7 ways to send better emails

Email can be a great communication tool, and a massive waste of time – it depends on how well you use it. As those who know me will tell you, I’m a little bit obsessed with efficiency and it annoys me greatly when I waste time sending emails that get ignored so here are some things I’ve learned about how to get a better result.

1. Keep it brief

I hate long emails. You know what I mean, those 3 page essays that take you 30 minutes to read and 3 hours to reply to, because it can feel a bit rude to just send back a simple one liner right! I’ll just pretend I never got it… “sorry, must have gone to my junk!”

I’ve been guilty of it too, I must admit. But a few years back I started dealing with CEOs a lot and I noticed that they kept their emails very brief. I started mirroring them and noticed that people responded more often and more quickly. All that time I wasted writing big long emails explaining myself in great detail when just a simple few lines would have got a better result…

Now, granted, sometimes the email needs to be longer. In that case, cut it up into sections with headers and use numbered lists or bullet points – it’s much quicker and easier to read this way.

2. Say what you want

I think one of the reasons keeping emails brief works so well is it forces you to be direct. It removes all the fluff and makes it very clear exactly what you want. Too often I get emails over explaining and over complicating things when a simple one liner will do the job. A lot of the time I get emails that I know are asking me for something but it’s not clear what it is.

If you want action, specify what that action is. If you want someone to make a decision, ask them to make a decision. If you need help, say what help you need.

3. Say when you want it

To create action, it really helps to give people a deadline. But it’s also easy to be too vague about that deadline, for example does “soon” mean today, tomorrow, next week, next month?

Even if you don’t need something by a specific date, always set a specific deadline. For example, “could you please let me know before close of business next Thursday?” will put a mental marker in someone’s mind that creates action. Of course, it goes without saying you still need to be respectful of people’s time and not create arbitrary deadlines that are completely meaningless!

The other nice thing about setting a deadline is it gives you a reason to follow-up with someone without making it seem like you’re hassling them. That’s hard to do if you said “can I get it from you soon”.

4. Send a calendar invitation

One of the most effective emails is a calendar invite. It’s hard to ignore so it forces a person to make a decision – do I want this meeting or not? If you’re struggling to get time with someone you need to talk to, just send them a calendar invite. If they reject it, resend it with another date.

Just make sure to include a brief explanation of exactly what you want. If it’s an internal meeting, include a brief agenda.

5. Make it personal

Have you ever been in a lecture theatre and had the presenter ask a question but no one responds. Awkward… but it’s easy to hide in the crowd, if no one else responds then it’s completely safe to keep your mouth shut too.

Instead of sending emails CC’ing everyone and saying things like “what does everyone think?” you’re much better off emailing people individually. If that’s not practical, then call out specific people for comment to get the conversation started, e.g. “Rob I know you had an opinion on this, what do you think?”

Having said that, I don’t think email is a great conversation tool. You’re better off having an actual conversation.

6. Save it up

Instead of sending an email every time something pops into your head, save it up for the one email. For example, if I’m working with developers on a project, it’s really easy to send an email every time a new idea or question pops into my head. This creates a clutter of email that makes it easy to lose important ideas or questions, and is super annoying to the poor developer trying to collate it all. Instead, I’ll make a note of the idea or question, and then book a time to review them all over the phone or face to face. After that, I’ll send a consolidated dot point list of everything in one, simple email.

7. Pick up the phone

One of the best ways to send better emails is to not send them at all. Ok ok, I’m cheating but it’s an important point. Picking up the phone means you can have a much more meaningful and in-depth conversation in a fraction of the time it’ll take you to do the same over email (if it’s even possible via email). Once that person has context and a deeper understanding of what you need from them, a brief and direct follow-up email is so much easier.

It’s also a great idea if you receive a big long email to just pick up the phone and call them. Sometimes I won’t even read the email, I just call them and say “I saw your email and though it’d be easier to talk through it”. If I can’t get them I might just reply, “let’s chat through this over the phone, can you chat on Tues at 3pm or Thurs at 10am?”

It’s much quicker than sitting there for hours crafting a response.

This article is published in collaboration with LinkedIn. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Justin Babet is the founder and CEO at JobAdvisor.com.

Image: A woman uses an office computer’s mouse. OFFPO REUTERS/Catherine Benson.