How to NOT write an E-mail. (And 3 ways how to ACE one)

Are you ready for a depressing statistic? Great. Me neither.

On average, a single worker spends over 11-12 hours a week shuffling through emails.

Damn

That means an average worker spends up to 30% of his/her work time looking over emails!

Think about it. You are spending 1/3rd of your time getting distracted by the constant buzzing of emails over emails.

Needless to say, it doesn't look good.

Especially when you realize that most readers won't glance twice before deleting it.

So how do you make your email stand out? How do you write your email so well that people have to read it? How do you generate "It is a well-written email" for the reader?

What are some of the most common mistakes people do while writing an e-mail?

Well... Read on.

1: They think, Simple Email< Complex Email.

People think that if they sound smart, the reader will be impressed.

Time and Time again, the answer is a BIG NO!

The reader DOES NOT care about what you have to say. Unless and until you're a big shot, or have some kind of authority, no one cares what you have to say.

Do not try to be over-smart or snobbish with the reader. They'll sniff out that you're lying, or even worse, that you're a piece of crap.

#So how do we fix this?

Remember when I said " How do you generate "It is a well-written email" for the reader?"

Remember the RULE: KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)

The only way for you to do this is by keeping your email simple.

This means:

-Get to the point fast

-Make sure to point out all the important topics and reasons for the email.

-Try to not be a jerk.

Here a template for you all

"Hey Raghav

How are you? How's the weather in Delhi?

I got the draft you mailed me last night.

It's great but your line spacing needs an improvement

If possible, try to change your font to make your draft more breathable. It will make it more compatible with our design

Overall, It's an amazing piece of work.

Looking forward to seeing the re-edit.

Best wishes,

Sushrut."

It's simple, clean, and effective.

2: People use too many long sentences.

Owing to the first belief in sounding smart, many people don't know when to stop their sentences.

But this makes things so difficult to read.

The receivers will start thinking:

"What do they want me to do?"

"What is the MAIN POINT?" Get to the main point!"

"Not again. If I get one more email like this, I swear to god I will spontaneously combust!"

So how do we fix this?

#When writing emails, Shorter is always better.

3: They are trying to copy Shashi Tharoor.

Listen. I don't know what antipodal means. And your reader doesn't care about it.

All your readers will think "Gosh what a snob"

Before piling your mail into the junk/spam/delete folder.

How do we avoid it?

-Avoid redundant phrases. Examples: Revert+back, Neccessary+Important.

-Avoid Office Jargon. Examples: "enclosed please find”, “please be advised that”, “for your consideration”

Bonus tip: People don't know the Goldilocks rule of formality.

The Goldilocks rule is this: On formality, Neither high nor low.

This law stops your emails from being a delinquent mess and complicated word vomit.

There is a fine line that most people don't know about emails. Or writing in general.

It's best to either give some extra time to learn it every day. Or if you have the capital, then hire someone who will write for you.

After all, the brand of the organization matters the most. And communicating it perfectly is what writers do.

Thank you for your time