{"id":17028,"date":"2012-06-28T04:00:21","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=17028"},"modified":"2012-06-28T04:00:21","modified_gmt":"2012-06-28T09:00:21","slug":"faster-responses-to-your-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email"},"content":{"rendered":"

Responsiveness is a critical life skill. In fact, I think it may be the single most important factor to your success<\/a>. People who are not responsive miss out on many opportunities. Why? Because others get tired of waiting on them.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com\/bookwyrmm<\/div>\n

But, let’s be honest—not everyone you or I deal with shares this value. Or, even if they give lip service to it, they don’t practice it in daily life. And so, you wait. And wait. Meanwhile, your own work stacks up and you look unresponsive to your constituents.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It would be great if you never had to deal with these people. The problem is that sometimes “these people” include your boss, a colleague you don’t have authority over, or an important customer. How do you get them to respond to you in a timely manner?<\/p>\n

Here are ten strategies that I have found helpful:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Put their name in the “To” field.<\/strong> This should be obvious, but if you want a response from a specific individual, put that person’s name in the To field and that person’s name alone.<\/em> If there is more than one name, he or she might assume that one of the others will answer. Also, never use the CC field for any purpose other than FYI.<\/li>\n
  2. Double-check the email address.<\/strong> A few months ago, one of my colleagues wasn’t getting a response from one of our authors. He said, “I’ve emailed him five times.” I was a little irritated myself, so I said, “Forward me your last email, and I will follow-up.” When I got the email, I noticed that my colleague had one character missing in the email address. I asked him to resend the original email with the correct address. The author responded within the hour.<\/li>\n
  3. Write a relevant subject line.<\/strong> Think of the subject line like the headline of a newspaper. The goal is to get them to actually read the body copy. The more specific you can make it, the better. For example, if you are sending me a meeting agenda, don’t just put “Agenda” in the subject line. I get lots of agendas. Instead, put something like “Agenda for June 10th Executive Team Meeting.”<\/li>\n
  4. Put your question at the top.<\/strong> Writing a good email is like writing a good blog post or magazine article. As they say, “don’t bury the lead.” Put the most important content (the “lead”) in the very first paragraph.<\/em> Don’t assume that the recipient will read beyond that. You can use the rest of the email to provide support or background information.<\/li>\n
  5. Keep your message short.<\/strong> Long emails only encourage procrastination. Think of your own behavior. What happens when you get a long email? Right. You save it for later. Unfortunately, many people never get around to “later.” If you keep the message short, you make it easy for the other person to digest what you have said and respond now<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  6. Use the high priority flag.<\/strong> You have to be careful with this, because if you use it with every message, people will “brand you” as someone who always cries “Wolf!” However, if you use this sparingly, it can communicate urgency. You can also begin the subject line with the word “Urgent,” a colon, and then your subject. For example, “Urgent: About to Miss the Grisham Deadline.”<\/li>\n
  7. Offer multiple choices.<\/strong> Make it easy on the reader. Narrow the range of options down to two or three and then ask them to pick one. For example, “Which hotel do you prefer for our upcoming trip to San Jose: (1) the Marriott, (2) the Sheraton, or (3) the Hilton?” After you ask the question, you can provide the backup on each hotel.<\/li>\n
  8. Provide a deadline.<\/strong> This makes your expectations clear, so the reader is less likely to procrastinate. I would advise against providing an artificial or bogus deadline. If the other person discovers that the deadline was not real, your credibility will be damaged. He will never take your deadlines seriously again. Instead, provide the specific date and time. For example, “by noon tomorrow (Thursday)” or “by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, August 7th.”<\/li>\n
  9. Use a “negative option.”<\/strong> When all else fails, this is the strategy I use. Here’s how it works: You tell the person what you are going to do unless<\/em> you hear back from them by a certain time. This makes their response optional. For example, “Unless you reply by noon tomorrow, I will assume that the proposal meets with your approval and send it on to the client.”<\/li>\n
  10. Copy their boss.<\/strong> This is dangerous, I know. The person may respond, but they will likely also resent it. I never do this unless I am out of options, and I can’t get a response any other way. Before you use this strategy, you need to consider the collateral damage to the relationship. However, there are times when you have no other choice.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Finally, maybe you shouldn’t be using email at all. I know it’s hard to believe, but not everyone prefers email. If the person isn’t responding, why keep beating your head against the wall? Instead, Twitter them (via DM), call them on the phone, or drop by for a visit. If the other person is your boss or customer, it is your job<\/em> to conform to their communication preferences not the other way around.<\/li>\n

