Two Methods To Improve Email Communication
How many emails do you send and receive in a day? Do you know how to write correct and concise emails? When you want to give essential managers and colleagues a complete message about something important, using an email is an excellent place to start.
A business email has to have a clear purpose. It must clearly and quickly express the purpose, problem, or proposal the sender is trying to convey. It can be challenging to create a concise business email. I have also experienced this challenge when attempting to compose precise ideas for an email. As a project manager, my daily work is communicating with different people; most communication occurs via email.
Before writing an email, I recommend clarifying the purpose of the email. You have to ensure that the recipient will perceive the content of the email how you intended the message to be conveyed. On the other hand, you will also have to determine the recipients’ cognition on the matter you raised in this email.
1. Determine The Recipients’ Cognition Of The Matter
Before composing the email, the efficient way is to be aware of the recipients’ cognition level on this matter. When you deliver the information to them, reducing the gap between your and their knowledge would be preferable. This idea is not just for email writing but also for business presentations and negotiations. There are four different levels of understanding for the email recipients shown below:
- Awareness: If the recipients are unaware of this problem, it would be best to describe the issue first.
- Intentions: It would be helpful to determine the recipient’s preferences for this matter before delivering the solutions.
- Resources: If the recipients know the background and prefer to solve this issue, you can discuss the resources required to address this problem.
- Solutions: In some cases, the recipients understand the situation clearly, and you might need to deliver various solutions directly.
I have provided examples below about how to use these concepts to determine the cognition level of the recipients. The first is a specific issue discussion. I think the recipient is interested in the awareness, intentions, resources, and solutions. You cannot go to the solutions directly because you have to explain the background of this issue and determine their preferences before discussing the required resources and various solutions. So, in this case, I would describe these four perspectives step by step. Below, you will find four examples:
2. Use The Introduction/Information/Call-To-Action To Construct A Business Email
The second method is to use the three phases to write an email. So we can use an introduction, information, and call-to-action to construct a business email. Below, you can find an example of how to describe a complicated problem to the senior managers via email.
You can write a title to it and the recipient’s address. We can divide the email into three parts:
- The first is about your purpose of contacting the recipient.
- The second part of the email describes the problem, the relevant background, and solution options. It involves awareness, intentions, resources, and solutions.
- The third part provides a brief conclusion and a call-to-action.
Key Takeaway
Emails may seem simple, but constructing an email is not common knowledge. This article provides two methods for systematically solving corporate email problems. Every business email has a purpose. Therefore, don’t forget to insert the email’s objectives and focus on what is critical and valuable for this problem. So, before starting the process, choose the information that aligns with your objective.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article.
Have a topic or an idea you would like me to write about? If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave me a message.
Have a nice day. :)
