I regularly get the question from colleagues why their emails are not answered and mine are.
There is no magic behind this… or maybe just a little bit.
Let me break it down here. Note: this post is about important emails in an international business context, not about cold emails, emails to friends or love letters 😊.
After 25+ years of writing emails, for me the right email skills are a combination of the following 7 elements:
1. The definite number one is: a clear and compelling subject line. You will exponentially raise the likelihood that your email will be answered by a senior stakeholder if the subject line says something like "Your signature needed for contract XYZ" or "Draft email about ABC – please review before Thursday 1 PM". You are very lucky if you get a response to an email with the subject line "Re 20230902 system report analysis_YUBTK" or some other obscure phrase (unless that particular stakeholder was waiting by his laptop for hours for just this exact system report). Bear in mind senior stakeholders are busy people and they receive tons of emails daily. So it is only a matter of showing a little bit of respect to them to properly label your email, rather than make them guess what the email is about. This number 1 element presumes number 2 by the way.
2. Next important element is familiarity. Does the recipient of the email know you? Or will that person think: “no idea who this email is from, let’s place it at the bottom of the pile”. Or worse, “let’s place it in the round archive” (= the trash). So, if the recipient doesn’t know you, don’t expect an answer shortly. It would be better to use a different communication channel (see point 3) or ask someone else to send the email on your behalf with you in copy.
3. Third is communication strategy. Is an email to this person the best way to get something done? Or do you see better alternatives, like a phone call, a Teams chat or setting up a meeting? Emails are often abused to relinquish responsibility. Like: “I sent her an email so it is no longer my problem; my job is done”. Would this person truly be no longer responsible because an email is now clogged in someone else’s inbox? Emailing then resembles a tennis match: “the ball is now in their court”. If an email is the best strategy, for example because you and the recipient are not able to talk or meet shortly, then go for it and apply the other 6 items on this list.
4. Equally important: keep it concise and coherent. People earlier in their careers tend to write emails that have "once upon a time..." type opening messages. Writing good emails is more of an art than a science. I am still learning every day. If in any way possible, start with the conclusion first and then give some background. Consider putting details in an attachment. Some senior stakeholders love details. Others want to read the high level summary only.
5. Hierarchy helps. Similar to point 2, sometimes you need to leverage a more senior person to send your email to a senior stakeholder to increase the chance of a response. Especially in bigger organizations, if you are lower in the hierarchy, it is sometimes unavoidable to use this tactic to get things done, to get a decision, etc.
6. Other posts advise on sending emails to several people simultaneously to add a “little peer pressure”. I would argue the opposite. Preferably you write 1 on 1 emails. But if you do write to a group be very clear from whom of the recipients you expect a response to a specific request. It is ill-advised to throw a request in the middle of a group and to expect a response. Each of the recipients may believe the others will take action. Just like a ball that ends up between two football players. Who picks up the ball?
7. Exceptionally you may need to apply some hierarchical pressure. This means for example including your superior and the recipient’s superior in the cc of an email. Sometimes this is necessary if after several attempts there is still no response to emails, calls and meeting requests. Try to avoid such tactic as it strains relationships, but it’s inevitable sometimes in order to get things done.
Extras
Bear in mind there are potentially three distortions in communication: distortions in the messenger, the message and the recipient. See for instance this nice video about a “written Chinese whispers” game.
Don’t expect a response from people in the cc. Actually, there was a period in my career I received so many emails that I felt compelled to create a rule that redirected emails with me in cc to a specific folder. After that I in fact forgot about that folder 😊 and then colleagues would reach out to me asking for a reply to their emails.
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