When you send emails

- Annabel Acton, a Forbes contributor, said she likes her email like her dentist visits, short, to the point and only when necessary. I think that's a great way to approach email, especially given that office workers on average receive 200 emails a day, or spend 2 1/2 hours a day on email. Let's talk about some best practices for writing emails that get action. When crafting an email, begin by thinking of the action you need the reader to take, make sure that action request ends up being in your first or second sentence. If no action is necessary, think twice about whether this person really needs the email. Amanda, a project manager, drafted this email to her team. She wrote. - [Amanda] The activity report was started in the '90s by our president Renee Momper as a way of collecting and aligning activities happening in the various units. It's since been revised to include updates on departmental activities as well. These reports are used by our managers during. - Yada, yada, yada. As a reader, how long did it take you to start tuning out? Not long, right? Amanda needs to begin with one short sentence that captures the most important aspect of this email. Something like. - [Amanda] Your activity report is mandatory and due this Wednesday. - This is the bottom line message of interest to the reader. Then in her next sentence, she should make the action request. She wants people to complete that report and this is her chance to make the action easy for the reader to take. Rather than forcing the reader to search through multiple forwarded emails as if searching for lost treasure, she writes. - [Amanda] Download the report of this address, activityreport.net. Complete and email it to me by noon on Wednesday. - Now the action is clear and easy to take. Save all the other details for after the action request, and be particular about how many details to include. Do you think Amanda's reader cares who started a report in the '90s or how it has changed over the years? Doubtful. Amanda revises to this, these reports are used by our managers during our performance evaluations. We've trimmed down this monster of a message to just 39 words now. Conciseness for the win. But Amanda isn't ready to hit send just yet. She also needs to edit for tone and accuracy. Amanda decides to soften her message without sacrificing conciseness and clarity. She changes one pronoun, your to our, one adjective, she deletes mandatory, and adds a please. Voila, the tone is now direct, but polite. - [Amanda] Our required activity reports are due this Wednesday. - Please download the report. Don't forget to proofread. Proofing may slow you down a bit, but it's worth it to protect your credibility. To be a great proofreader, adjust your mindset so that you want to find errors. When we're eager to hit send, our minds skim right over mistakes. Make it a game that you won't send your email until you find at least one error to fix. Go through your draft a few times, looking for something different in each read. The first reading could be for grammar, and just grammar. Next read is for numerical accuracy. Third read could be for spelling of names. Use spell and grammar check, but don't be dependent on them. A Baltimore news channel that accidentally labeled a video with the Prince of Wales, W-A-L-E-S, as the Prince of Whales, W-H-A-L-E-S, would be the first to remind us that spell check is helpful, but still misses a lot.