10 REASONS TO SEND SHORTER EMAILS – Best Practice #8
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You may have noticed that your boss sends shorter emails than you do, and their boss even shorter still. They’re definitely onto something.
We’re getting very good at understanding “short”
Twitter, SMS, and now film reviews in under four words – Icy Dead People. Short is trending!
If verbose is your comfort zone, try scaling it way back and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Good things may happen
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People may start reading your emails on their Blackberries. |
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Your email may fit into Outlook’s AutoPreview (which shows the first couple lines in the list view) and may be able to be handled without opening (extra points). |
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People may be more likely to consider your email during their Inbox clear-down (hint: can they read and action it in under three minutes?). |
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You’ll be more inclined to stick to the one-topic-per-email best practice. |
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Your emails may get forwarded more often. If your recipient found your email hard to digest, they might hesitate before feeding it to someone else. |
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Your email is more likely to be read completely. At some point down an email (I heard mention of 18%), readers switch from reading mode into skimming mode. |
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You may be more Gen-Y/Z friendly (see above). I have no data to support whether younger generations like shorter emails, but I’m guessing they do. |
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Your boss may be pleased to see you’re not spending your entire day in email. |
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You’ll look like a busy person who can’t wait to get back to your most challenging projects. |
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Getting into the swing of an allegro tempo will help you clear down your Inbox in less time. |
Careful – short doesn’t mean slapdash
You risk being impolite, inattentive, frivolous. Choose your words thoughtfully and always write to get results. “Friendly but direct” seems to work best for business email.
Longer emails have their place. I’m just saying that many of us (and I definitely include me) would get better results if we went shorter much more often.
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