based on two criteria: (1) who sent it; or (2) what it’s about. There may not be much you and I can do about being who we are, rather than the boss, the most important client, or the head of the company, but we can create a subject line strong enough to move your email up in the reader’s priorities. Simple and short: 50 characters at most. Respect the reader’s time. Consider the corporate culture. Build a positive relationship over time. Consistently deliver what you promise.

by Gail Tycer

Take a moment to consider: What is it that makes you open an email immediately? For most email readers, it’s either (1) who sent it; or (2) what it’s about.

There may not be much you and I can do about being who we are, rather than our boss, our most important client, or the head of the company, but there is a great deal we can do about the subject — specifically about the subject line. Here are some ways your subject line can help get your email read:

• Always use a subject line. Simple, to-the-point, and short: 50 characters or fewer. Not only does this bring your reader up to speed quickly, but it helps to move you up in your reader’s priority list. Your email may be competing with hundreds of others to be read at all, let alone promptly. A good subject line helps your email say, "read me now." If you are asking for action, or on a deadline, it may be helpful to include that in your subject line.

• Use additional communication tools. Occasional phone calls, in-person conversations — can also help to move you up in your reader’s priority list. All things being equal, we’ll open the email from someone we have a friendly relationship with sooner than someone we don’t know. That human relationship, the personal touch, can supplement what might otherwise be a virtually anonymous medium.

• Limit your emails to those who really need the information. Resist the temptation to send that email to everyone on the list, even though it’s so much easier just to hit the group send. And then ask yourself not only whether each person on the list needs to have this information, but overall, "Does this information need to be passed along at all?" If not, don’t. Respect others’ time.

• Think about the corporate culture. Many readers feel that being "cc’d" means this email is more of an "fyi," and not that important for them to read. They may either not read it at all, or put off reading it until later. List the reader as a primary recipient if you want him or her to read your email. Also, keep in mind that a "Re:" will seem more important, and garner better readership than a "Fwd:".

• Many email writers like to include (brief) content in the subject line: "Marketing meeting 2 p.m. Tuesday 4/20" and then provide additional details in the body of the email. The theory is similar to the old direct mail "hook" — give them the information quickly, the details in the supporting copy.

And then, make sure that your email delivers what the subject line promised. Make it short and concise. Help the reader "get it" at a glance — in the first three to five lines. Make it easy for your reader to do what you are asking him or her to do. Check your email frequently, and be easy to get back to.

Tip #3: Strategic Business Writing: A Powerful, Cost-Effective Marketing Tool

Strategic business writing — writing that gets results — can be an extremely powerful, cost-effective marketing tool. Even an ordinary email, memo, letter, report, or proposal has the potential for financial payback, as well as the less tangible results brought about by clarity and directness. Be clear about what the piece is to accomplish. Focus on the reader’s needs, wants, and desires. Select content based on his or her need for, and use of, your information, and stay focused on your purpose for writing.

by Gail Tycer

Companies that thrive today realize that as dollars tighten, every word of every email, memo, letter, report, or proposal could also have a financial payback, as well as the less tangible results brought about by clarity and directness.

More and more, successful business people understand that strategic business writing — writing that gets the results it was meant to get — can be an extremely powerful marketing tool, and certainly one of the most cost-effective.

Here are a few quick tips on what makes business writing — whether we’re talking about email, or paper writing — work today:

1. Decide what you want this piece to accomplish. It may be that all you want to do is to provide information, and let the reader decide what to do with that information. Alternatively, you may want this piece to generate an action, or to avoid an action; perhaps to influence, or to change what your reader thinks, or believes.

2. Focus on the reader’s needs/wants/desires — Think about your reader. Your reader wants to know "What’s in it for me?" "What will happen if I do," or, "What will happen if I don’t?" Focus on benefits to the reader. Understand your reader’s options. Consider and address his or her real concerns, rather than just what you want to say, if you want to get, and to keep his or her attention.

3. Select the items you will discuss based on your reader’s need for the information, your reader’s use of the information, and your purpose for writing. If your information does not meet at least one of these criteria, leave it out.

4. Determine, and use the appropriate tone for this specific message and for this specific reader. "Tone" is the relationship that you — the writer — set up with your reader. What do you want that relationship to be? Formal? Informal? Friendly? Helpful? Authoritarian? Professional? No-nonsense?

