Most people hate reading emails. Emails are a distraction from their real job. If given a choice, they’d never open or even go near an inbox. Since they don’t have that choice, they read. And they read with one goal: to get it over with.
People read emails faster than a speeding bullet. Your email is a mere blip on a radar jammed with countless other emails. It must first fight for the reader’s attention and then hold on to it.
Clarity begins with ease. If you want people to read your emails, make it easy to read. These 3 simple tips will make your emails more readable.
- Keep your sentences short. Long sentences are tedious to read.
- Replace heavy words with simple ones. E.g. Replace recalibration with change.
- Avoid clichés. E.g. Replace the phrase out of the box with differently.
Let’s look at some sentences simplified using these techniques. Which of these lines would you read year after year, at an average of 85 emails per day?
| Difficult: It has just now come to my attention that there has been a total failure to adhere to the committed and designated deadline, necessitating urgent and immediate corrective action to remedy this miss from our side. Easy: I noticed that we missed the deadline. Let’s fix this quickly. |
| Difficult: Your expedited attention to this matter of utmost criticality of nature would be greatly appreciated in order to prevent any further delays or complications in the ongoing process of work that is happening. Easy: Please look into this urgently. |
| Difficult: Pursuant to our earlier correspondence, it is evident that the current operational strategy may require a comprehensive reassessment to align with our collective collaborative objectives. Easy: We should review our plans to work better together. |
| Difficult: Following a thoroughly exhaustive review of the existing data that is available with us, it has become glaringly evident that a prompt recalibration of our market engagement strategy is imperative for achieving optimal outcomes of our organizational endeavors. Easy: We’ve reviewed the data. We must change our market strategy right away. |
Make your emails easy to read and people won’t mind reading them every day.
