10 Effective Emailing Tips for Remote Workers

To help you make the most of your emails, we’ve created a list of the top 10 most effective emailing tips for successful remote work management.

11:27 27 October 2021

As 2021 progresses, more companies are looking to shift to a hybrid working model. Combining offices with remote teams gives employees flexibility, but it also requires effective communication and collaboration. 

 

Emailing provides a simple framework for collaboration, and it’s just as important to your consumers as it is in your daily operations. Your emails need to stand out among the hundreds that are filtering through inboxes; they need to be succinct and tailored to your audience.

 

Whether you’re sending an email or on the receiving end, it’s key you develop a system for creating and handling emails. Not only will this ensure you manage your time better, but it will lead to more thoughtful content created for your consumers and employees.

 

To help you make the most of your emails, we’ve created a list of the top 10 most effective emailing tips for successful remote work management.

 

1. BLUF formula

Short for ‘bottom line up front’, BLUF is a popular formula you can incorporate into your emails to increase the chances of action being taken. Rather than leading with reasoning or small talk, BLUF opens with a call to action to create concise and catchy emails.

 

BLUF is an effective framework to use when crafting emails, as it shows the reader the most important information right off the bat. People value their time and don’t want to sift through long, endless emails, so sending content that’s brief but punchy will keep their attention.

 

2. Personalization

Your customer’s inbox is probably chock-a-block full of emails, so it’s important you stand out. At a time when face-to-face interaction is limited, consumers crave that human touch from the businesses they buy from. Simply adding their name isn’t enough to provide this value, so it’s key you pay attention to your subject lines.

 

Instead of copy and pasting the same old subjects into your emails, craft something creative and original that targets your users. Make the most of customer datato understand your audience, so you can create emails they’ll want to see.

 

It’s important to think about the way you approach emailing for effective proactive customer support. Buying an email list over building one yourself can save time, but it depersonalizes your efforts. Knowing how to strike a balance between automation and manual creation will go a long way in building better rapport and loyalty with your consumers.

 

3. Balance your tone with professionalism

Since emails are read not heard, it’s important to think about the kind of tone you’re projecting. Written communication requires a little more thought to ensure you’re coming across as friendly and professional, so striking this balance is key.

 

Remote work means communication will all be online, so well-crafted emails will get your point across without confusion. Stay up to date with the latest email marketing trendsand don’t be afraid to get creative and use GIFS or emojis.

 

Interjecting a bit of humor into your communication will change the tone of your words, creating a lighter atmosphere. It will also recreate the playful office banter and culture that have been pushed aside by remote work, but be sure to balance this with professionalism. Knowing when not to use playful animations and emojis is as important – you wouldn’t want to adopt these tactics when addressing problems in the workplace.

 

4. Do a regular ‘deep clean’ of your inbox

To keep your sanity, doing a regular ‘deep clean’ of your inbox will declutter and organize the hundreds of emails you have sitting around. Online platforms and emailing will become your go-to with remote working, so create a clean slate to focus your mind and avoid having to sift through hundreds of emails. 

 

Once a month, go through your inbox and delete any that are no longer serving you. This includes unsubscribing from old newsletters. Perhaps your subscription to a project managementnewsletter no longer holds your attention? Delete it!

 

Creating this free space will not only physically declutter your inbox; it will also declutter your mind. Working from a place of organization goes a long way in aiding mental clarity, in turn impacting other areas of your work including your sales skills and ability to meet deadlines.

 

5. Know when to use automation

While you should favor personalization over automation, knowing when to switch between the two saves time, with the latter significantly increasing efficiency and output. Your WFH routine is probably quite hectic already, and automation frees up valuable hours to concentrate on time-critical tasks.

 

A simple way of doing this is to schedule ‘sends’ and use filters to forward and mark emails. Just as you might use a phone auto attendant, cold calling scriptsand call IDin customer service to speed up the process and avoid confusion, automating emails can save you time to work on projects that really matter.

 

6. Don’t always focus on emailing

Whether you’re an employee or manager, make sure you stress the importance of not being online all the time. Remote workers often fall into the trap of feeling like they need to be logged in and available to be seen as productive, but this shouldn’t be the case!

 

This thought process applies to all communications platforms you use; you shouldn’t have to constantly send and respond to messages. Consider using a timer to cut out scheduled chunks from your day to focus on emailing. The remainder of your working hours can then be spent on time-critical tasks and projects.

 

7. Send follow-up emails

After a meeting, be sure to send follow-up emails to ensure clarity and avoid confusion. Before making definite team decisions, make sure your employees have a written version of what’s expected of them, including any deadlines and goals they have to meet.

 

This is especially important during remote work collaboration, as it will ensure all team members know exactly which departments and areas they’ll be working on/in. Follow-up emails also give your team a chance to ask any questions and have their queries resolved before a project is started, minimizing the chance of setbacks further down the line.

 

8. Know when to take a step back from communication

If you’re feeling stressed, it might be a good idea to take a step back from communication. You may think you’ll be masking your emotions behind a screen, but your energy can still have an impact on your written tone. Your emotions may filter through in your words, so it’s important to be mindful of your mood before sending emails.

 

It's also important to set aside time to destress and unwind. When working from home, give yourself a chance to step away from the screen to focus on something else entirely. If you’re stressed or anxious, sometimes the best course of action is doing an activity that resets your mind so you can return to work with a clear mindset.

 

9. Be flexible with requests

Remote working has its benefits (such as global teams and money saved on office space), but it can play havoc with your team’s schedules. Acknowledge the fact that many of your employees will be juggling a 9-5 job on top of their day-to-day duties, such as childcare and schooling, and be flexible with requests.

 

When sending emails, make it clear that a response isn’t expected straightaway. Set clear timeframes for these, but be open and accommodating where your team’s schedules require it.

 

10. Know when not to email

Some conversations are best done over the phone, so be aware of communication etiquette when deciding which channel to talk to someone through. More serious topics that deal with problems at work or time-critical tasks may be discussed by using free online conference softwares or one-to-one phone calls.

 

Effective remote work communication depends on being flexible with what platforms you use and combining a mix of email, phone calls, and video meetings to give your team a little scope and more of a chance to communicate through a platform they favor. 

 

Takeaway

Email can be a great tool for communication, but only when it's used effectively and in sync with other channels. Email is a time-effective and fast solution to relaying messages, providing flexibility so the recipient can respond when it best suits them.

 

Though a fairly simple process, emailing requires a little thought re. etiquette and the ways you want to interact with people. To be truly effective, you need to be able to combine a number of communication channels when interacting with consumers and team members. 

 

Make sure your remote team is set up for effective communication and collaboration with an IP telephonysystem, being sure to include a mix of meetings onlineand individual phone calls with emails to create a diverse mix of interaction channels.

 

This combined communication approach should also be key to your marketing strategy. Combining different types of channels and content into your marketing will give customers an omnichannel experience. Simply put, they’ll have a wider range of options and user experiences to choose from when interacting with your brand and products.

 

Bio:

Jenna Bunnell - Senior Manager, Content Marketing, Dialpad

Jenna Bunnell is the Senior Manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad, an AI-incorporated cloud-hosted unified communications system that offers CTI products and provides valuable call details for business owners and sales representatives. She is driven and passionate about communicating a brand’s design sensibility and visualizing how content can be presented in creative and comprehensive ways. Here is her LinkedIn.