This is the Business English Podcast, episode 116.
Let's touch base, how to add interest to the end of your business emails.
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Hey there, Aubrey. How's everything going today?
I am great, Lindsay. How are you? Well, I'm back from my trip in Egypt.
I'm excited to be here. We're going to do an update on that trip later, another day.
So our listeners should subscribe to the All Ears English podcast to hear that.
Yes, you don't miss out. I know. I feel like you're going to have some great stories.
I know you met up with some listeners, which is amazing.
I can't wait to hear that episode. It's going to be great.
And I have a funny story about a language pronunciation mistake that I just kept making over and over and I couldn't figure out why people weren't understanding me.
It's hilarious, actually. But anyways, we'll come back to it another day.
I have to tell you really quick, just on that note, the pronunciation, I got a little message.
Siri told me that I'm set to record with you today, but she said record.
She's like record with Lindsay. Yeah. I'm like, even Siri messes it up.
Also, it doesn't work. So we all mess it up.
Yeah, we all mess it up. That's okay. That's why we're here.
But Aubrey, today we're here on Business English.
So what are we getting into business wise?
Yeah, we're talking about emails today. We've done some really interesting episodes about emails lately.
And it makes sense because that's like really the main form of communication in business English these days.
Not very often do we make a phone call. You know, I mean, it happens, but like a lot of emails go back and forth every day.
And so I have a question to start out. Okay.
Lindsay, do you ever feel like your business emails are a bit boring?
Oh, so business emails to whom? To teammates?
To you? Yeah. Or to, you know, other clients and vendors.
Yeah, they can be. Sometimes when I pitch, when I look for guests either to go on other podcasts or to come on our podcast, I try to make sure it's not too long.
Long. No one wants a long email when you don't know me yet.
Yes, absolutely. There are things that we can really do wrong to make it too long, kind of boring.
And there are things that we can really do to improve this.
So we're going to get into that today. We have a really interesting listener question that we're going to answer and give you guys some great strategies to not be so boring in your business emails.
All right, so I'm going to go ahead and read the question from our wonderful listener, Sooyoung H. That's the last name initial, I guess.
Here we go. I've been listening to your podcasts for three years now.
I'm working in the U.S. since 2015. I moved from Korea and your podcast is helping me a lot.
That's so nice, Aubrey, to hear that, isn't it?
I love it. I love it. If you have a chance to cover the below expressions at some point, it would be much appreciated.
So what are the expressions she asked? We'll get back to you.
And then she said, when I want to follow up with some issues with my colleagues, I use this expression often, but I feel it's a little boring.
Do we have other expressions we can use?
And Sooyoung had sent in several questions.
We answered them in previous episodes. So if you're not following and you've missed those, definitely be sure to follow.
Go back. We have another related episode.
You could search 1922, which was avoid this mistake, how to not end business emails.
So if this topic really hits home for you, definitely don't miss that episode.
Yes, I love it. So let's go ahead and answer the question initially outright.
What do you think, Aubrey? So first of all, I'll get back to you is a great phrase.
I don't think of it as boring, but I can see how if you are emailing the same people over and over and you put that in every email.
Sure. Absolutely. Repetition is always boring, right?
If it's the only phrase person, the only time you've ever emailed this person.
Sure. use that one. But you've got to have multiple options so you can switch it up, right?
Well, we say that about anything, right?
Anything we teach you guys, never repeat the same thing over and over.
Always have a variety of choices when it comes to vocab.
Right, Aubrey? Yeah. So today we're going to teach you three great ways to say this.
And yeah, so let's dive in with the first one right here.
All right, here we go. So the first one is to touch base.
Now this is so American, first of all. Because it's about baseball.
It's about baseball. I have a love-hate relationship with this phrase.
I feel like it's a little cheesy. I don't know why when I hear it, I'm like, oh, it's so cheesy, but I use it.
You know what I mean? So it must be valid because I use it.
Yeah. I haven't thought about it being cheesy, but it's so interesting how certain phrases or certain expressions will just start to kind of get the ick for and start feeling like this is a little cheesy.
I don't know. But then we just keep using it because there are only so many ways to say this.
And this is an interesting one. Yes, I love it.
