The Role of Email in Business Communication

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About this lesson

Are emails still relevant? How have they changed the way we communicate in business? How has business email evolved because of other forms of communication?

Quick reference

The Role of Email in Business Communication

Email is still very much alive and is an important part of business communication.

Instructions

People are generally inundated with unwanted emails every day. Points to bear in mind when composing emails:

1. A Subject Line should do one or more of the following:

  • gives some preview of the content
  • tells the recipient why it is relevant to them
  • tells the recipient how they stand to benefit
  • tells the recipient some action is required on their part

2. Keep emails on the shorter side. Most people read emails on their phones.

3. Make emails readable with generous amounts of white space.

4. Adjust your own expectations. Emails do not usually get an immediate response.

 

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  • 00:05 I'm willing to bet that you're like me, and you have multiple email accounts.
  • 00:09 I'm also willing to gamble that you have thousands of emails in your inboxes.
  • 00:14 That at least one of those inboxes has hundreds of unopened emails.
  • 00:20 Well, this means two things.
  • 00:23 One, email isn't dead, but
  • 00:25 two lots of folks out there are competing for your attention.
  • 00:31 And you've consciously or unconsciously decided on some kind of
  • 00:35 system to filter out important from unimportant.
  • 00:39 So even though there's a tendency to think that email is outdated,
  • 00:43 because there are quicker ways of communicating.
  • 00:45 You obviously have an email account,
  • 00:48 which you can access on your computer, tablet, or phone.
  • 00:52 Translation it's important.
  • 00:55 If you examine your own behavior as far as email is concerned,
  • 00:59 it can help you understand how people view your emails.
  • 01:02 And that'll help you to improve the quality of your own emails.
  • 01:07 So which emails do you open first?
  • 01:10 The ones you asked for.
  • 01:12 Emails from people you know, and trust, especially if they seem relevant to you.
  • 01:17 And like them or not your bills.
  • 01:21 Notice the common thread here, it's all about you.
  • 01:26 The other emails tend to be viewed with a bit of suspicion, or
  • 01:29 with the best of intentions they're left for later.
  • 01:32 But maybe they're never actually opened.
  • 01:36 So how do you bump your emails up to that important category for your readers?
  • 01:42 Remember that clue?
  • 01:43 It's all about you.
  • 01:45 Here are some useful tips to write better emails.
  • 01:50 A good subject line.
  • 01:53 People will be using your subject line, to evaluate is this email worth my time.
  • 01:57 And with the increasing reality that time is money,
  • 02:00 a fake subject line will only get them to ignore you.
  • 02:05 Your subject should answer any of the readers four key questions.
  • 02:09 What's this about?
  • 02:11 Why should I read this?
  • 02:12 What's in it for me?
  • 02:14 What am I being asked to do?
  • 02:18 A subject line that says, changes to payroll procedure,
  • 02:22 response required is more likely to be open, then weekly departmental update.
  • 02:30 The subject line should indicate something useful, interesting, or important.
  • 02:35 The second tip for writing better emails is to keep it short.
  • 02:39 The shorter the better, since our attention span is getting shorter, and
  • 02:44 shorter.
  • 02:44 If your audience doesn't perceive something is being of direct, and obvious
  • 02:49 benefit to them, they'll probably pass, and move on to something else that is.
  • 02:54 Remember it's just a matter of minutes or seconds before they are distracted
  • 02:59 by the next incoming phone call, email, social media post, or funny video.
  • 03:05 While there's no word count of how long an email should be, that all depends on
  • 03:09 whether it's a company notice, or response to your boss, or a marketing newsletter.
  • 03:14 Just remember that once they open up your email,
  • 03:17 no one wants to be scrolling through pages, and pages of text.
  • 03:23 If your email is longer than three phone screens, it's probably too long.
  • 03:28 The audience wants to see something important, or actionable, what's in it for
  • 03:33 them, or what do you want them to do?
  • 03:36 Make sure the call to action is nice, and clear.
  • 03:40 The third tip for writing better emails readability.
  • 03:45 Presentation is everything.
  • 03:47 Your email should have lots of whitespace with numbered lists, and
  • 03:50 spaces between paragraphs.
  • 03:53 Always think about the fact that most people are reading their emails on
  • 03:56 their phone.
  • 03:58 So paragraphs seem twice as long.
  • 04:00 So remember there's a thin line, don't sacrifice readability,
  • 04:05 just because you want to keep your email under three phone screens.
  • 04:09 And the fourth tip,
  • 04:11 understand that email probably won't get you an immediate response.
  • 04:16 Email is the new snail mail.
  • 04:18 People are now taking up to two days to respond to their emails.
  • 04:23 If you want an instant response, you're more likely to get one if you use Slack,
  • 04:27 Teams, or some other instant messaging platform.
  • 04:31 These apps are usually set up to tell whether the other party is online or not.
  • 04:35 So people feel some kind of urgency to
  • 04:40 respond right away, email, not so much.

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