Writing E-mails That Communicate

It was not that long ago when formal business letters were the primary selling tool for B2B selling. The customer would say, “Send me a proposal” and sales people would willingly oblige with a multiple page letter, stamped, sealed, and delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. E-mail has changed the landscape and the formal business letter is almost a thing of the past.

Letters were long and full of details along with glittering business generalities about value propositions, features, and benefits. Letters were read and distributed for others to read and comment upon. They were filed away for future reference.

E-mails are very different from letters. Most e-mails don’t even get opened because of poor subject lines, spam filters, and sheer volume. Busy executives receive hundreds of e-mails a week (sometimes daily) and look for reasons to delete them. It is important to recognize that e-mails can be deleted at anytime and for any reason, even if they are important.

Since this is reality, you must act accordingly. Here are a few simple rules to follow:

– Write honest subject lines that say what is in the e-mail. Don’t tease or mislead the reader since they will just delete it if you do.
– Use short subject lines with no more than 3-5 words. Some e-mail formats truncate long subject lines.
– Avoid spam like words or phrases. If you don’t know what they are, do a search for “spam words” and you will get the most hated spam words in use today. The list will astound you.
– Only one subject per e-mail. Got another subject? Send another e-mail.
– Brevity is best. Say what needs to be said and no more.
– Use the “rule of thirds” and divide the email into three parts: the opening, the body, and the call to action.
– The opening should say who you are and what you want.
– The body of letter should deliver the meat of your message. I recommend using only three bullets. If it cannot be said with three bullets, you are making the subject too complicated.
– Don’t beat around the bush with language. Just say what you have to say and be done with it.
– Choose your words carefully since you want to your e-mails to be remembered; it is OK to break out the thesaurus and choose a new clever word.
– Have a clear call to action. Tell your recipient what they need to do and how to do it such as “visit my website to order my book First, Best, or Different” (blatant plug).
– Finally, rather than pressing the send key, how about you save the message. Go back to the message later and check for typos and proper grammar. The key to good writing is good editing.

Letters are dead. Long live e-mails.

John Bradley Jackson
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