5. Decide on the "take away" — what do you want your reader to understand, and to remember from this piece.

6. Provide a "call to action." Tell the reader what he or she should do with, or about the information you provide.

7. Aim for clarity, not cleverness.

8. Write carefully, thoughtfully. Make it easy to read. Select comfortable words. Use the best format to make your point. Use active sentences for greater clarity. Keep your average sentence length in the 14-17-word range. Vary the length of your sentences, words, and paragraphs to keep the reader reading: some short, some long, some mid-length. Work with syntax — try moving the words around in a sentence; sentences in the paragraph. Be consistent.

And finally, nothing will destroy respect for a company or organization faster than sloppy, grammatically incorrect correspondence — and that goes for email as well as for paper mail.

Good business writing has generally become more strategic, and a bit less formal than it was at one point. In many organizations, it’s now considered acceptable to use contractions; to start sentences with "And," or "But"; to use alternate formats — and even to end a sentence with a preposition if it makes your meaning more clear!

Check what is acceptable in your workplace. Each company has its own personality; its own style; its own way of doing things. Even if there are no company-wide guidelines, your particular boss may have his or her own ideas about how things should be done. Understanding your organization’s "ground rules" — the environment in which your writing must work — is a good place to start writing strategically.

Tip #2: Selecting Content – How much is enough? How much is too much?

To determine what to say; what not to say; how much to say; and when to say it, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Why does my reader need this information?
2. How will my reader use this information?
3. How will this information support my purpose for writing?

If you can’t come up with good answers, leave it out.

by Gail Tycer

Here is yet another way to save time as you write less — and say more: (1) Edit before you write; and (2) understand the appropriate level, and depth of information needed before you write. Easier than it sounds, and here’s how:

1. Gather your information. Gather ALL the information you may need, based on your reader’s need for the information, your reader’s use of the information, and your purpose for writing. And NOTHING ELSE!

Make a list (section IV if you are using my Strategic Business Writing Blueprint) — just a word or two — of all the things you might want to say, using these criteria. Then be ruthless. Cross out anything, and everything, you do not need. As you are crossing out, other information you do need will probably occur to you. Add these items to your list. Review your list of content one final time, eliminating everything you do not need, adding those things you do.

You have now defined your broad general topics (what you are going to talk about) – and edited your content — before you have written a word!

2. Consider what level, and how much detail to include. Consider your reader, and how much he or she will need to know, based on his or her need for, and use of your information. Let me tell you a story:

One day, my neighbor stopped by and asked whether she could bring me anything from the grocery store. I asked her to bring me some carrots, so she returned with a can of carrots. Had I given her sufficient information for her use of, and her need for the information? Had she done what I had asked her to do? Of course she had, based on the level of detail I had given her. I thanked her, but what I had really wanted was some raw carrots, so I could have carrot sticks for dinner! So, was my purpose served? No, because I had not given her sufficient detail to get the results I wanted.

So I then gave her more detail, and asked her to go back to the store and get me some raw carrots so I could have raw carrot sticks for dinner. Being a terrific neighbor, she made a second trip, perhaps grumbling a little, to get some raw carrots for me. But when she returned this time, she brought me raw carrots without the tops that I had wanted to feed the rabbit! Had she done what I asked her to do this time? Of course she had, based on the level of detail I had given her the second time. Was my purpose served this second time? No.

My choice at this point was either to let the rabbit do without his treat, go to the store myself, get someone else to go to the store for me, or (oh no!) ask her to go back again.

Does this sound like some of the instructions you may have read on the job? Or (ouch!) some of the results you may have gotten from your co-workers or employees at some point?

So when you think about what level of information is enough, and how much is too much, remember the story of my good neighbor. And remember that the level of detail you select is also based on those three criteria:

• the reader’s need for the information (to know I did need something from the grocery store);
• the reader’s use of the information (to bring me exactly what I needed – in this case, carrots with the tops still on); and
• my (the writer’s) purpose (to get raw carrots for carrot sticks, with the tops so I could treat the bunny).

Now, let’s take a second look at the story I just told you.

Do you need to know (for your need and use, as the story’s reader) anything more about my neighbor? Probably not, if your need for the information was only to consider the point of the story, and your use of the story was to improve your business writing skills.

