
The average office worker receives around 80 emails each day, and I’m sure many of you receive more than that. With so much to wade through, your audience – whether it’s one colleague or a slew of potential customers – needs you to get to the point and be immediately relevant. Here are some tips to help:
- Determine Your Desired Outcome. The clearer your intention, the more focused you will be, to avoid ambiguity or rambling. Make sure you’re clear about which email you are sending:
- Self-Fulfilling Email –You want to tell the receiver something, either a compliment or information. No reply is necessary.
- Inquiries – You need something from the receiver in the form of a reply – info, advice, or questions answered. The reply is your desired outcome.
- Open-Ended Dialog – You want to keep communication lines open, for the purpose of some future result or benefit.
- Action Emails – The goal is not the reply, but some action you want from receiver.
- Quickly answer, What is the point? People want to know “What do you need from me?” Answer this question quickly.
- Skip long introductions, backgrounds, compliments and details.
- State it clearly using minimal words.
- If action is needed, make it clear what the desired action is from the recipient.
- If no action or reply is expected, say that! “No reply necessary.” It’ll be like music to their ears.
- State benefits clearly. Make sure your email includes clearly stated, easily understood benefits for the audience. Focus on them, not you.
- Remember KISS. KISS = Keep it simple, stupid.
- Show your reader that you appreciate their time by making emails short and simple to answer.
- Use as few words as possible: introduce who you are, context if necessary, and why you are emailing.
- Save the Whole Story – Stick to the Facts. People tend to say too much in email. We feel compelled to describe all the details, so the reader can understand the whole picture.
- Unless asked, you don’t need to overly elaborate anything. If you simply stick to the facts (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How) you’ll keep your message short.
- If you need to provide more detail, do so in an attachment, but only if it’s necessary.
- Pretend you’re face to face. If you just met someone new at a party, would you open your mouth first and give them a rambling story about your life? Probably not. Typically, we stop after a quick introduction.
- Treat emails as if you’re meeting the person for the first time or bumping into someone in the hall. It helps to keep messages short.
- Be Personal and Personable. Personalize email with brief relevant remarks.
- Address the person by name.
- Put in a quick comment about them or their work.
- “Glad you’re feeling better.”
- “I hope all is well with _________”
- Sign email with your name, and a friendly comment.
- Use Simple English. When the writing is too formal or uses irrelevant technical lingo, it may be difficult for laymen to understand. Plus, you come off sounding like a smarty pants who’s in on the lingo. Not good.
- Use relevant formatting. Make emails easy to read and quick to scan by:
- Using bullet points, numbered lists.
- Keeping paragraphs short – 3-4 sentences, max.
- Highlighting keywords (bold or italic) for emphasis, without overdoing it.
- Minimize questions. Ask questions that matter, and limit the number of questions and favors you ask in an email (one or two max).
- The more questions asked in one sitting, the less likely you’ll get a response or that all your questions will be answered.
- Ask specific questions instead of general open-ended ones. Be reasonable and thoughtful when asking. Best to ask the one question that really matters.
- Send additional questions in separate emails. Key: keep the line of communication open by not overwhelming the reader.
- Trim words. Like grooming a garden, read through the finished email and trim out words, sentences, and paragraphs that do not contribute to your desired result.
- Check for potential ambiguities and unclear thinking. Can you rephrase sentences for clarity using fewer words?
- Check for excess commentary that doesn’t add to the email’s main point. Remove extra details that are disclosed unnecessarily.
Emails are such a common part of business life, yet they’re increasingly a problem because we get too many of them. But if you follow the suggestions above, you’ll be able to reap the benefits of email communications and stand out in a sea of mediocrity and obfuscation. Get to the point and you’ll create allies.
Always well said Don. Good reminders here about how to communicate quickly in our info-overloaded culture.