Seeing various bits and bobs about writing better emails today (or getting attention for your words among the surroundings in a typical email inbox). One from KissMetrics that advises keeping subject lines to 35 characters (which means that the full text of the subject fits on an Apple iPhone screen) and to start off with the recipients name. More (in multiple subjects squeezed together and a few sample short bits of email subject line click bait) here.

I had an account manager from AWS ask me where the follow facility was on my blog, and i’ve realised there is no easy link – so i’m currently building one using the very impressive Mailchimp. This has an associated WordPress Plugin which appears to have many 5* reviews and a vast majority of the support posts with quick answers. So, a small project to finish this weekend, and a side use to boot a very short message to some of my LinkedIn contacts using the same facility.

That apart, i’ve done my share of reading to try to improve my own writing. All the way from “Write Like the Pros: Using the Secrets of Ad Writers and Journalists in Business” by Mark Bacon, to revising from “How to Write Sales Letters that Sell” by Drayton Bird. Even to buying and listening to the three videos in Drayton Birds “How to Write (and Persuade) Better“. I hope it shows!

In the meantime, I notice Drayton’s off on a rant about a menu he’s been subjected to at a Restaurant up the Shard today. Typical Drayton, though he’s got a lot more mild since he phoned up the CEO’s office at Thus (ScottishTelecom as was, before being subsumed into Cable & Wireless, then Vodafone). I wouldn’t dare repeat what he said, but it caused some immediate impact, and he got some business out of being so explicit at the time. I just cringed.