There is a popular myth that when elephants grow old, they wander off to the mythical elephants’ graveyard. This boney place is an El Dorado for adventurers, who have searched far and wide for its riches in ivory.
But there is no such place.
A contemporary equivalent of this would be the big email graveyard that is of enormous value due to its supposed riches in business opportunities.
Somewhere out on the net are the immense amount of emails that never get a reply. And they’re worth a ton of money.
Unlike the adventurers’ dreams of an enormous ivory stash, this graveyard is real. And it’s on our computers.
In all likeliness, the missing replies are our fault. How often do we stop to think about the psychological principles behind good email writing?
Probably not that often. And why would you, there are trees, coconuts, coffee, love, dogs, waterfalls and many other marvelous things to spend your mental resources on. In fact, good for you if phrasing email isn’t top of your mental list.
But again, there is value, so let’s look into it.
The framework for efficient email communication is always based on the following content:
What is the problem (why does this piece of communication even exist)
What is the action intended (how do we get rid of the problem)
You can (and should) blanket that in storytelling, metaphors, images, and more. But never compromise as to the above two elements.
When neither of these are present, it’s easy to zone out.
(That’s probably why it’s never really exciting to hear about other peoples dreams, even when they include dragons, zeppelins, crocodiles, and angels).
That should be interesting, but it rarely is. Make sure your emails are not like that.
There are a bunch of psychological elements that you can use to increase the chances that your email doesn’t end up in the eternal night of the email boneyard.
We’ll look at them in turn.
Make them a habit, so you don’t have to think about it every time you write an email, a pitch, or talk to someone on the phone. Make efficient business communication your second language.