How to increase the chances of your article being read

How many times have you seen the subject heading of an email, an article, or newsletter and dreaded opening it or reading on, because you can already imagine what it might contain? Or just by looking at the subject heading decided not to open it at all and hit the delete key?

A number of people I connect with write on behalf of their local organisation, particularly in #bellringing circles. They may need to write an email to their members, or their wider community to engage with activities, or recruit new ringers. They may want to write an article in the local newsletter, or their Association newsletter, or even for The Ringing World.

Carole Seawert came up with some top tips on how a great subject line could increase the chances of your email, article or newsletter being read:

1) engage curiosity – Don’t open this email. How many times have we heard the story of if you want some news spread write “confidential” on the top and leave it by the photocopier? That’s a sure fire way for everyone to have heard about it, right?

2) engage FOMO – fear of missing out. “Only 2 spaces left”. “Last chance”. “Offer closes today”.

3) pain points and a solution – “veggie food your kids will love.”

4) enticing special offers – priority access etc.

5) helpful resources – 10 top tips on how to get your article read.

6) short cut solutions – learn who to write engaging content in 2 minutes.

7) personalise – “John, here’s something you won’t want to miss”.

8) include effective key words like “congratulations”, “upgrade” and “ thank you”

9) pose a question that inspires further enquiry – “do you want a 2 for 1 offer on xxx”?

10) KISS – keep it short and simple. No more than fifty characters.

I am not a fan of numbers 1, 7 and 9 personally.

Unless the email was from a colleague or someone I knew was probably messing about, if I received an email that said “Don’t open this email”, I would think “OK then” and delete it straight away.

Number 7 implied some kind of pre-existing relationship, which may be ok with some people but I still wouldn’t expect my name to be in the subject heading. If I don’t know the person or the organisation, I would not be impressed that they were trying to engage on first name terms. Someone came to the door canvassing once and called me by my full first name, which was on the electoral role, but a name that I never go by, so I corrected them and said “that’s Mrs C…… to you”. They did not know me had no right to expect any level of intimacy.

If I received an email or saw an article posed in the way number 9 suggested, as it is a closed question my response would be a simple “no”, regardless of what was on offer, and again, I would delete it straight away.

Clearly some of Seawert’s suggestions were targeted at sales so may not be relevant in the circumstances I would be writing for, but there were some useful points to consider.

It’s a feature

I have various platforms for various activities and about half a dozen different email alias depending on whether its personal, work, local bellringing or national bellringing. Some are redirected through others and some are direct. However, what I’ve been noticing is that since using Office 365 and MS Teams for some of the bellringing activity, some emails aren’t getting through either at all, or arrive several days later, when of course I’ve missed whatever deadline was involved, or not provided feedback as appropriate.

I was on a call today where it was noted that I hadn’t given any feedback which was odd considering it was me that had raised the issue in the first place. I had to admit to not having seen an email with the relevant document at all. When I checked the various email accounts what I seemed to have had was other people’s responses, but not the original email with the attachment. Someone very kindly emailed it to me again via a different route and it did arrive.

What I’m not sure about is whether that’s because the redirects from some of the email alias’ aren’t working properly, or there’s a more fundamental issue with the setup, or whether it’s a “feature” of the system and something that I’ll have to live with. I’m not technically minded enough to be able to figure it out and due to the desired firewalls and spam blockers we have on our PCs at home, maybe some of it is getting lost in the ether.

So, if you’ve sent me an email and I haven’t responded it may well be that I haven’t had your message in the first place, unless I am actually ignoring it. I am also not permanently attached to my emails; I do have the occasional evening where I don’t spend it on the computer after a 9½ hour day at work sitting at a computer. I might just jump in an out to check that there’s nothing urgent or fire out a couple of other messages whilst I’m thinking about them.

Often, I set aside a time when I’m going to blast through emails. I’ll file the ones that need filing, respond to the ones that need responding to and maybe leave some others until another time to deal with. The other problem of course, is that to use any of the other email alias’ apart from the ones attached to Office 365 I have to use the main PC rather than my laptop, and that means waiting for C to finish whatever he’s doing.

I will get around to dealing with it eventually, but if it’s not urgent, or requires a response, I might not necessarily deal with it straight away.

