Poll: Which topic should you discuss in your client email’s first paragraph?

When you email your clients, they expect you to
* Be polite
* Be clear
* Provide any necessary background information

So when you email a request for action to a client, what should you discuss in the first paragraph?
1. Social niceties, such as “It was nice to see you last week…”
2. Your request, such as “Please sign and fax the attachment…”
3. Background to your request, such as “Remember we talked about adjusting your asset allocation…”

Please answer the poll in the right-hand column of my InvestmentWriting blog. I’ll report the results–and share my bias with you–in next month’s newsletter. The NAPFA MA members who attended my email writing workshop know my leanings, but I wonder if I’ve convinced them to change their habits.

I’ll report on the poll results in my February e-newsletter.

Related posts:

• Six ways to stop sending emails with errors
• Your mail has three seconds to grab your reader’s attention
• To “dear” or not to “dear” in your email
  
• When NOT to personalize your email’s subject line