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Say less in your emails, get more replies (2017)

gkogan.co

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Re: Say less in your emails, get more replies (2017)

#21

Post by heurist »

nottorp wrote: post #18
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #2

People are notorious for not reading or responding to email. Even business email, about topics vital to their job. If a reply is needed, they'll address either the first or last point raised. Never, ever all the points. Never completely. No wonder people tend to call so many meetings. They can corner colleagues, get a complete, coherent response to complex issues. I wonder if Slack is any better? Do folks respond bet…

> If a reply is needed, they'll address either the first or last point raised. Never, ever all the points. Never completely. Use numbered short topics instead of a wall of text, even if they're all in the same email. It usually gets me a lot more answers than something more prose like. > I wonder if Slack is any better? Do folks respond better to one question at a time? Post numbered short topics :)

Really depends on who is responding. Emails that require a lot of effort to respond to are less likely to get a response in general, I've found.

Re: Say less in your emails, get more replies (2017)

#24

Post by gk1 »

gmuslera wrote: post #15

Notice the asymmetries in work, you send an automated mail with zero load for you, and, interested or not, the user should have to read all your mail, and decide that there is even more work to do if he wants to reply. You have minimum effort in one side, maximum in the paying other. With a short mail at least the reading work is not so bad, but you still have the analysis one. But giving out information that should…

(Author here)

What I've learned, after hundreds of convos with developers sparked by emails like this, is that many people are happy that someone from the company is interested in their project and their opinions.

Those who feel that way are glad to get this and they're glad that there's no burden on them to get on a call or schedule a zoom or fill out a questionnaire or even click out of their email client.

And those who don't want to be bothered, well at most they've lost 5 seconds of their day to read the email start to finish.

In other words I think this fairly symmetric... Low effort and high value on both sides.

Re: Say less in your emails, get more replies (2017)

#25

Post by sublinear »

jlmcgraw wrote: post #12

A style I picked up from a relative, who is a lawyer, is to make bullet points with minimal other fluff: Addressee, - Do this - Then that - Be sure to be aware of this I found it impersonal at first, but it's very effective in calling out the things that need attention

Bullets are so underrated as a tool. Perhaps because writing them clearly and concisely can be a lot of effort, but that's the point. You have to reduce the reader's cognitive load to get a response.

The format you described is what I use for emails and messages.

Bullet trees are what I use for everything else. I can spend like an hour on a good bullet tree, but I am rarely misunderstood or ignored.

Re: Say less in your emails, get more replies (2017)

#26

Post by AnimalMuppet »

mapierce2 wrote: post #9

The converse lesson here is also important: If you don't want a response to your email, barrage the recipient with text.

If you don't want it to be read, barrage the recipient with text.

But then, if you don't want it to be read, why are you sending it?

Re: Say less in your emails, get more replies (2017)

#27

Post by gk1 »

Bluestein wrote: post #5

Just a heads up: The ... - https://www.gkogan.co/question-for-saas-trial-users/ ... URL linked to from "Take your welcome or onboarding email — [start here] if you don’t have one" is 404ing for me.-

Thanks! I recently moved the blog to Ghost and some stuff didn't carry over. It's there now.

Re: Say less in your emails, get more replies (2017)

#28

Post by croutonwagon »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #2

People are notorious for not reading or responding to email. Even business email, about topics vital to their job. If a reply is needed, they'll address either the first or last point raised. Never, ever all the points. Never completely. No wonder people tend to call so many meetings. They can corner colleagues, get a complete, coherent response to complex issues. I wonder if Slack is any better? Do folks respond bet…

Generally long emails are hard to process. And most are multi-tasking when an email comes in. Even now I will often type a bunch of stuff and if the reply is longer than a paragraph, or needs multiple replies/input i will just ask for a 10 minute call.

And even today when this was done, We addressed the context of the email and I helped with 3 other things that werent on topic in 10 minutes. So it was a better use of time (and I do acknowledge plenty of meetings are totally useless, even ones I have called...)

Re: Say less in your emails, get more replies (2017)

#30

Post by nottorp »

heurist wrote: post #21
nottorp wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If a reply is needed, they'll address either the first or last point raised. Never, ever all the points. Never completely. Use numbered short topics instead of a wall of text, even if they're all in the same email. It usually gets me a lot more answers than something more prose like. > I wonder if Slack is any better? Do folks respond better to one question at a time? Post numbered short topics :)

Really depends on who is responding. Emails that require a lot of effort to respond to are less likely to get a response in general, I've found.

Prying the answers you need out of your co workers and customers is a skill. I hate it but someone has to do it so it might as well be me.

Repeat the unanswered questions, add helper questions etc. I've discovered no way to avoid it.

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