Write emails as a human being

Daniel F Lopes
Paper Planes
Published in
2 min readJul 8, 2016

We live in a era where everyone of us receive dozens or hundreds of emails a day. And on top of that, we have several other messaging apps where we also receive messages and other types of interactions.

We all have a limited time during our day, so as much as well intentioned a person may be, after a certain point she isn’t able to respond to everyone.

So when you write an email to ask a VC for a coffee, to sell a product to a potential client, or to ask someone for an intro, write simple as a human. Write as you speak. Write as if you found this person in a hurry on the street. Write simple, go straight to the point, and make it easy to say yes.

Hello Lara,

I know you were at React Conference recently. I was wanting very much to meet you there, but due to an unforeseen I couldn’t make it.

Would you be open to have a coffee some time next week?

The goal is mostly to speak about the dev services that Whitesmith provides, since those could be useful for the companies in your portfolio.

Cheers,
Daniel

Don’t write long intros explaining who you are or what you do. Spare the details about your product (leave those for later). Write just 4/5 incisive short phrases, and don’t write words that you don’t say on your day-to-day.

Your goal is to initiate a conversation. Do it by mentioning what value is there for her in a briefly manner (she is in a hurry, remember?), and close with a simple “yes” or “no” question.

Write simple, go straight to the point, and make it easy to say yes.

Hi. If you enjoyed this article, feel free to follow 1 Minute Startup Advice for future blog posts. I will be launching 3 of these per week.

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Daniel F Lopes
Paper Planes

Physics Eng turned into Product Manager, with deep interest in applied AI. // Product & Partner @whitesmithco 🚀, Co-founder & Radio DJ @radiobaixa 🎧.