Level 2 · follow-up or refusal
Remind the team: an annotated email example
Get the timesheets done on time.
The situation
Your team12 people
Timesheets must be filled in before Friday 5pm. Without them, payroll for the whole team is blocked. Four people haven't done it yet.
A team that already got three reminders this month and has stopped reading "FYI" emails.
Goal
Get the timesheets done on time.
The winning structure
A good email for this situation includes these elements, in this order:
- A greeting with the recipient's first name.
- The action (timesheets)
- The deadline (Friday 5pm)
- The consequence (payroll blocked)
- A clear ask at the end: a question or an action with a deadline.
- A short sign-off, then your name.
Common mistakes
- Leaving out the action (timesheets) : « What exactly do we need to do? »
- Leaving out the deadline (Friday 5pm) : « By when? »
- Leaving out the consequence (payroll blocked) : « And if we don't, what happens? »
- A refusal or follow-up so polite it becomes vague: the reader doesn't know how to answer.
- Over-explaining instead of proposing a next step.
Write your own version: the recipient reacts and you get a score out of 100.
The annotated example
Try it yourself first: you'll remember more. Click to show the example.
Subject : Timesheets due Friday 5pm
Hi all,
- Group greeting: right for a team.
Please fill in your timesheets before Friday at 5pm. Without them, payroll for the whole team is blocked.
- Includes: the action (timesheets).
- Includes: the deadline (Friday 5pm).
- Includes: the consequence (payroll blocked).
If you've already done it, thank you, nothing more to do.
Best,
Alex
- Short sign-off, then the name.
Why it works : 33 words against a target of 75, 6 words per sentence on average, no filler phrases.