Just like selling your boss or clients on an idea in a meeting, pitching an idea via email requires a great deal of strategy. Trying to pitch someone your out-of-this-world idea through the web? Here are three important tips to keep in mind to give it the best chance of success.

Keep it Short

It’s time to follow the KISS principle: Keep it simple, stupid. A lot of times, when people are excited about an idea, they want to make sure they explain it correctly. And to do this, they go into way too much detail about how they came up with the idea, where it’s going, and so forth.

A general rule of thumb: When you’re pitching (or emailing anything, really), generally keep it to eight sentences, tops. Why avoid going into so much detail? Because what you really want is to…

Get the Conversation Offline ASAP

If you’d like to see your idea turn into something actionable, it’s crucial to get theconversation off email and into real-life discussion as quickly as possible. Emailing back and forth can only get you so far, and the sooner people actually talk to you and get to hear your enthusiasm about the idea, the easier it is to get them wrapped up in it and on board.

A simple way to do this? End your email with something like, “I’d love to chat with you about this idea during our weekly check-in” or “Would you be able to do a quick call next week to discuss?” It gives your reader a chance to absorb your information and prepare before actually talking about your idea.

Answer the “So What?” Question

It’s easy to get so enthusiastic about an idea that you forget that you still need to convince the person on the other end of the email. Regardless of what you’re pitching, always keep one question in mind: “So what?” In other words, why should the other person care, and what about your idea is going to change his or her life? At some point, your email should answer why the other person should get excited about what you have to say.

source:themuse