Recently, I came across this very good article. Although I disagree with the title, there is some very useful information.
====================================================
Templates And Hints
For The Perfect Email For Almost Every Situation
If every email you sent
was perfectly phrased and well-received right out of the inbox, how much time
could you save?
By
Kevan Lee via FastCompany
Have you ever received an
amazing email, one that you’d like to print out and pin to your wall, one that
made you grin from ear to ear or slow-clap in appreciation and reverence?When I come across these
gems, I drop them into a “Snippets” folder. I study them, I swoon over them,
and I borrow bits and pieces of them to send better email. Now imagine that every
email you send is as great as these occasional all-stars you receive.Impossible? Not at all.Worth shooting for?
Definitely.
At Buffer, we strive for
100% awesomeness in the emails we send to customers, and that pursuit of
excellence carries over to the emails we send to teammates, colleagues,
friends, and family. We want to send better email, the kind that delivers the
intended message plus the desired emotion.
So I’m happy to share
some of my sources of email inspiration. These are the templates and snippets
that have caught my attention over the past few months, and which I’m hoping to
include in more of my communication in the inbox. Think you might like to try
any of these out in your daily emailing? An email template for shaving 20 hours off your work week
Author Robbie Abed took to
LinkedIn to share a pair of emails that he had used successfully to shave his workweek from 60 hours to 40 hours.Here is email number one,
which is to be sent on Monday.
Subject: My plan for the
week
Jane,
After reviewing my
activities here is my plan for the week in order of priority. Let me know if
you think I should re-prioritize:
Planned Major Activities
for the week
1) Complete project
charter for X Project
2) Finish the financial
analysis report that was started last week
3) Kick off Project X –
requires planning and prep documentation creation. Scheduled for Thursday.
Open items that I will
look into, but won’t get finished this week
1) Coordinate activities
for year-end financial close
2) Research Y product for
our shared service team
Let me know if you have
any comments. Thank you!
— Robbie
The clear intention here
is to set the expectation for the week ahead and give a supervisor a clear
understanding of what you’re working on.Then, on Friday, you send
a second email, summarizing what you completed during the week and noting any
open items that need further attention or follow-up from colleagues.
The idea here is simple:
Set expectations early on in the week and follow through at the end of the
week. According to Abed, this provides clear boundaries on your time, it shows
your supervisor that you are responsible and organized, and--if everything goes
according to plan--it might get you out of the office on Friday having worked
zero overtime.
How Michael Hyatt says no to guest bloggers
Author and speaker Michael Hyatt gets a lot
of email requests for a lot of different things. One of the most popular
requests is for guest blogging – either bloggers who wish to submit guest posts
to his site or other sites looking for Hyatt to write for theirs.
Here’s how he says no to guest blog pitches.
Dear [Name]:
Thanks for your interest
in being a guest blogger on my site. I am grateful that you took the time to
write this post and submit it. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be able to
use it.
I have received scores of
submissions--more than I expected. As a result, I am having to turn down many
well-written posts, including yours. Sometimes this is because the topics
overlap or the posts are too general for my audience. Regardless, because of my
time constraints, I can’t really provide more detailed feedback.
I wish you the best in
your writing endeavors. If you have another post, I would be happy to consider
it.
Kind regards,
Michael
Here’s how he says no to
invitations to guest blog.
Dear [Name]:
Thanks so much for
thinking of me as a potential guest blogger. I am honored.
Unfortunately, I just
don’t have the time. It is all I can do to keep up with my own blog! As a
result, I’m afraid I will have to decline your kind invitation.
Again, thanks for
thinking of me.
Kind regards,
Michael
I’ve been on the sending
and receiving end of similar emails several times over the past few months. I
happened to save a favorite “thanks but no thanks” snippet that I thought
sounded appreciative and kind yet still said no.
I’d love to take part and it sounds like an
amazing opportunity. Unfortunately I’ll have to pass, as I’m currently a little
over-committed and won’t be able to make the time right now.
Email
snippets for saying no
In the examples above, Michael Hyatt said no to
guest blogging. That’s a great start. And what about the scores of other
opportunities we may need to turn down throughout the week? Elizabeth Grace Saunders,
a time coach and trainer, shared a series of snippets for saying no in a post published on 99U.
She seemingly had a “no” snippet for any scenario. Here are a few of my
favorites.
When you receive
perpetual last-minute requests:
I would love to help you out, but I already
made commitments to other (coworkers, clients, etc.) to complete their projects
today. It wouldn’t be fair to them to not follow through on what I said I would
do. I will be sure to fit this in as soon as possible. Thanks for your understanding.
When people ask you about
everything instead of directly contacting the appropriate person:
That’s not my area of expertise. I would be
happy to connect you with someone who could best help you solve this problem.
When you’re given an
exceptionally short deadline:
I know this project is a high priority for
you, and if it’s absolutely necessary for me to turn something in by that date,
I can make it happen. But if I could have a few more (days, weeks, etc.), I
could really deliver something of higher quality. Would it be possible for me
to have a bit more time?
When asked to do
something optional that you can’t commit to right now:
I appreciate you thinking of me, and I’m
honored by the request. But unfortunately, I don’t have the time to give this
my best right now. I think you would benefit from finding someone who can
devote more time and energy to this project.
7 simple sentences to set better boundaries
Could it even be as
simple as a sentence? Wharton professor Adam Grant has a pretty quick list of seven different sentences that might work to set boundaries on
your work/home life. Here’s the list:
·
The
Deferral: “I’m swamped right now, but feel free to follow up.”
·
The
Referral: “I’m not qualified to do what you’re asking, but here’s something
else.”
