Powerful Secrets of Writing Killer Emails for Managers (Guest blog)

If there is that one person you want to impress with your emails is your potential employer or your manager if you are already employed. However, this is normally a challenge to most people. A good number of individuals normally get their emails blown off simply because they have been written poorly. If you really want to get your message across, you need to understand the mindset of the recipient and get to acknowledge the needs of an audience. Through your email, you need to make the manager understand/know/care/agree with whatever it is that you are writing about. That is the only way you can get them to give you their attention.

If you really want to write killer emails to your manager, use these tips to guide you through the process:

1) Think of where and when he'll receive your email   

If it is possible, try to familiarise yourself with his/her schedule so that you can have an idea or when and where they read their texts.  Do not just send it to them immediately you are through with writing. The timing is always very important and it can determine how they respond. For example, imaging writing to your boss about a request for a leave of absence on Friday evening. The boss might be overwhelmed and no matter how genuine you sound, your request might be ignored.

2) Capture their attention starting from your subject line

Your subject line should give the boss a clear indication of what they can expect. Let the subject line say why you chose to send the email. Try to be as specific as possible and avoid giving generic subjects. In as much as this might sound rather obvious, avoid sending an email to your manager or to the HR department with subject lines such as ''Application for the Accountant Job''.

3) Personalize your message

In as much you might be required to send the same text to a number of recipients, try as much as possible to personalize each one of them. Do not allow yourself to fall victim of the bystander effect which is brought by sending standard requests. It is when you choose sophistication over laziness that you can be able to increase your response rate.

4) Understand the mysteries of your target audience

In this case, you need to understand the mysteries of your manager. Just like any other business writing, you need to take into account the reader segment so that you can be in a better position of connecting with them on a personal level.

5) Go straight to the point

The fact that your target audience is a busy one, you need not to bore them with pleasantries. The best approach to use with them is to be straight forward and cut to the chase. Make it as easy as possible for them to read and understand your message because they might not have the time to go through complicated stuff.

6) Use numbers or alpha bullet points

This is part of making things look easier for the reader. Whenever you have points written with numbers or letters in front of them, it makes the text easier to read and respond to. Writing such texts in block form makes your text appear boring and technical.

7) Attach with caution

We all know that word documents are the safest forms of resume attachments. Every time you opt to send your, always ensure that it is in the form of .txt or .doc unless you are requested otherwise. You do not have to give the manager any reasons to not to want to read your email just because it contains an attachment in a format they cannot access.

8) Your request should be clear

Vague words can cause a lot of confusion to the reader that is why you need to avoid using them as much as possible. Avoid such words and make your email as clear as possible to make it easier for the audience to comprehend. You might be writing something genuine but just because the message is written using vague language, it makes it hard to be understood.

9) Delete words that are not essential

This can be done after you are done writing. Go through your text to find words that are not essential. This will help you to achieve meaning in your text which should be top of your priority list.

10) Borrow some writing tips from other sites 

There are many blogs and websites with useful tips for writers and copywriters. Why not to use them for your killer mail? For example, Copyblogger has great blog with tonnes of useful information. EssayMama is popularly known for offering students with online essay writing help but the service offers more than this. The team of professionals working for this service also write educative and informative blog posts which offer viable tips to the readers. You can use this opportunity to gain useful tips on how best to write your emails.

Author Bio: Jessica Millis, an aspiring writer and editor. Also Jess is working as an educator at JMU.