Want a Response to Your Email? Follow These Tips

Please refresh the page to get the latest updates.

Materials Daily News

Advanced

Exercise 1

Vocabulary

favor

Noun

ˈfeɪvər

something that you do for someone out of kindness or a desire to help

She did me a great favor by helping me out.

Can you do me a favor and wash your own clothes?

sweet spot

Noun

ˈswiːt spɑːt

a combination of factors that delivers the best results

If you want to get rich, you have to hit a sweet spot between hard work and luck.

deliver

Verb

dɪˈlɪvər

to do what you are expected to do

I asked him to try to increase our sales and he delivered.

tip

Noun

tɪp

a piece of advice

My teacher gave me some tips on how to study more efficiently.

Exercise 2

Article

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Want a Response to Your Email? Follow These Tips

No matter what kind of job you have, you will, at some point, have to write an e-mail.

Let’s say that you are applying for a job or need to ask a coworker for help, or a favor. So, you send an email. You really want to get a reply. Can the words you choose increase your chances of getting a response?

Yes, they can.

A study on emails found that several factors affect whether or not you get a reply to your email.

The company Boomerang did the study. One of Boomerang’s goals is to help companies be more productive.

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Don’t forget the subject line

The subject line is what people will see first. Boomerang says that subject lines with three to four words are the best for getting a response.

The response rate goes down, they found, with each word you add. So, remember when writing your subject line -- less is more.

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Write simply

The reading level of the language you use in your emails matters. Boomerang found that a third-grade level works best and gets the most responses.

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Keep it short. But not too short!

Boomerang found that the “sweet spot for email length is between 50 and 125 words.” Experts say the response rate for emails of this length is above 50 percent.

But, do not write all 125 words into one long paragraph. Break them up into a couple short paragraphs. It is much easier to read this way.

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Ask a question

Boomerang found that the emails that asked no questions had the lowest response rate. Emails that ask between one to three questions are “50 percent more likely to get a response than emails asking no questions.”

However, don’t ask too many questions. With each extra question you ask in your email, your response rate drops.

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Show some feeling. But not too much.

The tone of your email matters very much. The tone is the feeling, or attitude expressed by the words that someone uses in speaking or writing.

When writing an email, be positive (but not too positive) or negative (but not too negative.) Being neutral -- neither positive nor negative -- gets you nowhere.

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Use the right closing

Experts studied over 350,000 email conversations of Boomerang users that involved people asking for help or advice. The study found “that certain closings deliver higher response rates.”

Here are the top 8 email closings and their response rates:

Thanks in advance (65.7%)

Thanks (63%)

Thank you (57.9%)

Cheers (54.4%)

Kind regards (53.9%)

Regards (53.5%)

Best regards (52.9%)

Best (51.2%)

So, if you really want a response to an email, remember these writing tips. And remember that in most cases, less will get your more.

Exercise 3

Questions

What result can choosing the right words in an email produce?

What is one of Boomerang's goals?

How simple should the wording in an email be?

Why isn't it advisable to ask too many questions in an email?

Exercise 4

Discussion

Do you agree that there is a recipe for writing the perfect email? Why? Why not?

Have you ever considered the factors listed in the article when writing an email? Why? Why not?

Which of these factors do you usually take into consideration when writing an email?

Which of the items on the list do you think increases your chances of getting a speedy response the most? Why?

Why do you think the closing of an email is so important?

Exercise 5

Further Discussion

Would you say that the idea of "less is more" is applicable in many situations? Why? Why not?

How much time do you spend each day writing and reading emails? Why?

What can you tell about a person after reading their emails?

What other simple measures do you think companies could implement to increase productivity?

Would you say that digital communication technologies allow companies to be far more productive than they were in the past? Why? Why not?

The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same. - Colin R. Davis. Why do you think Davis believes this to be the case?

Opportunities don't happen. You create them. - Chris Grosser. Do you agree with this statement? Why? Why not?

Exercises for Further Self-Study

These self-study exercises are optional and should be carried out after the lesson has finished.

Exercise 6

Sentence Building

Write at least one sentence for each of the words in Exercise 1: Vocabulary. Begin by making sure you understand the definition of each word. Use the example sentences as a guide if you are unable to think of a sentence. Practice reading your sentences out loud.

Exercise 7

Summary

Make a brief summary of the article. Focus on the main topic and consider which pieces of information are most important. Make sure you include details such as what the article is about, who is mentioned in it, where and when the events took place, and also how and why they happened.

Parts of this lesson are based on:

An article by Voice of America.