·
The
Introduction: “This isn’t in my wheelhouse, but I know someone who might be
helpful.”
·
The
Bridge: “You two are working toward common goals.”
·
The
Triage: “Meet my colleague, who will set up a time to chat.”
·
The
Batch: “Others have posed the same question, so let’s chat together.”
·
The
Relational Account: “If I helped you, I’d be letting others down.”
Of these seven, I’ve had
a chance to try Nos. 1 and 3 just in the past week. The first felt great, as it
truly was an opportunity I was excited to pursue yet the timing just wasn’t
ideal. Sentence No. 3 felt just as good; had I committed, I would have been way
in over my head. So not only was I able to set a boundary, I was able to ensure
that the work was completed the best way possible.
How to send the best emails to your customers
In The Customer
Support Handbook: How to Create the Ultimate Customer Experience For Your
Brand, Sarah Hatter describes in expert detail exactly which words and phrases should be used in a modern-day customer
conversation (and which shouldn’t).
Empty words (Do not use)
·
Feedback
·
Inconvenience
·
This
issue
·
That
isn’t
·
This
isn’t
·
We
don’t
·
No
·
We’re
unable to
·
I
can’t
Full words (Use
liberally)
·
Thank
you!
·
I’m
really sorry
·
This
sucks
·
I
know this is frustrating
·
You’re
right
·
That’s
a great idea!
·
Let
me check and get back to you
·
Thanks
for sharing your idea / thoughts / taking the time to help improve the product
Magic Phrases:
“You’re right.” “I’d love
to help with this.” “I can fix this for you.” “Let me look into this for you.”
“I’ll keep you updated.”
Power replies:
“You’re right, we could
definitely do this better.” “Thanks for being open and honest about your
experience so we can learn from it.” “I really appreciate you helping us
improve our process—we don’t want this to happen again.” “I know this is a huge
disruption to your day and I’m working to get it fixed.”
I had a chance to use the
“disruption” line just today with a customer who had a less-than-ideal
experience. I’m not sure if my choice of words was what won him over or not. I
am happy to say that he was super pleased to receive my reply--nothing to
sneeze at for a customer we might have wronged.
What to say instead of “Let me know if you have any
questions”
Chris Gallo at Support Ops has an interesting, applicable way
of looking at that all-so-common wrap-up to the emails we send. How do you end
your conversations on email? Seems like we typically choose one of these
cookie-cutter signoffs.
·
“Please
let me know if you have any questions.”
·
“If
you have any other problems, just let me know.”
·
“If
there is anything else you need, please let me know.”
Compare this with how you
end conversations in real life. Gallo points out that none of us talk this way
to our friends and family; why should we talk this way to our beloved
customers?
Perhaps the best example
Gallo cites is this one:
If there is anything else
you need, please let me know.
Should I need something else? Am I going to
need something else soon? Are you saying that I’m needy?
Instead of the stock
answers, try these questions, which sound more human and feel more
conversational.
·
Does
this help you?
·
Did
that answer your question? And does it make sense?
·
Anything
else that I can help with today?
(The above example comes
from Chase Clemons’s Support Ops email guide, which has loads more examples, if
you’re interested.) I’ve been trying these
new signoffs in my personal emails for the past couple weeks, and I will say
that it can be a little disarming at first. I definitely felt the urge to end
with a token platitude rather than an open-ended “Does this help you?”
Fortunately, it gets
easier the more you use it. And I’ve had many meaningful conversations that I
might not have had otherwise.
Out with the “buts,” in with the exclamations
This one I’ve borrowed
from our Chief Happiness Officer Carolyn who wrote about her removal of
every instance of “but” and “actually” from her customer support emails.With “but,” Carolyn
removes the conjunction and replaces it with an exclamation point, splitting
one compound sentence into two simpler ones.
Sentence 1: I really
appreciate you writing in, but unfortunately we don’t have this feature
available.
Sentence 2: I really appreciate you writing
in! Unfortunately, we don’t have this feature available.
With “actually,” she
removes the word entirely, often opting for a new word or phrase to open the
sentence.
Sentence 1: Actually, you
can do this under “Settings.”
Sentence 2: Sure thing, you can do this
under “Settings!” :)
I was inspired by these
examples, so much so that I’ve gone to the extreme and attempted to remove all
“buts” from the blogposts I write and the conversations I have. It’s
interesting, even if I’m unable to followthrough 100 percent of the time, just
to note how often the word might come up. I’m prone to use it more often than I
thought.
Conclusion
Do you think any of these
email samples and snippets might be useful to you as you communicate with
colleagues and friends?
What are your go-to email
words and phrases?
I’ve found that
recognizing great emails is one thing, and using them is another. This is why I
started cataloging the emails I love and referring to them regularly when I
need inspiration on what to say. I go with a fairly straightforward
copy-and-paste, which can take a bit of time. The SupportOps crew (and many of
our Buffer heroes) use Text Expander to have snippets
available via a keyboard shortcut.
============================================
In
addition to this blog, I have authored the premiere book on
Netiquette, "Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance
and Add Power to Your Email". You can view my profile, reviews of the
book and content excerpts at:
www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
If you would like to listen to experts in all aspects of Netiquette and communication, try my radio show on BlogtalkRadio and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and Yahoo. I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ Rider University and PSG of Mercer County New Jersey.
==========================================
.jpg)
www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
If you would like to listen to experts in all aspects of Netiquette and communication, try my radio show on BlogtalkRadio and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and Yahoo. I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ Rider University and PSG of Mercer County New Jersey.
==========================================