If, on the other hand, you were a police officer to whom I was reporting my neighbor’s theft of the money I had given her to buy my groceries, you would, obviously, need a whole different set of detail to use in catching the criminal, although the broad general categories could likely be quite similar. At that point, the detailed information about the carrots becomes quite unnecessary, and my purpose (to get my money back) would be better served with detailed information about my neighbor.

Similarly, as the story’s reader, would you have needed to know why the neighbor offered to buy groceries for me? (Was I ill? Was my car broken down?) Or how much money I had given her? In advance, or when she brought the carrots back? Or what kind of a rabbit I had? Of course not! Interesting, maybe, but totally useless, given your need for, and use of, the information.

That’s exactly what can happen in the business writing situation. The writer may become too immersed in what he or she knows. The result? The writer can easily bury the reader in unimportant and unnecessary (to the reader) information, frequently at the expense of getting the reader the information he or she needs to get the job done!

Tailor your choice of information — what to include and what to leave out – and the level of detail to include, to the three criteria: (1) Your reader’s need for the information; (2) your reader’s use of the information; and (3) your purpose for writing.

© 2006 Gail Tycer

Tip #1: Remember the "Bite" Principle:

Most business readers are in a perpetual state of overload. The eye processes, and the brain thinks best, a "bite" at a time.

When you want your reader to "get it" at a glance and to remember what you’ve said, consider an alternate format.

by Gail Tycer

Remember that "Bite" Principle? We tend to think of "writing" as being sentences and paragraphs–the way writing looked when we were in school. Those sentences and paragraphs we learned in school are called the narrative format. And that narrative format is still valid, forming the way most written thoughts are presented.

Because of the way the eye works, writing is actually a visual, as well as an intellectual art. To make it easy for your reader when you want him or her to "get it," and to remember it, capitalize on the "bite principle." Look for opportunities to use an alternate format anywhere from paragraph two on–or even in the first paragraph of a one-paragraph letter or memo.

You can think of the eye as being like a circuit breaker for the brain. To protect your brain from overload, it "shuts off," preventing information from reaching your brain for processing–very much like a circuit breaker shuts off to protect the wiring in your house. Your eye, and your brain, work most effectively a "bite" at a time, preventing overload, and getting the full current through. The best way to work with the way the eye works is to use an alternate format.

Now let’s take a look at some of the alternate formats available. These include:

1. Outline
2. Narrative/Outline
3. Question/Answer
4. Problem/Solution
5. Log
6. Newsletter
7. Freestyle

And here’s how they look:

1. OUTLINE

This format is just a listing; mostly good for an agenda, step-by-step instructions, or a checklist.

a. b. c.

• • •

1. 2. 3.

– – –

* * *

2. NARRATIVE/OUTLINE

But combine the outline with the narrative, and you have a dynamite "one size fits all" format. Here is the best way to use the bite-at-a-time principle to present information in the easiest to understand, easiest to remember, way.

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• xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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• xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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3. & 4. QUESTION/ANSWER AND PROBLEM/SOLUTION

These formats are both an organizational structure, and, because of how they look, a format. Best used for explaining (Q & A), or presenting options (P & S), in a quick way. Both the Q & A and the P & S structures can also be put into the log format, shown next. Both may be combined with other formats, such as the narrative/outline (see sample, below):

QUESTION:
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ANSWER:
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OR

PROBLEM: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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SOLUTION:
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1. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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2. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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3. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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5. LOG

The log format can be easily adapted for a variety of uses–conference reports, meeting minutes, status reports, assignments, etc. This is an excellent format–probably the best–when you have a great quantity of information going to a number of people, but not everyone needs to read everything. By calling out the topic on the left 1/3 of the page, you will focus the reader’s attention so that the right person reads the right information.

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6. NEWSLETTER

Underlining. To be done judiciously. Because underlining is such an effective technique, anyone who writes a direct mail sales letter to sell you anything uses this technique mercilessly. Because of this, underlining–when overdone–tends to assume a "I’m trying to sell you something" tone. So be careful. Don’t overdo it, but use this powerful tool appropriately.

7. FREESTYLE

Freestyle is any way you can combine the above to enhance clarity while making your message memorable.

There you have them–seven eye-pleasing formats you can use every day to help your reader "get it" at a glance, and remember what you’ve said.