As a mortgage professional, you probably send countless emails every week. Whether it’s connecting with a client, touching base with a referral partner, or connecting with a coworker, email is a primary mode of communication for many professionals. This’s why it’s essential that your emails are effective. Are they getting your message across in the way that you intend it? Are they delivering the results you want? If you’re wondering how you can evaluate your emails, here are some of the most important areas to consider:
Clear Subject Line
The first step in sending an effective email is to put yourself in the recipient’s position. For many of us, our inboxes can fill up quickly. It can become a daunting collection of to-dos, some important, some that just need to be trashed. A clear subject line helps your message stand out from the noise, and it also helps your recipient determine its level of urgency. Keep the subject line short enough that it will appear in full in their inbox, but also add enough detail to tell them what the message is about. Taking just an extra 10 seconds here can help to clean up your subject line.
Well-Organized
Like I said, many people are inundated with emails on a daily basis. The more readable yours is, the better it will be received and understood. Think about making your message as easy for your reader as possible. To start, break it down to the essential. If there are things you don’t need to include, keep them out or save them for the end. Starting with your top priorities ensures they are seen. It’s also highly effective to use formatting to draw attention to certain things. Perhaps your reader might give your message a quick scan before coming back to it later on. What information will they be able to take away in this quick glance? If you’ve made clear sections, used bold, italics, and underlining sparingly but intentionally, and created bulleted lists, you’ve set your reader up to get a great deal of information from a quick scan. We’ve all opened up those emails that are just a heavy block of text. If you’re busy, that may be the last thing you feel you have time for. Make your emails easy and convenient for your recipients by tending to their organization as well as their content.
Attention to Tone
One of the biggest risks of digital communication is a misinterpretation of tone. When we communicate face to face or even just over the phone, we have many more cues to tell us where the other person is coming from. When it comes to email, we lose so many of those. Facial expressions, tone of voice, inflection, delivery. When it comes to email, we just have the words on the page. To write an effective email, you have to tune into the tone of your writing. Think about how it will be received. Think about if there are any areas that risk misinterpretation. Even think about if the subject is better communicated over the phone or in person. If it’s something highly sensitive that risks misinterpretation, sometimes email isn’t the most effective choice.
Call to Action
Finally, what do you hope to get from sending this email? Do you want your recipient to do something? Do you want a reply? A call to action makes that clear. Maybe you want them to check out your website. Specifically asking and including a clickable link to do so makes that much more likely. Perhaps you simply want to hear back. Including a date can help you motivate a response, for example, ‘please let me know what you think by Tuesday afternoon if possible”. When you add a date, you make it more likely for your reader to add your message to their to-do list.
As one of the most popular modes of communication, emails need to be strong. While you don’t need to spend hours crafting an artful message, it’s often worth investing just one more minute to ensure you’ve covered all your bases. Do you have any other tips for sending effective emails? Please share them with us!
