Powerful e-mail

People get a lot of e-mail, too many to devote their full attention to.  So when you compose an e-mail and hit “send,” do you actually expect the other person to read it?

Ideally, yes.  But this isn’t an ideal world and they probably won’t.  At the most you hope they will thoughtfully skim it.

The keys to getting people to read your e-mail are brevity and authentic urgency.

Brevity
People hate long e-mails.  If I open an e-mail and it is several paragraphs long, I hardly look at it.  I should read it all, and I’ve been guilty of sending long-winded e-mails myself, but they simply don’t work.

Cut all unnecessary words and redundancies.  Do you “really hope that everyone will try and make time out of their busy schedules to come and see what an awesome thing we’re planning on doing”? Or do you “hope to see you there”?

When I see a one- to two-sentence e-mail, I rejoice.  I read it, and I appreciate it.  When I see an essay in my inbox, I trash it.

Authentic urgency
This is what trips a lot of people up.  They think nothing of shooting off several e-mails in a row because what they’re sending is really important…to them. Ignore how important you think it is and instead think of how important it is to the receiver.  If it’s not urgent, or you can tell him in person later, or you’ve already told him, don’t send it.

People don’t have time for your important messages.  They only have time for messages they think are important.

DO NOT use the “this message is urgent” button unless someone is dying, has died or is critically injured.  If it’s not one of those things and you still think it’s “urgent,” then give the person a call or tell him or her in person.  E-mail is not reliable enough for truly urgent messages anyway.

Finally, don’t repeat yourself.  I’ve repeated several points in this blog post because I’m trying to hammer home a point…in a blog post.  Repeating yourself has no place, however, in e-mail.  If you’ve said it, you’ve said it.  Done.  Period.  Move on.  If you can truly recap everything in a summary at the end, then delete everything else and make those sentences your e-mail.

The steps

1. Write your e-mail.
2. Read through the e-mail.
3. Cut out all unnecessary words and redundancies.
4. Read through the e-mail.
5. Cut out some more.
6. Read through the e-mail.
7. Double check that you’ve stated your purpose (does the receiver even know who you are or why you’re emailing them?)
8. Add your contact info at the bottom (or use a signature).
9. Double check that you actually need to send the e-mail.
10. Send the e-mail.

Whew!  Use these points and you’ll be well on your way to powerful, useful e-mail instead of ignored messages a-la-spam.