3 minute read
Over the years, email has become an indispensable tool for communicating with co-workers and clients. We use it every day to set appointments, forge connections, and make our voices heard. While convenient, we often fire off a quick reply (or a dreaded reply all) at the expense of our communication quality. If you'd like to up your email writing prowess, try implementing our three e-mail strategies listed below.
3 Email Strategies to Wow Clients
Create Clear Email Subject Lines
At some point, most of us receive an email with a cryptic subject. Maybe it is something vague, like "meeting ok..." or maybe it's an all-caps "TUESDAY COFFEE" situation. Either way, you have no idea what the message is going to be about until you open it.
To avoid confusion, always make your email subjects as straightforward as possible. Keywords can include attachments, events, names, or a brief phrase describing what the email is about. Consider these sample subjects:
- Follow Up with Charlotte Stark on Wednesday
- Sample Prospectus 03.14.19
- Company Anniversary Planning Meeting Notes
- Questions About the 3:00 Meeting
Consider what you or your recipient may need to type into the email search bar to find this email in the future and try to choose keywords that would help the search. Keeping your email subject free of all capital letters, URLs, and exclamation points will also help stop your emails from being marked as Spam by email filters.
Keep Sensitive Information Off Emails
Many Financial Advisors use email as their main mode of interpersonal communication. A one-on-one email chain can feel like the most private conversation in the world...until a message you sent in confidence gets forwarded to someone you never intended to see it.
While some sensitive conversations can't be skipped, try to avoid sending anything you wouldn't want to become public. This can be critique of a peer's work or personality, compromising information about your business, or any other not-so-positive email content.
Try to have touchy conversations face-to-face or over the phone rather than on a shareable email exchange. This gives you the added bonus of instantly being able to clarify your statements and ensure the other party completely understands the tone of your delivery.
Avoid Playing Email Tag
Try to remain aware of email chains that drag on forever. Sometimes the best email strategy is to not use email at all. After one or two emails requiring clarification questions, pick up the phone and call the recipient. This will ensure that both of your inboxes won't be cluttered with unnecessary back and forth.
If you need something in writing for your records, send a follow up email restating what was discussed over the phone and ask for confirmation of its correctness. This will save everyone time, confusion, and give you better references for the future.
Dunham: World-Class Trust and Investment Firm
If you are looking to improve your clarity and client communication skills, try implementing these three email strategies.
As a financial advisor, composing clear emails is an essential part of the job to convey valuable and sometimes confusing information to your clients. For everything else, you can rely on Dunham to help you guide your approach to trust management, asset allocation, risk management, and other financial services.
At Dunham, we work with financial advisors to provide methods that may help your clients meet their investment goals. If you have any questions about how our team can help, get in touch with us today. You can call any of our regional directors or complete an online form on our contact page.