So touch base. So touch base. Right. So, for example, I'll look into this and I'll touch base with you later today.
Right. So it means that I will get back to you.
I will correspond with you again in the future.
Right. So you're in this case, you're saying I'm going to find out something.
I'm going to get some information and then I will email you again or I will call you because touch base could be any kind of communication.
Right. You're saying, I'm going to get in touch with you.
I'm going to touch base with you. I'm going to communicate with you somehow later.
Yes. 100%. 100%. Right. This idea of... I mean, literally in baseball, what is it, Aubrey?
We can go to baseball and understand it.
I just played softball the other day. It was so fun.
I love softball. Softball is like an underhand pitch.
Easier to hit the ball than baseball where they pitch it really hard and forget being able to hit that ball.
But And touch base, there are four bases, first base, second base, and you hit the ball and run to a base.
And if you don't get to the base, it's like a square pad, white, whatever, that you have to touch in order to be safe.
You're there. You're not going to get out of the game.
And so when you touch that base, you're good.
You're safe. Yeah. So in a way, in the business world, it means we're reconnecting.
Like we're checking in, right? We're checking in.
I'm going to a baseball game next week and we have really good seats.
I am psyched. Who's playing? Who are the teams?
I don't know, actually. I didn't get the tickets, but I'm invited to go.
I don't care. I'm just going to a baseball game.
Who cares? He's playing. It's kind of true.
Anyways, good stuff. Good stuff. Baseball season is getting... Oh, maybe it's a basketball game.
Actually, sorry. I don't know. Lindsay, this is the funniest.
I just love how you don't care about sports.
You're like... that since she wasn't joking, guys.
If you're watching this on YouTube, I think you could see the sincerity of that.
Maybe it's basketball. She's not joking.
You should check in on that. Anyways, moving on, Aubrey.
What is our next phrase? All right. So the next one is be in touch, which is very similar, but has nothing to do with baseball, right?
So you might say, let me look into this and then I'll be in touch.
Exact same meaning of I'm going to reach out to you.
I'm going to communicate with you later about this.
Yeah. For some reason to me, this has a connotation that we don't touch base.
We're not as connected. Maybe we don't talk as often for whatever reason.
I'll be in touch. We're not necessarily regular coworkers communicating every single day.
Do you feel that way? Interesting. I don't know.
I feel like I use this pretty often. No, you're right.
You're right. This does feel a little bit more like it could either be weeks before I let you like this might be some time before I'm going to get back to you.
That's what I feel like the most is like I'll be in touch is like it's probably not going to be later today.
It's like, this might be in a month. I'll be in touch.
Yeah, for sure. And by the way, it's great to let people know when they can hear from you, when they'll hear from you.
Right? Yes. And actually, it would be weird to say, I'll be in touch ASAP.
Because then I would probably say, I'll reach out to you ASAP.
I'll get back to you ASAP. Whereas I do feel like there's a little bit of time distance with I'll be in touch.
So it might be like, I'll be in touch next week or I'll be in touch next month, next quarter.
I do agree with you on that. I think there's a little time distance, right?
It's a little bit more open. I'll be in touch.
You know, I'll be in touch. For example, if again, coming back to the guest episodes, if someone is interested in coming on All Ears English, but they're busy right now, we could say, I'll be in touch this summer.
I'll be in touch later in the year, next quarter.
Absolutely. I agree. So it's interesting how there's just this little subtle nuance of this is more likely to be used if it's not as urgent.
I'm not going to say I'll be in touch later today.
100%. Okay. I like the next one. Super, super common.
Circle back, Aubrey. What do we think about this one?
Yeah, I love this too. So here's an example.
Let me circle back to you after I've looked into this.
And this could be right away or it could be in a week, right?
There's not really a time here. It just means I'm going to, again, touch base.
It's all the same meaning of I'm just going to reach out to you, somehow communicate with you in the future.
Yeah. And it's so native. We use this all the time.
Do you feel like you could drop back to you and just say, let me circle back after I've looked into this?
Right? Yeah. Like you might say, can we circle back later this week?
Yeah. We'll just use circle back by itself.
Much more common, I think, is what I would do.
Yeah. It takes me long. You don't want those extra words.
Yeah. That's right. And you just said our second example, right?
