When Does Someone Know You Too Well

How-do-you-do there! I hope you're doing well.

I promise this email finds you well.

I hope you're having a bully week.

I promise all is well.

Anyone who gets a lot of e-mail is familiar with the classic "I hope you're doing well" and its related family unit of phrases. It's the e-mail equivalent of small talk. And like small talk, this phrase can get a little repetitive if you find yourself relying on it also often.

As an entrepreneur, editor, and PR professional, I estimate that I've sent at to the lowest degree 73,000 business emails over the past xx years. (A rather conservative estimate, at that.) I've seen many an "I hope you're doing well" cantankerous my inbox. I've sent a few, too (we all exercise, from time to fourth dimension!). Here are my v favorite alternatives to the ubiquitous greeting.

1 Nothing at all

The electronic mail app Boomerang conducted a data report and institute that emails between lxx-five and one hundred words in length had the all-time response rates. Although the response rate diminished slowly after that, talk to whatsoever decorated person and they'll tell you they prefer emails that are brief and get straight to the betoken. Show that you value the recipient's time by getting down to business right from the start.

2 Something personal

In my work as an editor, I've had people follow me on Twitter or Facebook, commenting on and sharing every article I publish. And, but when I think I've somehow earned a fan, I'll get a letter from them request me to have a guest blog postal service or do some sort of cross-promotional content bandy. I take to admit, I admire their dedication to getting to know me, even if it comes with an ulterior motive. And if they pitch something that reflects the noesis they've gained about my style and the topics I care about, it's more likely to exist something I can employ.

If you're writing a high-stakes email that needs to get results, it never hurts to practice your homework. Y'all don't accept to stalk someone on social media, simply doing a piffling research can go a long fashion. Include a sentence or two at the opening of your email to show yous're familiar with the recipient's piece of work, like this:

At that place are a couple of caveats here. Commencement, don't utilise a personalized opener unless it actually relates to the topic you're writing well-nigh. It would be awkward to congratulate someone on the publication of their recent novel if you were writing to offer them a bargain on life insurance. (Unless perchance they write murder mysteries. At that place may be a claw there.) And also, don't make your message too personal. Proverb you read an article is 1 thing, but mentioning the embankment vacation photos you lot saw on Instagram volition come off equally creepy.

3 "I know you lot're swamped, so I'll be cursory."

I love this opener. It, and the number of paragraphs in the email I see earlier me, tells me that the sender values my fourth dimension and made an endeavour to keep things curt and sugariness.

There's just one rule with this opener—if y'all're going to utilize it, you'd better actually exist brief. Don't hope to keep it brief and then go on for paragraph after paragraph. The sender may wonder whether you lot actually know the definition of cursory.

4 "We met at ______."

If you've met the recipient before, it never hurts to say so. Perhaps you connected briefly at a conference. Fifty-fifty if the recipient seems unlikely to think, the fact that y'all did retrieve goes a long way toward establishing a rapport.

Again, this arroyo works best if your previous coming together is relevant to the topic at hand. If yous met at a conference and exchanged words about marketing strategies, and you're emailing now to enquire the recipient to review your new app for marketers, you're connecting the right dots. That won't exist the case, all the same, if you've but bumped into each other in a coffee store and exchanged some small-scale talk about the atmospheric condition.

five A bit of small talk

If you really think a small talk opener fits your audience best, give it a whirl. But if yous're looking for an alternative to "I hope all is well," or "I hope you're doing well," consider something a piffling more personal:

The more familiar you are with the recipient, even if you know each other only through email exchanges, the improve this works.

In my stance, the most important rule of email advice is this: don't force it. If y'all're trying too hard to exist personable or clever, your recipient will almost always see through your attempts. When I write an email, even if it'due south for a mass emailing campaign, I'k ever thinking of my intended recipient and their persona. I smile as I write (seriously, it's a little creepy) and write equally though I'thousand having a face-to-face chat with them.

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Source: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/i-hope-youre-doing-well/

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