Tired of the back-and-forth? How to finally get the email response you need the first time.

Image by Jerry Kimbrell from Pixabay

I’m sure you’ve been there before.   You take the time to craft a perfect email requesting that crucial information you need.  You’ve left no stone unturned, everything they need to know and respond to is included

And then you get their response – where they don’t actually respond to what you need.

“Did they even read the email?!  Did they not see my question?! Ugh, now I have ask them AGAIN.  And wait for a response AGAIN.”

Well, here’s the thing.  There’s always going to be “that person” that just doesn’t pay attention to what you’re asking.  Maybe they are just completely stupid, inconsiderate, or a combination of both. 

But, the more likely reality is that they are probably so busy and distracted with everything else going on that they don’t have the time to thoroughly read a long and involved email.

No matter the reason, you’re never going to have control over how someone else reads and responds to your messages.  But, you do have control over how you write it.  Modern-day humans are busy creatures and respond better to quick snippets of information. We skim more than we actually read, so to get the email response you want, you’ll need to adapt.

Here’s how!

Use bulleted or numbered points

If you do nothing else on this list, do this!  Any time that you have a specific set of questions to be answered or instructions the recipient should follow, clearly list those out with bullet points or numbered steps.  This immediately draws your eye and, even if they don’t read any other information in that message, they will recognize your questions or instructions as the most important part of the message.

To truly capitalize on this, keep the text listed beside the bullet or number short and sweet.  Again, assume that the first phrase beside that bullet is the only thing that person reads.  What is most important for them to know?  If you need to add clarifying information afterward that’s fine, but make sure they know what’s most important up front.

Use bold font to highlight important information

So maybe you don’t have a full list of questions you need to have answered, but there is still that one important message you need to convey.  Summarize that message or question as concisely as possible into a single phrase and put it in bold.

Like bullet points, this will immediately draw the recipient’s eye and make sure they don’t miss it.  You can still add more clarifying information around it, but in this way you know your main message will be seen and heard.

A word of caution here – to truly be effective use this method sparingly.  You should limit this to just two or three phrases per message at most.  Otherwise, if the whole message appears important then the opposite effect occurs and no one point stands out more than the others.

If you do have more than a couple important points, that’s when it’s better to employ tip number one and compile those into a list.

Sign off with a clear expectation for their response

Any time that you are actively awaiting a response or information from someone else, be sure to make this clear in the closing of your message.  Something like “I’ll be standing by for your response” or “looking forward to hearing back from you” is much more action-oriented than a simple “thank you!”

And, if the information is time sensitive this is a great place to assign a deadline to their response like, “If you can let me know by Friday of this week?”  (This is another great piece of information to bold so that it isn’t missed!)

And there you have it. My top three tips to finally get the information you need the first time around.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s always going to be “that person” who just doesn’t respond the way you need every time.  But, I can just about guarantee your success rate will improve!