Simple Email Hack: Get Your Questions Answered
Whether we like it or not, email is still the primary mode of communication online. That’s not going to change any time soon.
We’ve got instant messenger, Twitter, Skype, message boards, project management tools, messaging applications, etc. The list of ways to communicate online is endless.
But email still rules the day. And it still works.
Of course, the problems with email are clear. People are overwhelmed with the volume of email they receive. They scan and skim instead of reading things in-depth.
The result - when asking a question via email - is a strong possibility you don’t get the answer you need. You might not get an answer at all…
And that’s frustrating. You can’t keep asking the same question over and over, and presumably you’re asking the question because you really want an answer.
Tip: The last question you ask in an email is the one that will get answered.
People will skim your email, get to the bottom and see a call to action. If you’ve peppered your email with other questions, it’s very likely people will miss them, or won’t bother responding. They will key in on the last question.
- Be careful about adding a PS question. This is typically the most casual question, it’s an attempt at extracting just a bit more information and continuing the conversation. But it’s rarely the most important question (although sometimes it can be!)
- Put questions on their own line. Even if this doesn’t make complete sense from a reading/writing flow perspective, do it anyway. Make questions stand out.
- Make the last question the most important one. The one you need answered.
It comes down to smart copywriting.
Sending email is about telling a compelling story and encouraging action. Don’t fool yourself: Email is a great sales and marketing tool. It’s a great research tool. It’s a great relationship building tool. But to extract value from email means writing in a well-formatted, easily digestible manner.
And if you’re asking questions in email - focus your energy on the last one you ask. Make it count, because that’s the one people will answer.
now this is an interesting post! great tips in here dude.
You still have to find a way to be sure the readers will readthe last question…
sometimes, the first question is the one that get the answer, because often people do not read the entire mail… don’t you think?
Nice tips, you know I thought the first question was the most important, apparently I should put that to the last one.
Francesco, I think the main point is not to ask superflous questions.
Ben, nice write-up. I often read emails that contain much more info than is necessary.
I think you need to expand this to what I call the emailing “rule of one”:
“If expecting a response to an email you are sending, you can only talk about *one* subject, or ask *one* question, otherwise the number of answers you get will almost certainly be less than the number of questions you asked.”
So actually the previous posters are right AND the article is right. You should make your most important question both the first and the last question, that is, the *only* question. It’s worth sending separate emails if you have more than one question to ask, you stand a much better chance of getting them all answered.
Great post. I think it’s important generally to think about what it would be like to receive the email you are sending out. Because email is nearly instant, it is often stream-of-whatever-jumped-into-the-rain (read: selfish) and is not simple, clear, or brief enough. Convey quickly what it is you want from the person; don’t make them work through your thought process.
oops. “rain” should be “brain”. proving my own rule…
Pretty practical advice. Another tip is to take advantage of lists. Unline questions lost in a paragraph, lists of questions are very scanable.
Furthermore, because they’re pretty structured, you can expect your response to be equally structured. An ordered list of 10 questions should yield 10 answers.
[…] Instigator Blog lists a few ways to get your email questions answered. We receive dozens of questions a day in our tips box, and we wish everyone would learn the the art […]
@Sara: I like your approach - send what you’d want to receive. “Do unto others…” right?
@Francis: No question. Bullet points and numbered lists - that’s key in any email.
Even if it ruins the flow a bit, and seems a bit less personal, I regularly do this. If I want to make a few points in an email, I use a numbered list. Everyone can then reference the numbers later on.
Thanks for all the comments so far!
In situations like this, if I have a very important question that I need answered, I always send it in a separate email, containing only this one question. That gives me more confidence I’ll get the answer
Should be carefuly with this advice though - you do not want to be considered as a spammer
[…] People will skim your email, get to the bottom and see a call to action. If you’ve peppered your email with other questions, it’s very likely people will miss them, or won’t bother responding. They will key in on the last question. Source:Simple Email Hack: Get Your Questions Answered : Instigator Blog […]
Definitely some great tips right there, thanks for sharing.
[…] [WORKHACK] Simple Email Hack: Get Your Questions Answered (instigatorblog.com, 31 saves, 4 inbound links, 14 diggs) […]
[…] a few ways to get … Technology July 26th, 2007 The Instigator Blog lists a few ways to get your email questions answered. We receive dozens of questions a day in our tips box, and we wish everyone would learn the the art […]
Goodness! Great tips- I am going to start using them ASAP, I recently received an email back and from reading it, they didn’t even READ 3/4 of the email, let alone answer the one question I asked! Thanks!
Excellent advice. i know a lot of times I get frustrated when questions I ask in an email don’t get answered. Maybe it’s something as simple as reformating my message.
eve — That’s definitely a problem. It happens to me too — you finally get a response from someone that you really want to hear from, but their response doesn’t answer the questions you asked because they didn’t really read the email. Very frustrating…
[…] Key Questions & Answer Them Thoroughly. If a client asks you a single question in an email, you can safely assume it’s important to them. Answer it. Ignoring questions to rush a […]
This isn’t even a hack it’s just tips on how to get your stupid email question responded to, thanks for wasting my time, friend.
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