3 Ways to Write Better Email

 

 

We are all get poorly-written emails that take too long to read, and it’s not clear what the sender is asking for. Unfortunately, we also write a lot of these poor emails. These emails may get ignored or misunderstood or the receiver may not respond quickly.

 

Well, there are some very easy fixes that will have a huge improvement fast, which I learned in the excellent book “McGraw-Hill 36 Hour Course in Business Writing & Communication”. These tips have already improved my emails enormously.

 

Consider this typical email

 

Subject: AEP promo

 

Hey Keith – I was just in a meeting with Roger Krebs and we’re planning some focus groups to get feedback to our promo idea. Roger told me your team had conducted some focus groups in the past and I should check with you for your research findings, to make sure we aren’t asking questions we already know the answers to. Do you have the final reports online somewhere? Can you send me the link?

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

 

Okay, so this isn’t a horrible email. But it can be improved with three quick repairs.

 

1. Start the conversation in the Subject line

Tell your reader what you want in your subject line. Don’t offer a vague “AEP promo” or “Focus group link”, or (heaven forbid) just forward an old thread with the completely irrelevant subject line “FW: FY09 Gateway promo ideas”. When your reader sees the subject line, they should immediately know what you want them to do. This is also a good practice for you, because it will help you focus on the point of your email, and keep you from rambling or adding unnecessary information.

 

Eg. Subject: Send links to your focus group report

 

Ideally, your inbox would look like a task list, with each email subject line reminding you of something you need to do. By turning our subject lines into tasks, you accomplish this for your reader.

 

 

2. Move your request to the front line.

One of the problems with email is we present information in the wrong order. In this email, Steve is telling Keith that he was in a meeting, and someone mentioned his research and now he’s asking for a link to that research. This is how Steve organizes his thoughts because this is the order he remembers things. He writes in chronological order.

 

But poor Keith! He’s reading the first line and thinking “who is Roger Krebs, and what does this have to do with me?”. Keith needs to read through the entire email to get to the request, and then he probably needs to read the email a second time to put everything back into context.

 

Try this. Make your request the first line of the email. Then create additional paragraphs for the background information.

 

Hey Keith – Can you send me the links to the focus groups your team conducted last year?

 

I was just in a meeting with Roger Krebs and we’re planning some focus groups to get feedback to our promo idea. Roger told me your team had conducted some focus groups in the past and I should check with you for your research findings, to make sure we aren’t asking questions we already know the answers to.

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

 

It’s not always appropriate to lead with your request. If you expect the reader to be resistant, you may need to be indirect. But for many common communications, we can safely lead with our request.

 

3. Move important words to the front

Okay, the email is looking better already. But it can still be improved by casting our sentences so the important words come at the BEGINNING of the sentence, and not at the end.

 

Consider the opening sentence “Can you send me the links to the focus groups your team conducted last year?” What is the most important word or phrase in this sentence? Maybe you decide it’s “focus groups”. Right now, “focus groups” are the ninth and tenth words in the opening sentence. This isn’t too bad, but can you move them closer to the front of the sentence?

 

Hey Keith – Can you send the focus group reports from the research your team conducted last year?

 

Now we’ve moved “focus group” to the fifth and sixth words in the sentence and we’ve made this a stronger sentence where the reader can focus on what we’re asking for almost immediately. Here’s our improved email.

 

 

Subject: Send links to your focus group report

 

Hey Keith – Can you send the focus group reports from the research your team conducted last year?

 

I was just in a meeting with Roger Krebs and we’re planning some focus groups to get feedback to our promo idea. Roger told me your team had conducted some focus groups in the past and I should check with you for your research findings, to make sure we aren’t asking questions we already know the answers to.

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

 

 

Summary

These three quick email fixes will make your email easier to read and easier to respond to. It will also help you focus on writing faster, by by following a format to organize your thoughts instead of struggling to communicate. Give it a try, then leave me a comment letting me know how it works for you.

The 4-Hour Workweek

I just finished reading a book that changed my life. “The Four-Hour Workweek“, written by Timothy Ferriss, has a very simple message: don’t wait until you retire to start enjoying life. Many of us work 40, 50, 60 hour weeks with the thought in mind that, one day, we can retire and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Ferriss however points out that we are in the prime of our lives right now, and should not be waiting until “someday” to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Ferriss makes a compelling case, and shares his experience working fewer hours to free up time to live. He works minimal hours per week, by running his own web company, outsourcing duties to employees and even hourly workers in India, and avoiding administration. He is brutal with email (checks business email every two weeks), does not attend meetings, and does not believe in multi-tasking.

From a business perspective, his message is: 20% of your effort gets you 80% of your success. So minimize. Focus on the 20% of customers who generate 80% of your business, and re-evaluate whether it’s worth it to spend the other 80% of your workweek to pursue the other 20% of the business.

 

There are some excellent videos of Ferris on YouTube. I highly recommend this book. This approach may not work for everyone, but I’ve been following this advice since reading it in early 2008 and it has had made huge improvements in my personal and professional life.