Email Action!

Have you ever sent an email to a staff member or a client which required some action on their part and nothing happened?  If that’s happened to you, I’ve got a great tool that might help you with your future communications.  You can apply this in many situations.

Each day we’re hit with messages competing for our attention.  Every message has to work very hard to get noticed.  This isn’t exclusive to advertising alone; your reports, presentations and emails are trying to get your audience’s attention.  Use basic advertising principles to make sure your message gets across.

The acronym AIDA is a great tool to make sure your communication is on target.  It stands for:  Attention-Interest-Desire-Action

1.  Attention/Attract – You need to be quick and direct to attract people’s attention.  Use a powerful word or picture that is intriguing.  My most popular post was titled “Help Wanted”.

Your co-workers and employees are on email overload.  Use the subject line to get their attention.  An email from your boss with the subject line “ACTION REQUIRED” will be opened faster than a subject line that says “Information”.  Make sure your audience can rely on your subject lines; you don’t want to be known as the “boy who cried wolf”.

2. Interest – Now that you’ve got their attention you want them to spend a little more time reading your message.  Stay focused on their needs.  You want to help them pick out the messages that are relevant to them quickly.  Use bullets points, bold print and short phrases to make your point stand out.

3. Desire – Interest and desire go together.  You want to get clear what is in it for them.  Say this in simple focused sentences that they will understand.  Concentrate on results and outcomes that will help your audience.

4. Action – Be crystal clear about the action you want your audience to take and by when.  If you’re asking a co-worker or employee to do something, define what that is and when you expect it to be done and how you’d like them to report that to you.  Some projects you may want weekly updates, others you may want to know when it is complete.  Make a note of these deadlines and updates on your own calendar so you know when to follow up.

Sample AIDA email:

To:  Employee
Fr:  Boss
Subject:  IMMEDIATE ATTENTION (attention)
Dear employee;

Expand your experience, meet new people and learn more. (interest & desire)

Attend the Annual Conference on October 15, 2012.  Sign up now at www.annualconference.com.

Prepare a report of your experience and information that will help the company by November 1, 2012.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Your boss

What do you do to get other’s attention?  Any snappy subject lines you’d like to share?  Leave your comments below.

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