A 5-step simple email structure to writing an impactful email

Texting may have a one up on communications, but when it comes to scaling professional discussions, most of it happens on email or chat (the latter, mostly for internal communications).  If you're looking to get the attention of someone you know or don't know, here is how you should structure your email to get the response you want.

First of all, remember that people have short attention spans. If you receive a long email, you are likely not inclined to read it and just move on. Don't make that mistake. Keep your content short, to the point, and make it easy to follow and take action on. There are 5 parts to a strong email:

1. Open your email with a personalized note. Use your logic based on the person you're engaging, but ensure that the opening statement is relevant and gets their attention in a way that makes them want to read on. This could be a personal note about something you have in common (see LinkedIn for help there, like a common school or language), a reference to a story you read about them online, or anything that will make them see you did your research and are reaching out informed. Basically, Google the person. If this is related to a company you’re interested in, Google that and hit “news” to see any recent press releases or news updates. It’s a great hack.

2. Once you've hooked them in, provide context as to why you're reaching out. 1-3 sentences max to set up the purpose of your outreach.

3. Next include supporting points. Use bullets or #s to keep this clean. This should support the context through proof points. Depending on the reason for your outreach, this could include data points, references to links or general information. If at any point you're supporting points of information gets too long, reference that you’ve included details below and add the longer information below your signature. This is VERY important in maintaining the recipient’s attention. If doing this, ensure you have ample empty space under your email before this content starts so it looks clean. Title the sections under your signature too so there’s context on what the information is.

4. Close the email with your CTA (Call-to-Action).  This is where you ask what you need from that person. Be to-the-point but do it in an eloquent way, and if there is an associated deadline include the date. Don’t come off condescending here; ask nicely and give context on why the timing matters (for example, if it’s tied to an event, a moment, will inform other events etc).

5. Thank the person and include your signature capturing your first name, last name. phone #, and hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile. Hyperlink means that it's embedded into a word, versus a link being pasted into the email (this will make it look long and messy). Don’t get hung up on how you end the email. You can simply stick with “Thank you” versus analyzing “Best” or “Sincerely” etc.

A few principles to keep in mind:

• Don't go "exclamation point" happy. You can be and express excitement and still use periods.

• Remove any filler words that are not necessary (usually these are tougher verbally but ensure you don't have any likes, um’s, and similar words). 

• Re-read your note out loud and in your head before sending it.

• Hot tip: If you're reaching out to someone you don't know that also doesn’t work at your company, add the letters and colon "Re:" into your subject line before the subject itself. This is usually auto populated after someone has already responded, so if a receipt that doesn't know you sees this, they may think they already have a conversation going with you, therefore increasing the chances of it being opened. 

Remember to follow up on your note. If you're sending this to someone you don't know you may not receive a response the first time. You can go to your original email and hit “reply all” for the note to auto populate in your follow up, and say something like “I just wanted to confirm my below note made it through about [xx]. OR Does it make sense to [xx]. Are you available to xx [insert CTA]. Thank you! - Close with signature.

3 ways to show up informed, at work and in life

Prefer to listen to this? Check out a version of this on my podcast, it’s a 5 minute listen.

We are so lucky to live in an information age where everything is available to us. With that comes a tremendous amount of overwhelming resources, and you might not know where to turn.

But know this: it is so important that whether you are going to an interview, on a coffee date, or to a work meeting, you are showing up informed about the person you are meeting with, the company that they work for, and any other relevant information such as what’s happening in your and their industry, and in your function.

I’m going to give you three tips for how you can achieve this. And listen up, because I actually ask the question “what do you read” when I’m interviewing candidates to gauge if they’re keeping a pulse on the world around them. I intentionally keep it vague to see what they come back with, though I expect a combination of business, industry, and creativity.

Here are the 3 main takeaways if you can’t read on. If so: share this link with 2 friends so they can benefit, too.

1. Subscribe to newsletters from reputable sources in your industry and function.

2. Before going to any meeting, and on a daily basis, read the news to get a high-level understanding of what is happening in the world. Stay away from bringing up political and religious topics in professional environments.

3. Identify a few books over the course of the year that you would like to read to get better at what you do. Set realistic goals. Read them over time. If necessary, listen to them on audible, or use the app Headway to get a shorter audio version.

1) Subscribe and read newsletters. This is your golden ticket to quickly understand what is happening in both your industry and function.

• Let’s break that last part up. Your industry is the actual business you work in. For example, let’s say you work for a baked goods company. Your industry would be food and beverage.

• Let’s say in that industry you work in marketing, so your function would be marketing.

Delineating between these two is important so you can understand the types of resources you have available to you because you should have a pulse on both.

There are many newsletters and resources out there, including email content and podcasts that can help you get smart on both.

Simply Google “your industry + newsletter” and the same thing for your function and you will see that there are likely many options. Once on the site, all you need to do is enter your email address and you will receive the content on a regular basis, based on how often the creator develops this content.

Look for sources that are credible, such as mainstream news sources you are familiar with or creators that are very well known in a specific industry to ensure that you are getting your information from a reputable source.

Being in business and marketing, one of my favorite news sources is Morning Brew. They do a phenomenal job creating bite-sized daily content. I breeze through their newsletter to see what’s happening in the industry before I start my day. They also have breakout content for finance, marketing, and other functions as well for functional tracks. The insights from these newsletters are stories you can bring up in meetings, with peers, and often they’ll spur insights, ideas or tools you can bring or apply to work.

And: don’t be shy to share these learnings with your boss and team. Simply send a note or chat with the headline, hyperlink to the article, and pull out 2-3 things you find relevant and why, so they can see the “what, so what, and now what” to understand the point of why you’re sending this.

2. Read the news. It’s important that you have a pulse on everything happening in the world. It’s not to say you need to be an expert on anyone specific thing, but you should have a general understanding on any given day of what is happening in the economy, business, real estate, politics, and religion. Stay away from bringing up religion and politics in conversation at work, as that may make people uncomfortable if they don’t agree with you, however, you want to ensure that you have a general understanding of what is happening so that of a topic is brought up, you are informed.

I achieve this two ways:

1. The News app on my phone. I preset the topics I am interested in learning about every morning and do a quick scroll of everything that happened overnight. It’s bery simple and effective. It also gives me some fun pop culture stories and moments to talk about as icebreakers as my calls start up.

2. Put the news on the TV while you are getting ready for your day. I will often listen to local news, and then move over to national / global news before hitting something like the Today Show to start the day with positive energy (because let’s be real here: much of the world news isn’t always that great).

3. Read (or listen) to books. The third element of growing your personal and professional self is to read. For some, reading comes easy. For others, they are heavily distracted with social media and life & work priorities to actually open a book.

Do what is right for you, but set a few goals throughout the course of the year to learn the topics you’re interested in. This should be led by what you are looking to develop in and you should hold yourself accountable to that.

For example, I am currently interested in strengthening my morning routine, so I have been reading Robin Sharma’s life principles, including learning from his 5 AM Club book and approach. This method helps people get better by waking up earlier in the day to practice exercise, spirituality, meditation and reading, while the world is still sleeping.

Find what works best for you and lean into that.

Another really great tip if you are not able to physically open a book is to purchase audible books so they are spoken to you. You can even go a step further and download the Headway app. It summarizes books into short few minute clips with the specific key takeaways you need to know. There is an annual fee but I find it incredibly valuable and I complement this with reading physical books. This is something that I put on anytime I have a free moment in the car, if I’m on a walk, exercising, etc..

And there you have it: use these tips to be and look smart in your personal and professional career.