How to get every email returned • Hacker News Board

Re: How to get every email returned

#71

Post by runiq » Mon, May 27, 2019, 6:40 AM UTC

amolo wrote: post #70

munchbunny wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a framework I learned while taking a course on legal argumentation back in college. Turns out it works fairly well in longer emails (whenever a paragraph is needed). Write your question/conclusion at the beginning and end. Stick context, evidence, and analysis in the middle in that order. You could literally use the same sentence first and last if you just really need to get the point across and don't have time…

Mind sharing the framework?

I believe they just did.

Re: How to get every email returned

#72

Post by j7ake » Mon, May 27, 2019, 10:37 AM UTC

throwawaymath wrote: post #38

floatingatoll wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It clearly declares the author’s intent to give up asking in the face of being ignored, without any specific insult or derogatory behavior. Either not replying is fine with the recipient or it isn’t. If it’s rude to say “I won’t bother you again if you don’t reply”, what behavior would you replace that with that clearly indicates the outcome of choosing not to reply? I encounter this frequently at work, where people…

> If it’s rude to say “I won’t bother you again if you don’t reply”, what behavior would you replace that with that clearly indicates the outcome of choosing not to reply? Not bothering me in the first place, or maybe taking a hint. If I didn’t reply to your first or second emails, assume I don’t want to. A motivating example: the only people who have ever emailed me repeatedly and used language like, “one last time”…

I have definitely sent reminder emails to people and have received a positive reply (eg, ah sorry your first message must have got directed to my spam, or thanks for reminding me)

People can be forgetful. Reminders don’t hurt

Re: How to get every email returned

#73

Post by AznHisoka » Mon, May 27, 2019, 10:59 AM UTC

goatherders wrote: post #54

I do this for a living and craft somewhere between 1000 and 2000 emails a week. Here are some additional tips: - be authentic. I never email anyone without believing 100% that my message can help solve a problem I already know they are struggling with. - be personal. Do some research and find something that shows you are putting in the work to make sure you are authentic. It makes all the difference. - be honest. Sho…

“I never email anyone without believing 100% that my message can help solve a problem I already know they are struggling with”

How do you know 100% they have that problem if you have never talked to them before? How do you know they have not already solved it?

Re: How to get every email returned

#74

Post by viburnum » Mon, May 27, 2019, 12:25 PM UTC

goatherders wrote: post #64

viburnum wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell us more about writing spam.

Care to tell me what you do for a living so I can insult you without all the facts?

It’s not writing one email a minute.

Re: How to get every email returned

#75

Post by goatherders » Mon, May 27, 2019, 2:00 PM UTC

viburnum wrote: post #74

goatherders wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to tell me what you do for a living so I can insult you without all the facts?

It’s not writing one email a minute.

Cool, I dont do that for a living either. What do you do?

Re: How to get every email returned

#76

Post by MaxBarraclough » Mon, May 27, 2019, 3:20 PM UTC

tosser0001 wrote: post #34

gnicholas wrote: post #2

I've found a couple things to be useful: * If there's a question for the person to answer, make sure it is the very last sentence in the email. That way when the person finishes reading the email and is deciding whether to ignore/archive or reply, they're more likely to reply. If possible, make the question yes/no instead of long answer. For example: "Is now a good time to move forward?" versus "How does this sound t…

> * If there's a question for the person to answer, make sure it is the very last sentence in the email. Oddly enough I do the exact opposite: Within reason, I try to make the question I want answered the very first sentence. I hate expository emails. Just tell me what you’re looking for. If I need more detail I would hope the follow on text would provide it.

Sounds sensible. That way, I can read the rest of your email through the lens of what's being asked of me. It won't seem like a pile of facts being thrown at me, as you've already established why I should care. Academic papers do something similar.

Taken further, we could put the question in the subject line. The email body can then provide detail and finally re-state the question.

Subject: Ok to manually norble remaining flurbs?

Body: As you know, our flurb-norblement service is out of action until Friday next week, and our un-norbled flurbs are costing us double. Should I go ahead and manually norble our remaining un-norbled flurbs, or just wait until the service comes back on?

(I've omitted the informal 'Hi Alice' prefix, and formal 'Best regards, Bob' suffix, that seem to have become standard intra-office netiquette.)

I googled this approach, but it seems that most articles about writing emails, are just lazy clickbait 'list articles'.

Re: How to get every email returned

#77

Post by Arkanosis » Mon, May 27, 2019, 4:29 PM UTC

la_barba wrote: post #33

chucksmash wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have good reasons to ignore them they probably already know them.

Depends, but I wouldn't want to work with someone who ignores my emails.

In my book, “Hello?” deserves no answer and I'm very fine with whoever sends that not willing to send me more emails.

The previous emails might deserve an answer I just haven't had the time to send yet, but for otherwise equally important emails, the one from the most annoying / disrespectful sender will be handled last, if ever.

Re: How to get every email returned

#78

Post by goatherders » Tue, May 28, 2019, 1:41 AM UTC

AznHisoka wrote: post #73

goatherders wrote: post #54

I do this for a living and craft somewhere between 1000 and 2000 emails a week. Here are some additional tips: - be authentic. I never email anyone without believing 100% that my message can help solve a problem I already know they are struggling with. - be personal. Do some research and find something that shows you are putting in the work to make sure you are authentic. It makes all the difference. - be honest. Sho…

“I never email anyone without believing 100% that my message can help solve a problem I already know they are struggling with” How do you know 100% they have that problem if you have never talked to them before? How do you know they have not already solved it?

One example. A client of mine that provides AWS consulting/managed services. We might reach out to companies hiring cloud Engineers and say "FTE may be the way to go, but there are other ways to solve this that cost less and launch faster than hiring a new employee." Some ignore, some decline, some are interested and we start a conversation.