7 Qualities of a Good Email
There are times when phone and face-to-face conversations are more efficient and
productive, but in most cases, email is a near-perfect medium for communication--as
long as it's used correctly. Here are the seven qualities of a successful email.
1. Concise. Emails are not the place to ramble. Since emails can transmit virtually
unlimited amounts of information, it's easy to go on tangents or try to include every
bit of information you can in one single email. This is usually not the best approach.
Instead, it's better to focus on making your emails as concise as possible; in other
words, it's better to put as much information into as few words as possible.
You can do this by cutting out the fluff. Unlike phone calls, you don't have to spend
time making small talk or introducing the problem. Instead, you can immediately
begin by presenting the most relevant information. After you draft your email, go
through and eliminate any sentences (or individual words) that are unnecessary.
2. Intention-focused. Speaking of goals, your email should have one. If your email
doesn't have a central intention, such as "to summarize the meeting and recap next
steps," you shouldn't be sending one. Everything in your email needs to feed that
central intention, and that central intention should be clear to everyone reading it.
In order to make your central intention evident, you need an effective, direct subject
line. Writing one can be difficult, especially for long emails that need to cover a lot of
ground, but without an immediate and clear subject line, your email could be
overlooked or hard to find after a certain amount of time passes. Include information
such as the client, the topic, or the due date (for a specific action item). Never use a
subject line to write body copy.
3. Summarizing. Your email should have some sort of summary to start things off,
unless it's a response to an email thread already in progress. In this summary, you
should capture all the items covered to date (whether those items were all covered in a
recent meeting, or over the course of the last several weeks). This will get everybody
reading the email up to speed on background information before you delve into the
matter at hand.
Remember, there's a difference between summarizing and reiterating. You aren't
necessarily aiming to repeat all the information that has been covered to date. Instead,
you are trying to convey the most important elements of that information in as little
space as possible.
4. Well-organized. Your email needs to be organized logically. There is no single
format that applies to every email, but every email needs to be well thought-out. Start
your email by addressing your audience and move into a subject. Your subject can be
split in any number of ways. For example, you could separate your sections
chronologically by starting with a recap of previous meetings, moving into a general
summary, and ending with a list of action items. Or, you could opt to segment your
email in terms of individual participants, calling out each individual's responsibilities
in one group email.
No matter how you choose to organize your email, your organization should be
instantly recognizable to anyone reading your email for the first time. Keep all
relevant subject matter confined to its section in your email, with no spillover.
5. Visually scannable. This is especially important, with attention spans at all-time
lows and inbox counts reaching all-time highs. Even if your intended audience needs
to read your email in full the first time around, your email should be visually
"scannable" for repeat reads. Don't make your paragraphs too long (creating the
dreaded wall-of-text), and try to make certain sections of content pop out with
different formatting. For example, bullet points are an extremely effective way to
organize and present a dedicated list because they can be read quickly and easily.
They stand out from the rest of the email and can be tackled one at a time.
You can also use formatting tricks like bolding to call out specific names or important
dates, and if you want to get fancy, you can color-code your email to correspond with
different relevant parties. The goal is to design your email to be referenced easily at a
glance.
6. Polite and tone-appropriate. Emails do have one potential drawback. Because
they are written, and not expressed with the wide range of vocal tones and body
language gestures we're used to in interpersonal communication, they are prone to
tonal misinterpretation. That means you have to be extra careful to make sure your
words are taken correctly and appropriately by the receiving party.
First, make sure you're writing in a tone that's appropriate for your audience. If you
are emailing a new client with conservative values, it's best to address them formally
as Mr./Mrs./Ms. rather than with a "Hey Bob!" On the other hand, if you're emailing a
coworker about a project you're collaborating on, don't come off too stiff by using
short, unfriendly sentences.
Second, be cordial, but straightforward. Emails aren't the best place to make sarcastic
or tongue-in-cheek jokes, even if the tone would allow it. Assume your reader is going
to take everything literally.
7. Clear on action. The best emails have a clear action plan. If there isn't any action
required by any of your readers, you probably didn't need to send an email in the first
place. Especially in longer emails, it's easy for action items to get lost. Some email
writers might casually mention them, buried in a sentence in the middle of the body,
while others wouldn't call them out at all, assuming the action items are implied.
Instead, make all action items clear. Make a list of each action item, as well as the
party responsible for carrying that action item out and an expected date of completion
(where relevant). Your readers will instantly know what is expected of them, and
better yet, you'll have a historical point you can reference in the future to hold those
parties accountable.
If you can start writing emails with all seven of these important qualities, you'll
improve the coherence and practicality of your emails. As a result, your coworkers
and clients will be happier, your productivity will skyrocket, and you'll never again
have to worry about that never-ending back-and-forth of questions and responses.
If you're interested in more examples of how emails are superior to traditional phone
calls, check out my article: Emails Only, Please: 10 Reasons Phone Calls Are a Waste
of Time.