Email has been the workhorse of business for years, but it has gotten long in the tooth. Here's some tips to make email fun again.
What if we could make email fun again and cut through the clutter to deliver unique, engaging messages?
Remember when email was fun? No?
Well, it was one of the coolest most innovative technologies at one time. Instead of having to write a letter to a friend and put in the mail and wait, you just fired off an email and got an immediate response. Opening an email was like unwrapping an awesome gift.
Acknowledging the frustration of email
But now, most of us hate email. Why? Because our inbox fills up with unwanted garbage that we have to wade through, and it’s hard to find the communication that really matters. There are better ways to get an immediate response, too. As examples, you can text message someone, and keeping in touch with friends is easy on Facebook. Why use email?
Despite shortcomings, email remains the most used way to share information, so there must be something to it. Right? It’s our staple of business communication for sure. What if we could make email fun again and cut through the clutter to deliver unique, engaging messages?
Here are five ideas to consider:
1. Include pictures – Visuals make emails easier to understand. From copying and pasting a simple screen capture to sharing detailed, highly-produced schematics, the introduction of pictures makes email more appealing and easy to understand.
2. Include videos – It is said that more than half of all communication is non-verbal. A talking-head video helps people to read between the lines and establish a personal connection. The tone of the message is easily understood. Videos are great for explaining all the other attachments in an email, too. Step someone through the agreement or spreadsheet that you sent them so that they are clear about your intentions and assumptions.
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From a technical perspective, it is best to insert a link to a video into an email because only half of the email clients support HTML5 video embedded emails. It is also important to encode the video so it will play across multiple devices. There is nothing worse than sending someone a message that they can’t view.
3. Systematically collect information – Ever send an email to a group of people with a question? Even a simple question like "when can we meet?" generates multiple email responses that have to be collected and compared. Asking people to share ideas prior to a meeting can be a nightmare with different types of responses scattered across multiple emails; it’s hard to make heads or tails of the information.
A questionnaire can simplify your life by providing structure to capture information. People answer questions, and their answers are automatically collected and aggregated. Now you can know the date that everyone can meet at the touch of a button, and meeting preparation is a snap.
4. Watch how people interact with your message – Marketing email programs let you see if someone has opened or clicked through on your email. Interactive email programs will even let you know what attachments were opened and what time they were opened. You can see the real-time progress on reading important communications so you can send reminders to those people that haven’t interacted with your message.
5. Send documents in universal formats – PDFs anyone? PDFs are the best choice for attached documents because they can be viewed across multiple devices and operating platforms.
Improving email with these tips
Email isn’t boring. It just needs a facelift. These easy-to-implement ideas can make your emails fun and more productive. Email has remained the workhorse of business because of its ability to facilitate communication.
As times changed, email has fallen behind. With a couple of technological modifications, it can become that innovative fresh tool for communication all over again.
Today's blog post written by Brad Gant
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Photo Attribution: Tom Hodgkinson
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