    What strategies have you found helpful for getting a faster response? You can leave a comment by clicking here<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Not everyone thinks it is important to respond quickly to email. How do you get them to respond to you in a timely manner? Here are ten strategies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[400,90,30,1025,1258],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Not everyone thinks it is important to respond quickly to email. How do you get them to respond to you in a timely manner? Here are ten strategies.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Not everyone thinks it is important to respond quickly to email. How do you get them to respond to you in a timely manner? Here are ten strategies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Full Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-28T09:00:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/iStock_000011268589Small1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"570\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"278\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Hyatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@michaelhyatt\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Hyatt\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/e326267e17b1b742f4062fcbd4fdfff7\"},\"headline\":\"10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-28T09:00:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-28T09:00:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/\"},\"wordCount\":987,\"commentCount\":124,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Deadlines\",\"email\",\"Productivity\",\"responsiveness\",\"Your Boss\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Productivity\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/\",\"name\":\"10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-28T09:00:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-28T09:00:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"Not everyone thinks it is important to respond quickly to email. How do you get them to respond to you in a timely manner? Here are ten strategies.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/\",\"name\":\"Full Focus\",\"description\":\"Win at Work and Succeed at Life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Full Focus\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Full-Focus-Logo-Tan.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Full-Focus-Logo-Tan.svg\",\"width\":805,\"height\":178,\"caption\":\"Full Focus\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/fullfocusplanner\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/e326267e17b1b742f4062fcbd4fdfff7\",\"name\":\"Michael Hyatt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96062f5af6c86933efd0adddcb29204f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96062f5af6c86933efd0adddcb29204f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Hyatt\"},\"description\":\"Michael Hyatt is the founder and chairman of Full Focus. He has scaled multiple companies over the years, including a $250M publishing company with 700+ employees and his own leadership development company that has grown over 60% year over year for the past 4 years. Under his leadership, Full Focus has been featured in the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America for three years in a row and in 2020 the company was named to Inc.\u2019s Best Work Places list. He is also the author of several New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling books, including Platform, Living Forward, Your Best Year Ever, Free to Focus and his newest book The Vision Driven Leader. He enjoys The Double Win with his wife of 40+ years, five daughters, and nine grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/michaelhyatt\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/author\/michaelhyatt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email","description":"Not everyone thinks it is important to respond quickly to email. How do you get them to respond to you in a timely manner? Here are ten strategies.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email","og_description":"Not everyone thinks it is important to respond quickly to email. How do you get them to respond to you in a timely manner? Here are ten strategies.","og_url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/","og_site_name":"Full Focus","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/michaelhyatt","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\/","article_published_time":"2012-06-28T09:00:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":570,"height":278,"url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/iStock_000011268589Small1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Hyatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@michaelhyatt","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael Hyatt","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/e326267e17b1b742f4062fcbd4fdfff7"},"headline":"10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email","datePublished":"2012-06-28T09:00:21+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-28T09:00:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/"},"wordCount":987,"commentCount":124,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization"},"keywords":["Deadlines","email","Productivity","responsiveness","Your Boss"],"articleSection":["Productivity"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/","url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/","name":"10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-06-28T09:00:21+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-28T09:00:21+00:00","description":"Not everyone thinks it is important to respond quickly to email. How do you get them to respond to you in a timely manner? Here are ten strategies.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/faster-responses-to-your-email\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10 Strategies for Getting a Faster Response to Your Email"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/","name":"Full Focus","description":"Win at Work and Succeed at Life","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization","name":"Full Focus","url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Full-Focus-Logo-Tan.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Full-Focus-Logo-Tan.svg","width":805,"height":178,"caption":"Full Focus"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/michaelhyatt","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/fullfocusplanner\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/e326267e17b1b742f4062fcbd4fdfff7","name":"Michael Hyatt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96062f5af6c86933efd0adddcb29204f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96062f5af6c86933efd0adddcb29204f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Hyatt"},"description":"Michael Hyatt is the founder and chairman of Full Focus. He has scaled multiple companies over the years, including a $250M publishing company with 700+ employees and his own leadership development company that has grown over 60% year over year for the past 4 years. Under his leadership, Full Focus has been featured in the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America for three years in a row and in 2020 the company was named to Inc.\u2019s Best Work Places list. He is also the author of several New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling books, including Platform, Living Forward, Your Best Year Ever, Free to Focus and his newest book The Vision Driven Leader. He enjoys The Double Win with his wife of 40+ years, five daughters, and nine grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/fullfocus.co","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/michaelhyatt"],"url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/author\/michaelhyatt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}