In 2008, 210 billion emails were sent. Daily. Beyond just receiving far too many emails, I find myself dreading the idea of reading long emails. And, after reading, I often come out confused (probably because I skipped straight to chapter 3). With today’s reliance on writing and reading emails, it’s critical to write effective emails.

Good emails should be informative, concise, and actionable. Unless the email is a quick FYI, here are some simple guidelines I try to follow:

1. Write a clear and descriptive subject
Make sure the reader knows what to expect before reading your email. If your reader has a lot of emails to sift through, this will help them locate the email they’re looking for without having to open numerous emails to find it.

2. Clearly explain the background the reader needs
In no more than three sentences, provide the reader with the background on why you’re writing, and the information they need to make a decision (usually that’s the “what” and the “when”). Three sentences are of course not a hard-and-fast rule, but it will help you get to the point quickly without losing the reader.

3. End with something actionable
Many times you have a question for your reader. Build up to the question with a quick intro paragraph (per my previous point) and then have a concise, actionable question that you need answered on a line by itself. This removes any ambiguity as to why you’re writing in the first place.

If your email has to be long, I recommend keeping a short summary of the email at the top – bullets work well – and a note to “see below” for the detail and “meat”. This allows readers to determine for themselves if they want to go ahead and read the long email or not.

Finally, when in doubt, step away from your email, then re-read it. Make sure that you would know what to do if you were to receive it.

Share this post:

Read similar posts:

• Building Your Professional Toolbox: Closing the Loop
• Building Your Professional Toolbox: Managing Your Manager
• Devastating Value Props and (In)Appropriate Jokes – 5 Tips for a Successful First Call
• Criteria for Success
• A Career Evaluation Exercise