Freelance Writing

In today’s day and age, the most common way for freelance writers to communicate with clients is via email. Personally, I usually receive in excess of 25 emails per day. To go along with this, I send out just as many myself. This is not to say that I never use the phone or meet with clients in person, but these methods of communication are not nearly as common.

When sending email to clients, there are several tips that you will want to keep in mind.

1. Your subject should be clear and concise. Remember, you do not want the recipient to think that your email is spam. If you are not clear with your subject, this can and will happen. I like to use my name and a short blurb in the subject line. For instance “Your Name, Blog Project.” This will ensure that the client knows who the message is from, as well as what it is about.

2. You know your clients better than anybody else. If they usually respond with short emails, it probably means that they are busy. For this reason, you should get to the point as quickly as possible. This way you know that the client read your message, and that you did not take up too much of their time.

3. Just because you are using email does not mean that you should forget about etiquette. For instance, you never want to use curse words when communicating via email. Many people think that this goes without saying, but you would be surprised by how many emails I receive that are laced with curse words. Simply put, show respect to the recipient. You never know when your words will be misconstrued. Believe it or not, offending a client in an email could lead to them terminating your work.

As you can see, you need to put time into each email that you send. Follow the three tips above, and also make sure that you proofread your email before hitting the send button. Remember, once an email is sent, there is no getting it back.