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Studies show that the average CEO receives 484 emails a day. If you use an average 8-hour workday, that works out to 60.5 an hour. Literally an email a minute. It is therefore not surprising that most of your emails get lost in the deluge.
So how do you get your CEO to read, and more importantly, respond to your email?
Here are 5 tips to help you cut through the noise.
#1 — Call to Action. Leverage the subject line. The subject line is the one line in the email that your CEO is guaranteed to read. Short of using click-bait as the subject, add the required actions and or the urgency at the start of the subject lines. Common ones to use are: [For Information], [For Approval], [For Guidance], [Urgent].
#2 — Time your Emails. Timing matters. This is because emails that are received in the middle of the day will join the hundreds that have not been read and will get lost in the noise. Emails at top of your CEO’s inbox has the highest probability of being read. While each CEO is different, the most effective times are 7.30 am (at the start of the workday), and 10 pm (when they usually settle down for the day and try to get some work done).
#3 — Use Formatting. Given the huge number of emails your CEO receives, he has no choice but to skim your…