TLDR - Why people aren't reading your emails, and how to change that.

"It was in the email I sent you yesterday."

How many times have you had a colleague ask you for information that you already sent? It's tempting to point fingers, but pointing fingers doesn't get your message across. It's time to ask yourself why they're ignoring your messages. And in many cases, it's because the message is just too long.

It's 2023, and the world has changed. Media is created to be consumed as bite-sized snacks, not ten-course meals. Everyone is swamped, running between meetings or Zoom calls with little time to think in between. Nobody has time for a three-paragraph essay. It's time to pare down your thoughts.

• Embrace bullet points - Lists make it easier for the reader to process and retain the information that you are presenting. It also helps you narrow down your thoughts to the most important points (with supporting details).
• Send me a link - Your message may be too long because you are trying to say too much. If your email contains work instructions, make a separate work instruction and link it. If you have supporting documentation, do not retype everything. Summarize and attach.
• Break it up - When you put all the details in one email and send it out to the whole team, that makes it easier for you (not the audience). Send the necessary details to the necessary people. Better 5 emails that get absorbed than one that does not.
• Bold is Beautiful - Plenty of people skimmed over this article and just read the bold parts. Don't overuse bold and underlining, but using those features can help people know where to focus if you just can't make your message shorter.

Best of all, challenging yourself to write shorter messages helps you to identify the most important parts of what you need to convey, which will make you a stronger player for your team.