Financial Aid Hack: Productivity or technology trick that financial aid administrators use to cut through information overload, organize their data, and make their lives simpler.

If you've ever noticed that many of your emails go unanswered it may be because the recipients are on information overload. Studies are showing that email is becoming almost obsolete to most teens and college students, even though it remains the most common way to communicate in business. One of the drawbacks of email is the amount of extra, sometimes nonproductive, time email users spend simply sifting through their inbox. To ensure your emails rise to the tops of priority lists, experts suggest the following.

1. Avoid Open-Ended Questions. NewsVine co-founder Mike Davidson argues that the amount of work it takes to respond to emails is unfairly balanced. For example, in a 10-minute phone conversation, people on both ends use 10 minutes of their time. But in an email one person can ask four or five open-ended questions that could require four or five paragraphs to answer. The sender's open-ended questions take 5 minutes to construct while the responses may take 20 minutes.

   When shuffling through emails, most users attempt to tackle the emails that take the least amount of time first. If your emails require substantial amounts of time or work, don't expect a response anytime soon, according to Davidson.

   Instead it is advisable to do as much work up-front and ask closed-ended questions that will require short responses and a minimal amount of work. In cases where a substantial amount of effort or explanation is required it may be better to set up some time to talk by phone or meet in-person.

2. Keep Your Emails Under Five Sentences. In a profession that is riddled with regulations, exceptions, and loopholes, is it even possible to send a five sentence email in financial aid? Experts agree that shorter emails are more likely to be read and responded to than longer emails so it can be worth trying to keep your emails short.

   If the rising generation is any indication, email may be obsolete in a few years when more Generation "Nexters" are in the workforce.

   "Things they are doing are what everyone will be doing in five years," said Craig Sherman, CEO of Gaia Online, a virtual world for teens and college kids in a CNET News story.

   Most teens and college students prefer texting, instant messaging, or pinging through social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace to emailing. There's a reason those tools are catching on so quickly, because their very nature requires brevity. Businesses are taking notice and many have already implemented instant messaging.

3. Limit your recipients. According to Web entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki, the more people that you send an email message to, the less likely it is that any one person will respond to it. Kawasaki likens this phenomenon to the bystander effect that has been well documented in the field of social psychology. The bystander effect says that the more individuals present during an emergency, the less likely any one person will actually offer any assistance. Asking too many people for feedback in an email spreads the responsibility so thin that the likelihood of getting any response is diminished. Fewer recipients increases the likelihood of response.
4. Avoid file attachments when possible. The words "please see the attached" are an automatic indicator that your email will require effort and may encourage recipients to delay its review. Emailreplies.com suggests users only send attachments when they are productive. If something in an attachment can just as easily be placed into the email body, do it. Remember that many people use Blackberries or other mobile devices that don't interact well with attachments. Sometimes, even if users wanted to see your attachment they're unable to until they're in front of a PC, delaying any type of timely response.
5. Be polite. Polite emails elicit better responses than impolite emails. David Shipley, the Op-Ed editor of The New York Times, and Will Schwalbe, the editor-in-chief of Hyperion Books, recently wrote and published "Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home." They caution emailers from being too casual and too vauge in their emails. Instead they suggest using the "S.E.N.D." (i.e. simple, effective, necessary, done) method to ensure that each email is as simple and direct as possible.

   They encourage users to follow basic rules like never forwarding an email without permission. According to an April 16, New Yorker article, the authors also surprisingly suggest that users not shy away from exclamation points, abbreviations (e.g. LOL), or emoticons (). While these suggestions may go in the face what many of us have learned about proper email etiquette, the authors appear to stress friendliness over formality. They caution that emailers should always assume their emails will be read by someone other than the recipient.

   It is also possible to be over polite. It is important to determine if an email is "necessary." Experts caution people from replying to emails with a simple "thanks" because it's unnecessary and wastes time. Instead users should be "expressing gratitude in the right context," writes Matthew Stibbe, writer in chief at Articulate Marketing. That means showing gratitude in the context of your email that will help you avoid sending another email with only the word "thanks."

By Justin Draeger
NASFAA Assistant Director for Communications

Posted 08/14/07 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.