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Email Etiquette: Get to the Point Quickly

By Helen Wilkie

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 15Mar2010
Word count: 430
Viewed: 303 time(s)

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Picture this: someone is scrolling rapidly down the email subject lines in his emailbox, deleting anything that doesn't seem important or urgent. Your email message stops him momentarily and he glances at the first line of the message. That first line had better mean something, or your message will be the next to be deleted.

Because it is such an immediate medium, in email it's more important than ever that you get to the point of your message quickly. Your opening sentence needs to convey what the message is about and encourage the reader to read the rest. You simply can't waste that all-important opening line or two on information either that the person already knows or it doesn't speak directly to the message.

Here's what I mean:

1. You asked me to let you know the date and time of the meeting with Client X as soon as I had the information. I have now confirmed with the Client that she will meet with us next Tuesday, March 16 at 3 p.m.

2. There are three new employees starting work with us on April 15, which brings the total number of people on the second floor to 21. Some of these employees have been with us for a number of years and have always worked on this floor, while others came up when we were renovating the 20th floor.

Neither of these is an effective opening to an email message.

The recipient of the first one knows she asked because, well, she asked! So miss that part out and simply say, "The meeting with Client X is confirmed for Tuesday, March 16 at 3 p.m. in the main boardroom." That's 26 fewer words, and I've included the place of the meeting, which wasn't in the first version. All the other details will be discussed at the meeting, but you don't need to spell them all out in the email.

The second example simply rambles on and on with no hint about what the message is all about. Instead, try this: "With the addition of three new employees on April 15, the second floor is now overcrowded. Can we meet tomorrow afternoon to discuss our options?"

Email is business correspondence, just as letters and memos are. You need to give it as much thought as you would for a message destined for the printed page, which means writing it well, checking it before hitting the "send" button and making it easy for the reader to receive and understand the message quickly. In other words, be considerate of your reader's time --- that's why we call it email etiquette.

Helen Wilkie is a professional speaker and workshop leader on all aspects of communication at work. For more detailed help on email, check out her audio CD, "Email Etiquette: How to Quickly and Easily Write Business Email that Communicates and Gets a Response" on Amazon.com

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