You fire off an email to a colleague asking them to forward you that TPS report with the new cover sheet.
You can see them at the other end of the office.
They definitely saw your email.
Why aren't they replying? Did you word the email rudely? Do they hate me?
Be it sales prospecting, email marketing or even just emailing your co-workers, nobody wants to be left on the (metaphorical) two blue ticks. It's possible to see how many of your emails you're getting a reply to in Email Meter:
No one likes sending follow-ups! Here's some effective ways to increase engagement and make sure you don't get left without a reply.
Keep it short and sweet
Have you ever opened an email and been faced with a giant block of text?
Even thinking about reading it is daunting. Unless it's super important, these emails are put aside to be dealt with later, forgotten and never read. Let alone replied to.
Try to whittle down your email to only the most vital information, and remove anything that is unnecessary.
Give people the chance to deal with things quickly and easily.
List your questions in a way which are easy to answer
- A jumble of questions throughout the email are going to get missed.
- No one wants to dig around in a long email to find what they are being asked again, and it makes it less likely for them to reply.
- So keep your questions in concise bullet points!
Be decisive and get to the point
Hi John, I was just wondering if it would possibly be ok to maybe be able to if you have time...
Don't beat around the bush!
Be specific.
If you want to arrange an appointment, propose a date and time. If you need something from a colleague, ask them!
Coordinate your emails to be sent at the best possible time
Aim for when a person is actively sending emails, or at least looking at their inbox.
This way they are seen immediately, and don't get buried under other emails. This can be done with Email Meter and Gmail Scheduling, here's a post I wrote on this.
Use names
If you know someone's name, use it.
At the beginning, at the end, within the email.
Personalization makes people feel more familiar, and therefore more likely to reply. Even people you already know like the sound of their own name 😉.
