Have you ever carefully composed an e-mail where you really needed an answer and received-- Nothing?
Dead air? Crickets?
Then you end up sending a second email feeling annoyed that you received zero response to the first one.
What if the problem isn’t with the receiver?
What if the challenge is the sheer volume of requests every one of us receives in a day via our inbox?
Want a better response rate? Here are 6 quick fixes to make your email more compelling than the others that are streaming into the inbox:
1. Change your subject line to ask for what you want and by when.
One of the easiest ways to get quick responses on your emails is to make the subject line your request with the deadline included. Most of us scan email and respond first to the “quick questions” and other tasks we can readily take action on.
Using this technique in an email subject line looks like:
- Please review the worship set and give feedback by Tuesday (11/7).
- Afraid of missing out on this event? RSVP today.
- Need your thoughts on this by EOD today.
The other email subject line which works for rapid responses? “Quick question.” Of course, to use the QQ subject line, what you are asking has to actually be quick.
2. Take the reader’s POV and include the “why” they care about.
The most effective requests are made from the reader’s point of view. For example, if your request is for funds from the finance administrator to purchase a new piece of gear, you could simply ask for what you want. Or, you could focus your request on a “why” the reader is concerned about. So, the request might become, “I need x amount of dollars to replace this piece of gear so the pastor’s voice isn’t garbled during the sermon next Sunday.” Or, “we have the opportunity to save x amount of dollars on this failing piece of equipment if we are able to replace it in the next week.”
3. Include social proof.
People are influenced in their choices by people similar to them. While a “keeping up with the Joneses” argument rarely works in church circles, it is persuasive to share what similar pastors and churches are doing which is having results. For example, if your request is to convert an underutilized space into a video venue, it can help your cause by sharing the stories of other churches who have taken the same approach and had positive results.
This gets even better if you can quantify it. For example: “Faith Church in our city converted their basement to a video venue with an investment of $x and within 6 months the venue was full without drawing members away from the main service.”
4. Have a clearly stated call-to-action.
Many emails aren’t responded to because the reader isn’t clear on exactly what you need the person to do. A call-to-action (often abbreviated CTA) is a clear statement of the step you want the reader to take. A CTA can be anything—reading an attached document, RSVP’ing for an event, providing feedback, or calling you back.
End your email with the action you want the reader to take in a simple way to make it easy to process.
5. Install the boomerang plugin.
Have you ever sent an email request which removed a project from your mental checklist, only to drop the ball because the other person never responded? Boomerang is a plugin for Gmail and Outlook which empowers you to set a reminder to follow up. You only receive the reminder if the person you are sending to does not respond. You can get the plugin at boomerangforgmail.com or boomerangforoutlook.com.
6. Write your email to be read on a phone.
Sometimes people don’t respond to our emails because they read them while doing something else on their phone.
The reader thinks “I’ll deal with that when I get back to the office,” but then the email is marked unread and the person forgets about it.
Use simple, brief language to help your reader process. You can even make your CTA mobile friendly by including your phone number (which will hyperlink) ie. Call me 555-555-5555. Or you can add a line letting them know you will follow up with them on x date.
As the volume of information, we are required to process each day increases, we have to become more skilled at crafting correspondence which is easy to process. Luckily, there are some apps for that.
And of course, it helps to keep in mind that when the request is really important, it probably needs to be made in person.
