5 tips for writing an effective email

How many emails do we receive?

How many emails do you receive in a day?

Think of your inbox, swamped every morning with a horde of messages. You’re already feeling nauseous, aren’t you? Now think about all of the emails you send. Maybe not as many, and maybe you don’t pay much attention to either how you write them or who you send them to.

And you often slip back on those archaic, stale formulas, the result of a writing full of pleasantries that feels a bit like land registry office. Still, better than sending a bare-bones message, right?

No.

Writing clear, simple and concise emails is, indeed, possible. And it should be mandatory.

A well written message saves time to both the sender and the receiver. A short email ensures effectiveness and efficiency. But how to do it?

Some statistics show that, on average, we receive a hundred emails a day, including notifications, advertising and spam.

Of these hundred, we only read sixty While we only respond to about 10; 30 at most. The remaining 20 or so is spam, so we either don’t read it or delete it.

It takes 64 seconds “to recover” after reading an email. A small heart attack that costs us a minute of our existence.

Multiply that by 100;

then 220 working days per year.

There are reasonable grounds for emergency admission.

We spend about 28% of the working week, more than a quarter of the day, reading all these messages.

To make matters worse, all of this is a source of stress. However, what causes stress is not receiving a massive amount of emails, but rather the little time we have to read and respond to them.

In fact, 38% of workers tend to see deadlines — and thus timely responses — as an inexhaustible source of stress.

How to succeed in countering these daunting figures?

The only way to avoid a nervous breakdown is by writing an email well.

Write a short and clear subject line

The subject line is much more important than it seems.

It is often omitted or has nothing to do with the actual content of the email.

A short and clear subject line helps the recipient grasp the content of the email at first glance.

Writing “meeting on Thursday” may be too telegraphic.

Look for a middle ground that is concise but not wordy.

“Sending agenda for meeting on Thursday, March 15” is already better.

Pay attention to the recipient

It is easy to misspell an address or a name, especially if foreign.

Make sure you have correctly saved the contact in your agenda so you don’t have to check it again each time. Remember to update it if necessary.

If you want to copy someone into an email, do not write more than one address in the recipient field; use the CC field or BCC if the second recipient is to remain hidden.

If you send an email to an unknown person, introduce yourself properly, leave your contact details, an address and a link to your website or LinkedIn profile.

In case of emailing someone in a different time zone, almost all mail programs let you schedule a time and date for sending the message. If the message arrives during working hours, and not at night, it will have a better chance of being read and not getting lost. You will do the recipient a favour.

Write short sentences and limit the use of subordinates

Write your message so that it is easily understandable and readable.

Avoid awkward turns of phrase and long and complex sentences.

Make sure the message is clearly understood by the recipient.

Avoid reversing the natural structure of the sentence (subject - verb - object) with too many subordinates. Clear writing is the reflection of clear thinking. If you are not clear in your head what you want to say, think about it before you write it down.

Follow grammar rules and adjust your vocabulary according to the recipient. If you are writing in another language, use a spell checker or ask a native speaker for help to avoid embarrassing blunders.

Use punctuation appropriately. For example, most people do not realise it, but a comma between subject and verb can cause misunderstanding.

Don’t answer too quickly

We always have a lot of things on our minds. In the heat of the moment, we typically rush into answering to emails to get them off our backs.

However, responding too quickly involves taking great risks. It is easy to forget important details or to use a register that is too informal.

This affects your credibility. Rushed message exchanges will cause both parties to waste time.

Schedule some time once a week (either at the beginning or the end of it, i.e., Monday or Friday) to quietly respond to all messages. Another strategy is to take an hour a day to deal with all unread emails.

By focusing on mail management, you will avoid oversights and errors (LINK).

Avoid sending monosyllabic responses

The autocomplete function introduced by Gmail often helps, and we don’t feel like condemning it.

However, sending a hasty “OK.” as a reply is not the best option, especially if you are writing to a client you have a good relationship with.

It is almost always superfluous to respond with “thank you”, “you are welcome” or “yes”.

In order to avoid unnecessary mail exchanges, it is convenient to imply positive responses and thanks. For example, you can write “Thank you in advance” or “We will proceed with the order if no further instructions are provided” to avoid an extra email.

If you have already sent an email and received confirmation, writing even just one word can waste a lot of your time. Likewise, you will save the recipient the trouble of opening a message consisting of a simple “thank you”.

In conclusion, with these 5 tips for writing an effective e-mail you will convey a clear and concise message to the recipient. In the long-run, you will be saving more and more time.

And you will finally get rid of that anxiety feeling when having to answer an email. In summary: less stress and more time to do other things.

Frequently asked questions

Are there any tools or techniques for managing e-mail communications taking into account the time difference?

Companies should make employees aware of the importance of respecting recipients’ time zones when communicating via e-mail, promoting a culture of mutual respect and time awareness, and encouraging employees to schedule communications to minimize interruptions and respect recipients' work schedules.

What are the most effective strategies to reduce the volume of spam?

Some measures to reduce the volume of junk mail are:

• Configuring the mail server with advanced spam filters. This is a service provided by the e-mail provider, but sometimes must be requested separately.
• Signing up for e-mail filtering services that automatically identify unwanted messages.
• Educating employees not to share company e-mail address indiscriminately.
• Regularly reporting and deleting irrelevant or unwanted e-mails, so as to train the mail client to recognize spam.

What indicators assess the impact of e-mail communication policies in a company?

Companies can evaluate the impact of e-mail communication policies on employee productivity and well-being through a number of indicators:

• The average time spent by employees on e-mail management.
• The number of e-mails sent and received daily.
• The response rate to e-mails.
• The level of employee-reported stress related to e-mail management.
• The feedback gathered through surveys or interviews on corporate communication practices.