Your Emails are Too Long

If you cant write your idea on the back of my calling card, you dont have a clear idea. ~David Belasco

Post written by Leo Babauta.

One of the worst problems Ive seen when people send me emails is amazingly common: theyre way too long.

Im a fairly busy guy, but who isnt busy? I try to be responsive but when I get an incredibly long email there is no way Ill answer quickly. If an email is short, Ill shoot out a reply as soon as I read it.

So why send long emails?

Heres a rule: a long email is never necessary. Never.

How I Use Email

Ive written before about how I ditched email. Thats only 90% true. I still do email on a limited scope mostly for people I collaborate with (partners, designers, printers, etc.). I also respond to customer emails (refunds, download problems).

For reader feedback and comments, I use Twitter. For family communication (like my family on Guam and other parts of the world), I use Facebook (I dont friend anyone other than family, and have fewer than 100 friends on FB).

When I do email, I try to get through all of it quickly. I dont like to be stuck doing email all day, so I get in, read and respond or archive/trash, and get out.

When someone sends me a long email, its likely to be archived. If I absolutely have to respond, I probably wont do it that day.

Why Long Emails Suck

A few brief reasons:

It takes too long to read. I dont have a lot of time to read, and by sending me an essay you are saying your email is more important than the other things I have to read.
It doesnt respect my time. When you send me an email, youre making a request on my time (to read, process, respond). If you send a long email, you havent edited. You havent decided whats most important. You are saying, in effect, that I have to do that instead. Youre sending a message that your time is more importan! t than m ine.
You dont get to the point. Whats the main point youre trying to make? Whats your main question? Spit it out, or it will get buried.
You ask too many questions. I wont be able to answer all of them without half an hour of my valuable day. So dont ask so many just ask one or two.
I wont respond. If youre looking for me to read the email right away, or worse yet, do something for you, good luck with that. Im not a diva, but I also have things to do and cant get to every long email. And there are many of them, not just yours.

Rules for Short, Effective Emails

Ignore these rules at your peril:

Keep it to 5 sentences. No more. I stole this from 5sentenc.es of course, but Ive used it for years and it works. I usually try to do fewer than 5.

Figure out your main point. If you think you need more than 5 sentences, you havent figured out the key thing you want to say. Take a second to figure it out, and stick to just that.

Ask one thing. Dont ask 10 questions, just ask one. Or two at the most. Youre much more likely to get an answer quickly.

Edit. If you stretched it to 8 sentences, cut out 3.

Link. If you need to refer to info, include a link to it on the web.

Post it. If the info you need to share isnt on the web, put it there. Create a long answer or long background document (then edit it to the essential info) and post it online. Use your blog, or one of the many free tools for posting info. Create an FAQ if its useful. Link to it in your email.

This post, by the way, is an example of the last rule.

Twitter.