Let's
make everyone's inboxes slightly less horrible.
By Harry Guinness July 8, 2020
Despite dozens of services
trying to kill it, email isn’t
going anywhere—with its myriad of flaws and bad practices, it’s
still the best system we’ve got. But unless you have a totally innovative idea
that will revolutionize the way we communicate forever, there’s two things you
can do to make email a bit less awful for everyone.
First, ask yourself whether
you actually need to send that email. One of the worst things about digital
correspondence is that it’s a pretty crowded channel, so the best email can
sometimes be the one you don’t send. There
are little to no built-in priority systems, and the artificial
intelligence-powered attempts at them aren’t always reliable—an important email
from your boss can easily end up in the same inbox as
a deranged rant from your cousin and a receipt from your last Uber ride.
But if you decide there’s
no way around it, then crafting better,
more thoughtful messages can help make email better for
everyone. This is where we help you out.
Nail the
format
Email has been around since
the 1970s, so some pretty well-established conventions have developed over all
that time. Getting them right is the first step to a great email.
A good subject line is
something like “A question about your article on bad photos” or “Are you free
for coffee next Tuesday?” A clear subject means the recipient can see what the
email is about when they scan their inbox. This will help them assess its
importance and make clear it’s not yet another Groupon offer destined to be
left unopened.
The introduction is just as
important as the subject, since you want the recipient to actually keep
reading. But don’t worry—it takes little to get it right. Your two best options
are either “Hi [recipient’s name]” or simply “[recipient’s name].” You can also
go with “Dear [recipient’s name]” but it’s a tad staid. Having their name in
there assures your recipient that this is a message sent directly to them and
not some random email someone
A crucial detail,
though—make sure you get their name right by triple-checking for misspellings.
Also, veer on the side of being too formal—it’s better to call someone Dr.
Montgomery even if they are okay with “Charles,” rather than leading with “Yo
Chucky” and offend them. People can be touchy about how they’re addressed. If
the signature on their reply uses a more informal name, you can consider that in
a follow-up email.
The body of the email is
where you actually write your message. We’ll look at that properly in a moment.
Finally, email sign-offs
are something that people usually put way too much thought into. You don’t need
to stress out over the differences between “Thanks,” “Best,” “Regards,” and
“Sincerely.” Pick one you think suits your personality and just use it.
Get the
tone right
Once you’ve got the form
down, it’s time to focus on your message.
Who you’re emailing and
your relationship with them determines everything. You absolutely shouldn’t use
the same approach to email your close friends, your boss, and someone you’re
looking to interview—each one requires a different tone.
Before writing, briefly
consider who you’re emailing and what they likely expect from you. Feel free to
use slang with your friends and family, but probably avoid it when you’re
communicating with coworkers. If you’re writing to a colleague you’re close
with, you have a little more leeway and may use slang, but be careful—if the
subject of the email is somewhat official, or you think you might show that
email to somebody else in the future, try to keep it formal. Use your judgment
and don’t say anything in an email you wouldn’t say to their face—or want read
out loud in court.
Also, be super careful with
humor. Emails don’t convey tone well and emojis are a poor substitute. Unless
the recipient is close to you and knows your kind of humor, don’t make any
ambiguous or edgy jokes, or statements that could be misread. There’s an extremely
thin line between making your boss chuckle and making them initiate
disciplinary proceedings—and you don’t want to be on the wrong side of it.
Make it
just as long as it needs to be—but not longer
Long emails are terrible to
receive. That’s just a fact. Nobody wants to spend an hour wading through
paragraph after paragraph of something that could have been a couple of lines.
On the other hand, some people take the idea of brief emails a bit too far.
Replying to every email in five sentences or less is
nice in theory, but it’s not practical because that level of brevity tends to
make people sound rude.
Generally speaking, an
email should be as concise as possible without omitting anything. As a freelance
writer, I send a lot of pitches and get back almost as many rejections. The
best rejection emails are the ones that say something like, “Not for us, sorry.
Good luck finding somewhere else.”
Yes, they’re super short,
but they say everything that needs to be said and also take the time to leave
things on a positive note. In terms of length, writing a full line rather than
half a line doesn’t make much of a difference in reading time, but it makes a
huge difference in the way you make the recipient feel.
One
email, one topic
It’s a good idea to limit
emails to a single topic. If you want to schedule a meeting, give feedback on
something, and also ask the recipient for an expense report, it’s probably
better to send two or three separate emails.
Email inboxes just aren’t
as searchable as most people would like them to be, so it’s too easy for an
important bit of information to get muddled up or buried. Your recipient
shouldn’t have to remember that the date of an important meeting was mentioned
in a single line at the end of a long email providing feedback on an unrelated
project. Even when they scan their inbox looking for it, they’re apt to skip
over the email it’s actually in.
Reread
and edit. Then reread again.
The secret to all great
writing is editing—and this is just as true with emails. I’m not suggesting you
spend hours working through multiple drafts for a simple note to a friend, but
you should at least reread every email you write twice before you hit “send.”
Read it over once, making
any necessary edits, and once you’re done, read it again to see what the final
version looks like. Make changes until you feel satisfied. If it helps, read
your email out loud so you’re forced to actually look at every word, instead of
just skimming through them.
These are some of the
things you need to look out for:
·
Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, especially in the intro
and whenever else you mention your recipient by name. You can use tools
like Grammarly to
help spot them.
·
If you’ve already sent an email to someone else and you’re copying
and pasting the body, make sure you update any details like the recipient’s
name, the date, and phone numbers.
·
Don’t just send a wall of text. There should be paragraph breaks
between each point you make.
·
Don’t repeat yourself or go on longer than you need.
·
Too! Many! Exclamation! Points! How many is too many is up for
debate. Casual emails can handle one every few lines but a message to your
accountant should probably have none.
·
Cliches. Avoid them like the novel coronavirus.
·
Make sure the tone is consistent and appropriate.
·
Remember to attach whatever you said you were going to attach.
Some email clients, like
Gmail, will help you here—if you say “attached” without actually
attaching something, they’ll prompt you.
·
The “to” field is for people who need to respond. The “CC” field
is for people who need to be kept in the loop.
Other
tips and tricks
Writing a good email, like
many things, is more about avoiding problems than doing anything dramatically
inspired. If your tone is right, the body is concise, and you don’t commit any
ridiculous blunders or offend the recipient, you’ve written a good email.
After you hit send, it’s
only a matter of waiting for a prompt and hopefully positive reply. Keep
something in mind, though—emails get lost. Frequently. If you haven’t heard
back from your recipient, it’s okay to follow up after a day or two, depending
on the urgency of your message. Just remember people have lives, so don’t be
pushy about it.
If you’re worried you’ll be
the one forgetting to follow up, your email client probably has a nudge or
reminder feature, which is worth using. Set it for the maximum amount of time
you can wait for a reply, and after that, it’ll ask if you want to follow up.
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