378: Always review before you click Send with guest expert Anne Janzer My Quest for the Best with Bill Ringle

Interview Insights

Top Takeaways

Too many details are as bad as too few details. One dilutes the message, the other creates more work to get the necessary details.
When you write an email, think about what the recipient needs to give you the decision or support you need.
Be clear with your intention and the details on your email, starting with the subject, and if it’s a task, better add not only what needs to be accomplished but the date on when it should be done. We all want our emails to be acted upon.

Show Notes

Anne recalls her late father, whose sincere and careful writing letters inspired her work. [01:22]
How to achieve the goal of effective communication through emails. [03:01]
Anne introduces us to the ‘Goldilocks Zone,’ what we learned from the fairy tale can help improve our emails. [06:09]
Why the address should come after the content? [08:21]
Helpful tip: You can set a time frame in Gmail when you can recall a sent email. [09:04]
What we all can learn from marketing emails. [10:43]
Anne explains the importance of intonation and how we can apply it in written or typed form. [11:27]
People often forget that emails are not private. [13:50]
As spammers become smarter, we should be more cautious with the emails we receive. [14:50]
Anne advises on how to communicate effectively via email. [16:58]
My Quest for the best lightning round begins. [19:32]

Expert Bio

Anne Janzer is an award-winning author, nonfiction writing coach and unabashed writing geek committed to helping people positively impact their writing. She supports and encourages writers and authors through her books, blog posts, webinars, and teaching.
Her writing-related books explore the science and practice of effective writing.

Before she started writing books, Anne was a freelance marketing consultant, working with more than a hundred technology businesses to articulate positioning and messaging in crowded markets.

She’s been writing business emails longer than she cares to admit—and has made all of the mistakes in her latest book, and more, over the years. She wants to save others from the same problems.