Business Communication
The purpose of an email is to convey the message in the right manner so that people actually read and act on the sender’s message. The email has to be written effectively so that its relevance is not over immediately after clicking the send button. An email that is properly written can help us move ahead of the pack. The golden rule of business communication is to be precise and upfront. Writing paragraphs to convey something that can be written as a single sentence is nothing but a pure waste of time and energy.
Structure of Emails
An email generally contains a standard structure that is made of different elements. These elements include the sender’s email, subject, email body, signature, and attachments. Unless we focus on these elements while composing an email, the desired success rate will not be achieved. An email has a lot of moving parts, which have different functions and even a slight weakness can spoil the overall message easily.
Sender’s Email
During a physical meeting when you are sitting at a café and the other person walks in to meet you, the first thing that you look at is the face of that person. If the person walks in with a smile, the meeting would start on a happy note. Similarly, the sender’s email is the face of the email. Having a couple of numerals or a single special character is fine, but make sure that the email address looks professional. Ideally, it should contain both the first and the last names. In the case of longer names, you can use initials. Email ids containing nicknames, college or university name, or even your favorite celebrity initials are a big NO. No recipient in a professional set up likes to receive emails from “jimmyrox@ gmail . com”, “chintu_tomcruise@ gmail . com” or “golu.iitd@ gmail . com”. You get the vibe.
Subject Line
If the sender’s email is the face of the email, the subject line is its heart. For human beings, the body cannot function without a healthy heart. Similarly, a professional email cannot perform its desired functions without a healthy subject line. The subject line is the most powerful element that is mostly not utilized by the senders. A majority of recipients decide to open the email based on the contents of the subject. A business executive can easily receive 40-60 emails per day as an average. The purpose of the sender should be to ensure that the email does not fall within the crowded space of emails with the subject as “Hi”, “Hello” or “Job Applications”. This is the space to be creative and stay within the limits of minimum characters (5-6 words or 40-50 characters) at the same time.
Email Body
Needless to say, this part has to be crisp. Follow BLUF, i.e. bottom line up front, which is a military communication technique. If you love writing long paragraphs conveying a simple point, please maintain a personal diary as long emails without meaningful content is nothing but disrespectful to the recipients. A well-written email usually contains the following elements within its body:
(a) Specific Context
You need to convey the purpose of writing an email at this particular time. “I am an avid reader of your blog and found last week’s article interesting”, or “I came to know through LinkedIn that your company is presently open for hiring”. If you want to write to someone but are unable to find a specific context, it is time to dig deeper. Find the most recent tweet or LinkedIn post and mention that. DO NOT send an email without a specific context. Any email received without a specific context looks like a part of a bulk email campaign and it takes few seconds for that email to end up in the spam folder.
(b) Specific Introduction
If you are able to craft a specific context, this part becomes easier. A specific introduction contains 1-2 lines about you without getting into details. “I am a student of ABC course at XYZ university with a keen interest in topic 123”, or, “I am a lawyer specializing in business and technology laws working independently since 2008”.
(c) Social Proof
This part is to convey that in the world of thousands and millions of email senders, you EXIST. Your social existence will prove to the recipient that this sender is unique and this particular message deserves attention. It is usually written as 2-3 lines stating anything that you can connect with the specific context written above. “I have written about a [COMMON TOPIC OF INTEREST] and this article has been published at XYZ platform”, or, “I have a YouTube channel with 5k subscribers and I have created various videos on [COMMON TOPIC OF INTEREST]”.
(d) Precise Plan
After context, introduction, and social proof, the stage is nicely set to convey your intentions. This section would require the most number of words. Hence, if the above-mentioned sections are really brief, you have a leverage to use more words here while keeping the overall email short. “I would like to work with your company. I think I am the right fit for [POSITION] because _____”, or, “I would love to meet you briefly sometime during next week to discuss _______”.
(e) Specific Call to Action
This part is the deal closure. Most emails end abruptly and it is not the job of the recipient to determine what needs to be done after reading an email. Be as precise and specific as possible. “Can we connect over a brief 10 min. call on [Date] at [Time] to discuss this”, or, “Can I send across my detailed profile for your review? Please reply YES”. Consider this call to action (CTA) as legs of your email to stand on. Would you ever want to send a crippled email? Definitely not. Just like we need our legs to move from position A to position B, your message needs legs in the form of a specific CTA to move to the next step, else consider this an end of your conversation.
Based on the above email elements, here’s a template.
I have just read a book on time management and productivity. I researched the author and he runs a consulting firm. I want to connect with him over email to explore the possibility of providing legal services to his firm.
Here’s how I will write this email:
Re: Your Book Touched My Heart
Hi Mike,
Just completed your book. The chapter on killing distractions and improving the mind’s focus is my favorite. Overall, this book touched by heart though most people consider lawyers to be heartless J
[Here, I have used the context to convey praise while using a single word to describe my profession. That too with a joke, which I hope is good]
A bit about myself: I am a technology lawyer running my own firm since 2008. We focus on businesses and individuals who create unique products. A vast majority of our clients include authors and business consultants.
[Here, I have tried to customize my intro to match with the recipient’s interests]
I have recently started my podcast and just like every beginner, I am facing challenges to scale up its reach due to time constraints. After reading your book, I am in a better position to manage my time and hope to grow my podcast at a faster rate.
I would like to schedule a brief call (10 minutes) next week, Wednesday or Thursday at a convenient time between 3 pm – 5 pm. We will talk about the impact of your book on busy professionals and top takeaways. Particularly interested to share a couple of case studies highlighting my earlier projects that I have executed for consulting firms.
I am confident that this brief discussion would be beneficial to both of us.
Please send your confirmation with a preferred time slot.
Would be my pleasure.
Best,
Rahul Dev