You followed the best practices to get a response to your email, including shortening the overall length and simplifying your language. But you still didn’t get back the response you needed.

Maybe you asked a series of questions and got back a two-word, “Sounds good!” Or you could have asked what to do next and received a reply with no indication of how to move forward.

SEE ALSO: How to respond to an email you forgot about

These kinds of cryptic emails are nearly as inconvenient as receiving no response at all. You need to follow up to get the information you were originally looking for, but you also have to be diplomatic about it. You can’t simply type back, “Could you re-read the email, pay attention to the paragraphs I spent so much time preparing, and answer my questions directly?”

So, try these phrases, which will help you get the answers you need (and help everyone save face).

1. “Subject: Need clarification by [time]”

Muse Writer Adrian Hopkins wrote some of my favorite advice for effective email subject lines, including that you should pass on using the word “urgent.” Hopkins notes that the word urgent scares the recipient, and that if something was truly an immediate concern you’d reach out over the phone or in person. He suggests replacing it with the word, “today.”

You should pass on using the word “urgent.”

I’d go one-step further and say that the word urgent is so overused, that while it may cause someone to prioritize your email, if he defines the word differently, he may take his time getting back to you or providing the information you need. I’ve taken Hopkins’ advice and included “today” in subject lines where I needed a response ASAP, and always received a reply before close of business.

To apply this advice to an emailer whose responses haven’t been helpful — especially if you’re in a time-crunch — include what you need (“clarification,” “approval,” “feedback”) and a time in the subject line (e.g., “Need approval by noon”). This way if you asked questions and got back an “OK!” or asked for feedback and received “I’ll get back to you,” the other person knows you need a more specific response, and by when.

2. “Would it be helpful to hop on a call?”

In his Forbes article, "Emails Only, Please: 10 Reasons Phone Calls Are A Waste of Time," contributor Jayson DeMers makes a compelling argument for why emails are more efficient at communicating work matters. Among other compelling reasons, he notes that calls require small talk and can hamper productivity (two major pet peeves many people share!).

So, suggesting a call is really meant to remind the other person that taking the time to read (and write a helpful response to) your email is actually the lesser of two evils. Of course, you have to know your audience for this one, because if you find the rare person who loves to talk it out, you’ll need to schedule some time on your calendar. (Then again, if all you really want is answers, it might not matter to you, and you can remember for the future that the best way to get helpful feedback from this person is over the phone.)

3. “Are you able to view the attachment?”

Sometimes you can tell the other person isn’t reading what you wrote, because he asks you questions that were answered in your initial email. If you don’t want to type it all out again (or risk sounding rude by asking the other person to just read what you wrote), blame technical difficulties.

It’s a gentle way to remind someone that she might not be paying close enough attention (without directly saying she just needed to keep scrolling). Additionally, it saves you from making a snap judgment that could make you look bad. Technology really could be the culprit, so before you call the other person out on being lazy or unhelpful, check that you didn't send a corrupted file.

4. “Is this done?”

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has a system for keeping track of emails that require further action. He suggests:

When you send a note to someone with an action item that you want to track, copy yourself, then label the note ‘follow up.’ That makes it easy to find and follow up on the things that haven’t been done; just resend the original note with a new intro asking ‘Is this done?’

Of course, this line can come off as rather abrupt (or even rude) if your email culture is not quite so blunt. In that case, take Schmidt’s suggestion for tracking the email for yourself, and just pick a softer version of this line, such as, “Could you update me on the progress of [task]?" Sometimes things aren’t “done” for reasons out of the other person’s control. If this is the case, you can ask him or her to keep you apprised as things progress, or update you as soon as the task is complete.

If you’ve already written out everything you needed once, it’s understandable why you wouldn’t want to do it again. So, if you get the impression someone just isn’t reading what you sent in the first place, try one of the responses above to encourage him or her to take a closer look.