Can we circle back later this week about this?
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Exclusions apply. See details online. Okay, Aubrey, let's show our listeners.
Oh, by the way, when I met our listeners in Egypt, Ahmed and Ahmed.
I love that they're both named Ahmed. I bet they thought that was funny.
It was great. It was great. They let us know, they let me know that they love role plays.
Because it's just helpful. You know, we can see these words in play.
And these are realistic, right? These come from situations we've probably experienced in one way or another.
Right, Aubrey? Yes. Absolutely. I agree.
I love role plays in another language. I love sharing them here because it really helps you see how it's used in real life in a real conversation.
Yeah. So let's do this one for our listeners.
So we're on a business call. Now, are we colleagues or are we one of us selling our colleagues?
And I'm using this as a business call because every phrase for an email is also works for a phone call, right?
So it's kind of weird if I'm like, okay, we're going to read emails back and forth to each other.
So why not use it in a call? Because you guys can definitely use these also in business phone calls.
Love it. So we're getting a double trouble here.
I don't know about double trouble, but like a bonus, let's say.
Double trouble sounds bad. No, in a good way, Aubrey, in a good way.
All right. Did you have a chance to look into the Q1 numbers?
Not yet. I'll do that this afternoon and then touch base with you tomorrow morning.
You're out of town starting Wednesday, right?
I actually might have a change of plans.
I need to confirm dates and then I'll circle back.
Perfect. And let me know what the plan is for Michelle's going away party.
Anything I can do to help with the planning?
Maybe. We have a meeting to work out details next week.
I'll be in touch if we need help. Don't worry, guys.
Michelle's not going away. No. It's funny because I wrote that I wasn't thinking of Michelle.
I just picked like a random name. That's interesting.
But then as I read it, I'm like, oh, yeah.
Love it. Love it. All right. So then what is the first one that we used here, Aubrey?
So I said touch base, right? I'll do that this afternoon and then touch base with you tomorrow morning.
And just like you said, Lindsay, it is good with these to say when you will touch base because they are very general, very open ended.
If you just say I'll touch base, they will have no idea when you're going to do that.
Oh my gosh. Yeah. People deserve to know, right?
You need to be accountable to people. And also, by the way, if you say you're going to touch base tomorrow morning, make sure you do.
Make sure you do it. Yes. Yes. Love that.
And then I said, I actually might have a change of plans.
I need to confirm dates and then I'll circle back.
Yeah, good one. And then you said, we have a meeting to work out details next week.
I'll be in touch if we need help. So that's such a good, this is like what you were saying, not even about future distant time, but it's more of a hypothetical, a maybe.
We might not need to be in touch, right?
I'll be in touch if we need help. So this is not a definite.
It's like if it comes up, if I need to talk to you, I'll be in touch.
Yeah, it's a little looser, right? The circle back and the touch base are much more firm, much more clear, much more time pertinent.
I love it. Exactly. And more definitely going to happen.
Whereas in be in touch, yeah, maybe if we need to.
All right. So what is our takeaway for our listeners?
Yeah. So it is really easy to make emails boring.
You know, you don't want to begin or end emails or phone calls the same way every time, especially with the same person.
So this to give you multiple options here, give you some variety for letting someone know you'll get back to them is so helpful, right?
These in your notes, you want to switch it up, keep things interesting.
Yeah, switch it up, right? You have options.
Keep the people that you're doing business with awake.
Yes, exactly. You don't want them to tune out or maybe they'll miss important messages if they're like, well, this is going to be boring and they don't read the whole email.
That could be a huge problem. Boring is the worst.
Yeah. Good stuff. So guys, make sure you go ahead and hit follow on our other podcast, the All Ears English podcast.
That show just ranked number three in global business.
So guys, go check it out. It's a fantastic podcast and you'll get to hear my update on Egypt and so many other great episodes over there.
Right, Aubrey? Yes. It's so awesome when we rank like that because that's over podcasts that are like huge, hugely popular, hugely famous.
I'm like... Us too. We're hugely popular and hugely famous.
I love it. I love it. So good. All right, Aubrey, thanks for being on the mic with me today.
I'll see you very soon. Awesome. See you next time.
Take care. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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