When is the best time to send emails?

If you want an answer, then right after lunch is a good time. That’s when you’ll find most people sitting at their desks.  According to MailChimp, the email newsletter people, 2pm is the peak time for responding to emails. There’s another peak first thing in the morning but people don’t always have the time to respond then.

Five Power Words That Persuade and Influence

It’s hard to believe, but the following words still get a favourable response from readers.

New: New information is more highly regarded than old information. Novelty, it seems,  plays a role in activating the brain’s reward center. (Warning: changes to a brand can damage the brand.)

Free: People love anything that’s free.  

Names: Use people’s names when possible. Readers are more engaged and more trusting when a message uses their own name. (Don’t overdo it, though, and come across as pushy.)

Because: Give reasons for a request. Even a banal reason is enough to have people move in your direction.

 Instantly: People love fast rewards. Respond quickly to requests. Show how you can solve people’s problems quickly. They’ll be more prone to buy.

The surprising truth about self-promotion

Strange as it may sound, people will be more impressed by your potential that by what you have already accomplished. Stanford and Harvard Business School researchers Zakary Tormala and Jayson Jia argue that we find potential more intriguing than accomplishments because it’s more uncertain. Thinking about potential prompts deeper reflection, and so more positive engagement.

In one study, PhD candidates were appraised based on letters of recommendation written by their college professors. Those described as having greater potential were preferred over similar candidates with a great track record.

The lesson? The Next Big Thing is more highly regarded  than the current Big Thing.

So next time you write your bio, or craft an introduction for a presentation you are making, let people know about the projects you are working on and your vision for the future. (A caveat: your claims need to be credible, expressed with subtlety, and backed up with evidence or third-party endorsements.)

Business Cliches

 

Cliche’s alienate your audience. Avoid them if you can. Here are some that have appeared on the horizon lately.

Award-winning. Not so impressive if it brings to mind a koala stamp from elementary school. If it’s an important award, then it might impress. Otherwise, not so much.

Cutting-edge: Again, a bit of puffery that won’t impress today’s jaded audience. Cutting-edge belongs with State of the Art and Knock Your Socks Off – way back in 1985.

Data-driven: OK, so you use facts on which to base your ideas.

World-class: Seems like everything is world-class these days. Ho hum.

Just when we thought we’d left win-win, paradigm, and synergy behind somewhere in the 90s. Seems like clichés are irresistible.

Why four is the magic number

Four is the magic number, not seven: four winds, four suites in a pack of cards, four corners of the earth, four seasons.

It used to be thought that we could only hold seven, plus or minus two items, in our short-term memory. However, that information was never backed up by actual research. New studies [i] now tell us that the ‘magical number’ for memory is four. And this is only if there are no distractions.

What if you have more than four items for people to remember? Use chunks—the same way we remember eight or ten digit telephone numbers. As long as you include no more than four items in each chunk, your learners should be able to remember. This applies to both short-term and long-term memory.

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[i] Baddeley, Alan D. 1986. Working Memory. New York: Oxford University Press.

Use rhyme to make your message more memorable

  Loose lips sink ships.

 Click, clack, front and back (seatbelt safety message).

 Birds of a feather flock together.

Just a few examples of rhymes from popular culture and community announcements. Rhyming statements are not only more memorable, they are seen as more accurate and truthful.

Imagine if Johnny Cochrane, O.J. Simpson’s defense attorney, had said: If the gloves don’t fit, you must find him not guilty! instead of the more memorable line If the gloves don’t fit, you must acquit!

So if you have a message you want  people to accept and remember, use a rhyme.