Emailing Busy People: A Strategic Guide
In a world (did you also read that in the voice of a movie preview? I did! annnnnd I got distracted.)
Okay, let’s start over:
In a world where everyone is just a click away (slack, teams, google chat, iMessage, Whatsapp…), it’s important to make communicate count. It needs to be meaningful or it’s just noise.
The key to successful email communication lies not just in what you say, but also in how you say it. If your inbox looks anything like mine, there’s a lot of BS and fluff mixed in that makes me say out loud: “get to the POINT.”
If you want to be known as someone who is great at communicating professionally, you need to write emails that stand out in an overflowing inbox and get responses from busy people without causing irritation.
Understanding Busy People
What do busy people need?
More time.
What don’t busy people need?
More STUFF to deal with.
Let’s start by empathizing with the busy person on the other end of our email. They likely receive an unreasonable number of emails daily, leading to many (*cough* most *cough*) being left unanswered.
Please do not assume (and I bring this up because I am guilty of this too) that them not responding is because they don’t like you or that they’re mad at you.
A lack of response is typically NOT a personal rejection. It’s just a conditioned response. They need to manage their cognitive load. Recognizing this can help tailor your email writing style.
Email Writing Strategy
Shakespeare said “Brevity is the soul of wit” and I couldn’t agree more. When writing to a busy individual, brevity is your ally.
Your goal is to write a concise, relevant email that can be read in less than a minute.
This means investing time in editing your email to ensure clarity and succinctness. Lengthy, detailed life stories, while interesting, are more likely to be skimmed over or ignored entirely.
You know you’ve opened an email, looked at the length and been like “I’mma get back to this when I have time” and then that time turned out to be never. Keep it short and to the point!
Content of the Email
Striking the right tone is also important, just a little less so than brevity. Avoid extremes of being overly humble or arrogant (this is typically where I get caught up in storytelling to ‘set the tone’ and end up explaining far more than is necessary).
Keep it professional, not too personal, even if you know the person well. Remember, we’re writing an email to a busy person because we want a response.
Low-quality writing can be perceived as disrespectful of the recipient’s time. It’s important to invest effort in crafting a well-thought-out email. You’ll catch your own mistakes when you edit, so don’t skip that step!
Showing Sincere Admiration
Personalization can make a big difference. If it feels reasonable, include specific references to their work, as generic compliments can come across as insincere. Demonstrating genuine interest and respect for their work can significantly increase the likelihood of receiving a positive response.
Literally something as small as “I saw in your last blog post you talked about writing short emails that get to the point quickly, so I’ll keep this brief…”
Or even “You mentioned on Slack that you’re working on a robotics arm, and I had an idea I wanted to get your insight on. To keep it short, here are three things: thing one, thing two, thing three. I think using thing one to fix thing two will help us accomplish thing three. What do you think?”
Recap:
- They’re not mad at you, they’re busy.
- Respect their time and keep it short and well-written. (Edit!)
- Keep it professional, not too many over-the-top compliments.
Can you think of a recent time when you could have made improvements to an email? If you want to practice, share your email and then the edited version and let’s talk through it!
I’m Maigen Thomas and I’m on a mission to empower 1,000 early-career designers and other digital technologists with the skills and tools they need to increase their socio-economic status.
I’m the Founder of Level 11 Technology, an Apprenticeship Agency. I bring 10+ years of experience in enterprise software SaaS product design and a background in full-stack development to her UX and Gamification Design Consulting. I taught 3 cohorts of the UX/UI Design Bootcamp at UC Berkeley and wrote the $1m flagship UX/UI Design curriculum. Follow me on LinkedIn or join the MaigenUX Patreon for exclusive access to quests (with cash prizes!), professional mentorship and motivation, and Accessibility and Usability learning content.
