For businesses, emails are an extremely effective method for communicating but that’s only when people actually read and respond to those mails. When these responses is an integral part to the success of your business and productivity, then you certainly should find ways to be as effective as possible.

Understanding how to get a reply to your messages will certainly help you establish vital relationships to benefit your business in the long term. So let’s cut to the chase, here are five tips to get that response right now.


1. Keep it Short

Regardless of how well-written or carefully worded your email is, the chances of it getting read and responded to by the recipient is very slim. There are two reasons for this: Either the reader doesn’t just have the desire or time to read through a lengthy message or the recipient doesn’t have time to respond in a suitably in-depth manner.

According to a research by MIT researchers and Boston University, it was concluded that shorter messages have higher chances of response as well as productivity. Email users who write shorter, focused emails, receive faster responses than users who send long rambling messages.


2. Give them a reason to respond

According to a research done in the 1970s, it was concluded that requests which were more likely complied to were those with reasons for complying. By simply mentioning why you need the recipient to respond will increase the chances of response from that recipient. The experiment was done in a library where a subject was approached just when they were about to use their photocopier, using one of three question types:

Excuse me, I have x pages. May I use your photocopier?
Excuse me, I have x pages. May I use your photocopier, because I have to make copies?
Excuse me, I have x pages, May I use your photocopier, because I’m in a rush?
From the fascinating results, while the first request made 60 percent compliance, the second and third request had a compliance rate of 93 percent and 94 percent respectively.



3. Throw in some (no-strings-attached) favor

Which of these would you likely respond to?

Hi Josh, I just wanted to let you know, I recommended your services to a new client. And also, could you send me the documents I requested for
Hi Josh, could you send me the documents I requested for? I’ve been expecting them since Tuesday
I bet you would go for the first. Same here.

In Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, he described reciprocity as the innate desire to feel indebted to those who have given us a gift or done something for us. This principle is usually used in marketing when you’re offered a 1 month free sample of an e-product. It works the same way in the real world. When sending that mail, add a sincere, no-strings-attached favor and you will most likely get a quick response. Don’t over push it though.

Read the remaining article and more articles like this here
http://www.hbc.org.ng/2017/09/26/get-your-emails-responded-to-with-these-5-tips/