In emails, say what you need to say and move on.
Most of the people I know suffer from severe cases of email overload. I know people who have multiple email addresses, each of whom receives maybe 20 or 30 separate emails each day. Some need action, some are for information, some are spam …
You want people to read your email, not just ‘junk’ it.
You want it to be easier for people to read and you want them to know if they need to do something and, if so, what to do.
Two top tips for email
1. Make your subject line meaningful.
If it’s an upcoming committee meeting, say so. For instance:
- Agenda Items for Staff Development Committee Meeting – September 30 – Please Read
- Agenda items needed for October board meeting – due date September 15
If you are sending them something to read, say what and why
- Drag – 1S t quarterly sales figures – for information
- October Board meeting – agenda – submission date
- First quarter sales figures: for information
- Interview report – executive secretary – read and discuss
2. Make your main point in the first paragraph and use bullet points and short paragraphs to make it easy to read.
Example 1
These are the agenda items for the staff development committee meeting. Please read them and let me know if you need more information before the September 30 meeting.
I have:
- I developed this list from the above agenda and the comments that some people have made.
- Got over it with the GM
- Distributed to all committee members and the committee chair.
Example 2
The next council meeting is October 5, 2012 from 10:00 to 13:00. I enclose the draft order of business. Please:
- Submit additional items on the agenda and supporting documents before September 15.
- Email them to myPA @ xyzco.com
Example 3
Here are the sales figures for the first quarter. Please read them.
You don’t need to take action on anything, but you do need to be familiar with them and sales trends.
Example 4
Below are the results of the interviews for the executive secretary position. I have made a recommendation (see summary at the beginning of the report):
- Read the report and let’s talk about it.
- Wednesday afternoon is good for me. Let me know if you can do it then, or if we need to find another time.
Remember, your audience is full of people who, like you, receive a lot of emails every day and have to juggle between reading them and reading blogs, industry magazines, reports and all the other documents / items that need to be read. Make it easy for your readers to know that your email is worth opening.
