The lost art of writing emails. History has a point!

How often do you receive real emails that stand out… that compel you to compose a carefully crafted response?

Real emails are those where the sender carefully selects words, keeping in mind the recipient’s likes and dislikes, while embedding a touch of their own personality. Remember the handwritten letters that we used before emails took over.

Emails weren’t like this always. With the evolution of internet spam, we developed resilience to email spam and somehow lost that ability to perceive and write emails with a human touch. Tired of automated email blasts and a congested inbox, we became more mechanical and started writing like machines.

It is a sad story.

We mostly receive emails that are devoid of any human or emotional trace. As such we only feel an underwhelming joy when we receive a new email from a long lost friend. So how do we take that back?

There is a different side to email writing as well, which is as beautiful as the traditional letter writing. All we need to do is take few cues from the history of writing letters!

A message that sticks

Personalize your emails with precious little details in the form of real images, quotes and memoirs. Emails like that tend to hang around longer in the recipient’s inbox and are most probably saved to be read later as well, just like old-school handwritten letters.

It makes no difference if the email is written formally or informally, all that really matters is a real person’s touch.

Give people what they expect. Whether it contains a sales pitch or an invite to a certain meeting, just be clear and precise about the focal message in an email. Nobody likes a vague message, but honesty is always appreciated.

Also, avoid writing invites like these over-anxious parents.

Make it a bit funky!

No, I didn’t mean you should switch back to typewriters. But imagine a simple thing that’ll bring back the nostalgia of typewritten letters. There are many web and mobile apps that give typewriter effects to the written text of an email.

Play with fonts and graphics in your email to make them extra special. Just a little attention is all that is needed.

Keep it natural

Marketers must pay special attention to this. Email blasts are a practical idea of sharing information, but when its between a person or a group of people --- please don’t use those email marketing pointers.

Don’t use automated email templates unless or until they are necessary. Keep the message tone spontaneous, but avoid less robotic greetings and use real human expressions that express your personality.

Letters were the epitome of personal touch being used to mould relationships. From sixteenth century chivalry to modern emails, wordplay has always triumphed. Try to bring in the same values and intent to your email writing.

Remember - if our forefathers could do it, then so can we!

Personalized subject lines

As per Adestra July 2012 Report, as many as 22.2 per cent emails are more likely to be opened if they carry a personalized subject lines.

Imagine finding 100+ emails in your mailbox after a vacation trip… how many emails are you most likely to open first --- email with a bland subject line like “Team Lead Follow-up” or something more personal like a “Hey Jim, Here’s last week’s round-up in your absence”? (The answer could be subjective, but the point is special attention to subject lines)

Mail subjects are crucial from a marketing perspective as well. Digital marketers are well aware of the fact that subject lines could may be their biggest asset after content. But don’t OVERDO it!

Nobody appreciates an overflowing inbox.

In the movie You’ve Got Mail!, Tom Hanks hides his true identity from Meg Ryan over email when he realizes that he isn’t talking to a complete stranger anymore. Instead of confronting her face-to-face he tries winning Meg’s heart with his words and emails. Now that might be too mellow for the current demographic or a group of people, but one cannot miss Hanks’ point!

(Utkarsh Sahu is a pro word-slinger, covering mostly technology and marketing stories. Fond of social media, he can be reached via Twitter / Instagram as UtkSahu /Utkarshsj)