Lost Emails

I wondered whether it had all gone quiet, I was being ignored, or something was amiss. I usually get about 20 emails a day to my various “home” accounts, excluding spam. By that I mean my own email address, my Association emails addresses and my Central Council addresses. For the last few weeks I’ve had significantly fewer.

Needing to be on a Zoom meeting I was concerned that 24 hours before the meeting I hadn’t had the Agenda and supporting papers, nor the link to the Zoom meeting. A quick fire email to the right person and it seems that my name had dropped off of the email group so I hadn’t received what had been sent out.

Because I was using my laptop, not the main PC with the main email stuff in, I had to log into my Gmail account, but the email that had been sent with the meeting information wasn’t there. I was frantically trying to log into everything. Outlook, Gmail, Office 365. Depending on which of the aliases used, depends on where the email ends up. Ended up having to email it to myself from the home PC to the Gmail account. Eventually got in, but not without some angst.

Whilst I was logging into various emails boxes, I also came across a couple of other emails that seemed to have been sitting in a Spam folder for one account but were not showing in any of the other redirected accounts. They were quite important emails too. I thought that all the email redirects were supposed to find their way into at least one of the 3 main email address locations.

Apart from my work email address, of which I have 2, I have 6 other alias email addresses for various roles. The majority of them get redirected via our main location but with the recent addition of Office 365 for some ringing activity, that seems to have thrown a spanner in the works. Sometimes I get duplicates, sometimes I get none. Sometimes I get someone else’s reply before I get the original message. Sometimes it takes 2 days for them to come through.

I’m reasonably IT literate, but this gets so confusing.

When 2 worlds colide

The trouble with starting a new job is finding your feet and who to talk to. In areas where you are less familiar you are more reliant on the information you can glean from others, and to which you must have faith that they’re telling you everything.

The trouble is you don’t know what you don’t know, and therefore don’t know what questions to ask of whom.

The first functioning day in the new job was to start a list of people to talk to over the coming weeks, then try to persuade them that its worth their while talking to me. I’ve started to set up the beginnings of a project plan, listed all the people that I’ve so far been advised to talk to, then attempt to book time in their diaries over the next 2 weeks. Its important to get in early to determine who I’m going to need to interact with regularly, and who I only need to check in with from time to time.

I’ve got a call booked with our Exec to make sure that we’re all expecting the same things and to put some solid definition around the project. I’ve got my Prince2 manual at the ready and have already set up a high level project plan.

I apply a project planning style to most things in my life, particularly around #bellringing as there’s so much going on sometimes its difficult to keep track of it.

Also interrelated are some guidance in PR writing around knowing the audience, hooking interest of those you want to engage with by writing an attractive headline, using words that are relatable, using action words that motivate them to want to talk to you, spell out the benefits of getting them to talk to you, telling the story of what the objective is then ending with a call to action, in this case persuading investment in service development.

Who knew the two worlds were so similar?

You’ve got mail

One of the things I dread when I go back to work after some annual leave is the size of the email in box. I refuse to log in when I’m on leave or my day off. If I’m not at work, I’m not at work.

To some in managerial positions that might seem like sacrilege. Surely if you’re a manager you should be available all the time. Well, no. I’m available the hours to which I am contracted to and for what you pay me, and if the work you are asking me to do falls outside of that, then we need to have a serious conversation.

I have done my fair share of ridiculous hours, weekends, nights, earlies etc. Been on call, been on conference meetings, and been in for meetings on my day off and all sorts. The trouble is, the more you do it, the more it becomes expected, and the more you get in the habit of doing it, and don’t switch off.

I do make some concessions. If a meeting absolutely has to take place on my day off and its imperative that I’m there, I will of course support it if I can. But I ensure I get that time back.

I have so much else going on in life outside of work too that I can’t afford to do it. My brain would explode.

There should be nothing that either can’t be dealt with by someone else, or that can’t wait until I get back.

My role as a manager and leader is to equip my staff to be self sufficient and confident to deal with most eventualities, and I should not be a bottleneck in the way.

So, 305 emails in the inbox after 1 week off. A chunk of those are routine and can be dispatched fairly promptly. That took me down to 206 by lunchtime. Then there’s the ones that I do need to read but don’t necessarily have to do anything with or about. Then there’s the ones that do require input.

By the end of the first day back I’ve got them down to a manageable 31. And don’t forget, more were coming in throughout the day too.

Another day tomorrow and another new bunch of emails to wade through.