How to Get People to Read Your E-mails

If you see an e-mail with four paragraphs, do you read it?  My automatic response is to either skim it really quickly or close the message immediately.  Here are some thoughts from Zen Habits’ Leo Babauta on why writing long e-mails is a fruitless exercise:

Why Long E-mails Are Irritating

They take too long to read: I don’t have a lot of time to read, and by sending me an essay you are saying your e-mail is more important than the other things I have to read.

They don’t respect my time: When you send me an e-mail, you’re making a request on my time (to read, process, respond). If you send a long e-mail, you haven’t edited. You haven’t decided what’s most important. You are saying, in effect, that I have to do that instead. You’re sending a message that your time is more important than mine.

You don’t get to the point: What’s the main point you’re trying to make? What’s your main question?  Spit it out, or it will get buried.

You ask too many questions: I won’t be able to answer all of them without half an hour of my valuable day. So don’t ask so many.

I won’t respond: If you’re looking for me to read the e-mail right away, or worse yet, do something for you, good luck with that. I’m not a diva, but I also have things to do and can’t get to every long e-mail. And there are many of them, not just yours.

Guidelines for Effective E-mails

Again courtesy of Leo Baubata:

Keep it to five sentences: No more. I stole this from five.sentenc.es of course, but I’ve used it for years and it works.

Figure out your main point: If you think you need more than five sentences, you haven’t figured out the key thing you want to say.  Take a second to figure it out, and stick to just that.

Ask one thing: Don’t ask 10 questions, just ask one. Or two at the most.  You’re much more likely to get an answer quickly.

Edit: If you stretched it to eight sentences, cut out three.

Link: If you need to refer to information, include a link to it on the web.

Post it: If the information you need to share isn’t on the web, put it there.  Create a long answer or long background document (then edit it to the essential info) and post it online. Use your blog, or one of the many available free tools.  Create an FAQ if it’s useful, and link to it in your e-mail.

I especially like this last tip, which comes in handy for teams with wikis, project management engines, or other collaboration tools.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

 

Comments

[Ellen Bremen]

As always, love your material and I will share this. Wow, so I just personally blew most of these tips with, let's just say, NOT five-line e-mails that I sent out requesting a potential book endorsement. I'll have to rethink my approach. My advice for students, which wouldn't fit in my noted situation, is that I do encourage a good, old-fashioned phone call, at times, which could negate the need for the lengthy e-mail--and solve the problem far more quickly. Thank you, as always! Ellen Bremen, M.A. @chattyprof http://chattyprof.blogspot.com

[Stanley Lee]

This charter is pretty awesome too: http://tedchris.posterous.com/help-create-an-email-charter

[Alexandra Levit]

@Ellen: It's tough when you have to provide context to a situation, I know.

@Stanley: Great resource, thank you!

[Stanley Lee]

@Ellen: Or schedule a coffee/lunch/bubble tea session to relax for a bit while working in an opportunity to disclose the issue at hand.

[Tanya Whitmarsh]

Not sure I agree with this post. I hate people wasting my time by peppering my inbox with short and low value adding communications.

I have frequently endured lengthy email threads that develop from shallow messages. The sense of the thread is hard to identify without trawling through many posts. The posts are often cop outs for people trying to appear to have 'done something' by simply flicking a quick note on to someone else.

People are getting too conditioned to pap communications requiring short attention spans. It is little wonder that so many people struggle to plan or manage with so many 'cries for attention' bombarding them - it becomes utterly exhausting.

What a pity we are losing the art of writing well constructed letters and memos.

[Lana]

I like "five sentences" rule! Actually the most effective marketing letter I made was: "I need your advice, may I call you?" sent from the "trusted" source.