Most of your customers read your emails on their phones or tablets. And they’re reading your messages while they’re on the go or doing a couple of other things. Like you, your customers are busy.
You can make it easy for customers to quickly read and understand your message by doing just a few key things. Just as companies design their websites for customers to access information with just a few clicks, you need to structure your emails so that they can be quickly read and understood.
Today, I’m giving you four things you can do to make your emails easier for customers to read and understand by making them scannable.
1. Write in short sentences.
Keep your sentences to 15 -20 words. This makes your emails more scannable, as we keep in mind that many people read emails on their phones.
2. Write in short paragraphs.
To make it easy for your customers to grasp what you’re saying, make your paragraphs short, just like you’re doing with your sentences. Make sure your paragraphs are no more than 2-3 sentences. That way, they’ll be easy to read.
3. Completely read your customer’s email before typing your reply, and reread it after you’ve typed your response.
You do this to ensure you’ve answered every question in the customer’s email. When you fully answer your customer’s issues, you reduce the chances of the customer needing to email back with follow-up issues. This tip makes things easier for you.
4. Proof for grammar and spelling mistakes.
A correctly written email, without errors, is easier to read. Here’s another reason to focus on grammar: Your company’s reputation is on the line with every email you send out. Grammar matters. So carefully proof for any mistakes.
Proofing my emails is one of my biggest struggles. So, to help me, I use a free service called Grammarly.com. Grammarly reads my emails and finds grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice, and style mistakes, and then fixes them for me. Grammarly or a similar service might help you if you struggle as I do.
I explain each of these four tips in this three-minute video, which is a part of my customer service eLearning catalog. Use this video to position your employees to make emails scannable and easy to read.
Keep your sentences and paragraphs short, make sure you have answered all of your customer’s questions before you hit send, and always carefully proof for grammar, word choice, and spelling errors. When you do these things, you’ll make your emails easy and quick to read.
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