What to consider in the 5 elements of Recipient, Sender, Timing, Subject, and Content.
Sending an email is easy, but how do we increase the chances of our message being read? Better still, how do we increase our chances of it being acted on? I share my process, whether sending an important email to a small group, or to thousands of people working across the globe. Although aimed for those sending mail at work I believe anyone sending email, for any reason, will find helpful pointers.
I’ve worked in global organizations for over two decades, and in that time I’ve lived and worked on three continents and sent emails to thousands of corporate employees at a time. In spite of that experience there is still no guarantee that people will read your email, but you can take steps to increases the chances they will do so.
1. The Recipient(s)
We can get so focused on getting the message out that we lose sight of who needs to hear the message, and why . Some people in your organization may need to take action, but a different group may merely need to be informed. Will you achieve this with one email, or with two? I’ve used both approaches. I’ve even spread the timing. When I was communicating a big change affecting thousands the local directors asked for a copy of the correspondence 24 hours ahead of time, so they could head off potential issues with those under their care.
When you’re sending an email to one person, or to a small, defined group of people, your job is a little easier, and you can probably move on to point 2. But if you’re sending an email to hundreds, or even thousands of people, your job is harder if there is no ready way to identify these people.
A lot of organizations will have a mailing list for ‘everyone,’ but if your email is only to a subsection of those people – e.g. those enrolled in a certain insurance plan, or those who use a certain technology – does your mailing list exist? You might be able to pull the list of affected people people from an HR system, or some other repository, but does it also include their email addresses?
Some email systems have an upper limit on recipients. For Outlook that limit is 500. If this email is just a ‘one and done’ you might get away with sending the same email several times, as you break your audience up into smaller groups, but if someone else is sending the email, or if you want to send this email as part of a series, you should put these addresses into a distribution list.
One of the most challenging audiences to identify are those who perform a certain role; organizations find it easier to assign titles than roles. Imagine you’re delivering a new policy for those who manage large meetings. This is a roe that might be filled by a dedicated meetings team, or administrative assistants. It could vary from location to location (if your organization is big enough to have multiple sites). There is no easy way around this problem and you will need to work with local leaders who can identify these people for you.
2. The Sender
We look at who an email comes from even before we look at the subject, at least in the work place. When the person in charge of your organization sends you an email then you’re more likely to read it. These ‘grand fromages’ ration limit the the number emails they send because if you hear from them too often you will become numb to their message, and switch off. Unless your message is earth-shattering, you will need to look at other senders.
At work most employees care when a message comes from two types of people: the person at the top, and our manager. If you want to get your message out, enlist the help of these managers. There are two ways to do this:
- draft the email for them, and then ask them to send it
- send the email yourself and then ask them to reinforce it by forwarding it to their people along with a short, more personal message of support.
Both require speaking with these managers beforehand. The latter requires less effort on their part. I tend to use the former when it’s important that the message originate from them.
3. The Timing
There is a difference between an urgent email and an important email. Urgent emails need to be read as quickly as possible, important emails need to be read by as many as possible. Urgent emails may also need to be read by as many as possible but we commonly have less control over timing — we just need to act swiftly. Where we do have wiggle room on timing, know your audience. Some people like to read all their email first thing, and others at the end of the day. Some get a jump start on the working week during a Sunday evening.
For emails to a large group working conventional hours there are times and days to avoid.
If you want your email to be read, don’t send it on a Friday night, just before you head off for the weekend. This not only sends the signal that your email wasn’t important enough to send sooner, it also buries your email under all the other messages that are going to arrive over the weekend.
If I have the flexibility I prefer to send an email on Tuesday, Thursday or Wednesday. On Mondays people are getting organized for the week, and on Fridays there is often a mad scramble to complete the week’s work – in both cases there are too many distractions. I aim for mid morning on these days.
Give yourself the best chance of your email being read – work out when your audience are most likely to read it.
4. The Subject Line
The worst subject lines are where you give people just enough information to decide they don’t care what you have to say. Having decided once that you can be ignored, it’s easier to ignore you again.
This could be a message from your IT department:
“Server move this weekend”
We’re often guilty of saying what is happening and not how explaining how your audience is affected. Why would anyone care about a server move?
“Email will be unavailable this weekend”
We’re now telling people how this server move affects them, but we have room to give even more detail.
“Email will be unavailable from 4pm PST on Friday 13th.”
This is gives the extra detail, but some people who haven’t read my point number 3 above, and who usually send their email last thing on Friday won’t even bother to open your message before calling you to complain. Try providing a reassurance, and a reason to open the email.
“Email unavailable from 4pm PST on Friday 13th. Workaround details enclosed.”
Don’t treat emails at work like blog headlines. You’re not generating clickbait, you’re trying to get your message across as quickly as possible, and build trust. One other tip is to preface your subject line by letting people know if this is Information, or if there is Action required.
5. The Content
If you’ve got everything right up to this point your job is easier but you can still lose your audience if you don’t speak their language. The key is to remain focused on how people are affected; don’t speak about router switches, but do speak about WiFi availability.
Avoid acronyms. Speak in common terms anyone can understand.
“Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn’t we keep the PC on the QT? ‘Cause if it leaks to the VC he could end up MIA, and then we’d all be put on KP.”
~ Robin Williams, in ‘Good Morning Vietnam’
When it comes to the structure of your content, I like the three part approach I often see in BBC News articles, which begins with what a person needs to know; if they read nothing else then they have enough. The second sentence or paragraph adds helpful detail, and the third part is relevant but incidental. You find yourself giving the information in decreasing order of priority. We’re busy people with ever shorter attention spans, and this structure increases the likelihood of your message being absorbed, even if your email isn’t fully read. Here is an example from 2019
San Francisco becomes first US city to ban e-cigarettes [Subject]
Officials on Tuesday voted to ban stores selling the vaporisers and made it illegal for online retailers to deliver to addresses in the city. [First part]
The Californian city is home to Juul Labs, the most popular e-cigarette producer in the US. [Second part]
Juul said the move would drive smokers back to cigarettes and “create a thriving black market”. [Third part]
Using the same approach for a work email:
Budget holders must submit all budget requests by Friday 13th
Budgets must be submitted into the Blah-Blah system by 5pm CET on Friday 13th. Instructions are attached.
The process we are following is identical to last year. Late submissions cannot be accepted.
The approved budget will be shared with all budget holders on such-‘n’-such a date.
In summary
You’e cutting through noise to reach busy people- make it as easy as possible for them. At each point in the process think of yourself as lowering the obstacles between your audience and your message. You can see how each of the five elements features in lowering these obstacles::
- Did the right people get my message [ Sender] – who must action vs who just needs to know; make sure your mailing list is available
- Did they see my message? [Timing and Sender] – avoid busier times and days; don’t make it look like an afterthought.
- Did they care enough to open it? [Sender and Subject] – put meaningful information in the subject line; let them know it’s in their interests to read it
- Did they make time to read it? [Subject and Content] – simplify the subject line and content; provide content in decreasing order of importance
- Did they understand it? [Content] – use their language; avoid abbreviations
If you get these steps right then your audience are more likely to act on your message.
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