Revise An Email So People Will Actually Read It

Guess these revisions hold good only for formal mail.

Love GMail for forgotten attachment detector [lifehacker.com] and Undo sent mails [lifehacker.com]
Has saved me quite a few times!

callrecall911

In the corporate market I sometimes feel that a well written and revised e-mail DISCOURAGES people from reading it. I get to work with around a hundred e-mails or so to filter through, the majority of which are from corporate headquarters, and I often neglect them due to their formality and lack of personal address.

Forgetting to the capitalize a sentence or leaving in a grammatic error or two lets me, as the reader, know that the e-mail I am receiving is personally directed to me. I would hypothesize that I would respond quicker to an e-mail with the subject line: hey could you help me out with this project than Request for Assistance: Project X.

@projectvirus

Very interesting point that you make there. You made me realize that an email with an informal subject is usually the first to catch my eye and it's probably the first one that I will read (or delete without reading if it looks like spam).

However, when I see messages like this, I can't help but make a judgment about the person sending it. If I've have no previous experience with the individual, I tend to associate their writing style with their level of professionalism.

bragot

Most important thing is to make the subject line compelling and meaningful.

I try to make the subject convey the message, good or bad news (if appropriate) and clearly state if action is required.

brookhouse

A clever/funny subject line draws attention. In the body, apply the lessons from this article. It works wonders. I revise emails around 5-to-6 times before sending to a group of 8 or more.

Speaking of Email.. Gmail so slow and glitchy lately, and server errors. Getting tired of that and I been thinking of switching. Any suggestions? Sorry for the off topic post.

matilde

How many times do you revise an article before 1,523 people read it?

@longbourne: I assume a few times, but given the luxury of the medium (constant access to make revisions and also the power to delete comments that point out flaws in the original article), I would assume that revisions are more of a dynamic process than a prerequisite.

I believe it is very important to have a subject line in your message, especially a GOOD subject line that informs or compels the reader.

Additionally, I think revision is so important that I've configured Outlook to delay sending messages by 3 minutes after I click "Send". That gives me a chance to re-consider or remember what I wanted (or did not want) to say. It's saved me from egg-on-my-face several times.

In many "formal" mails I found, a message could be refined so well that a Subject line without content sufficed.

Difficult to help the recipient avoid the extra effort of opening it, though.

DON'T: put the whole email message in the subject line. Learn to type in the big box.

Carry on.

@projectvirus: Actually, fwiw, we don't delete comments except in the most extreme cases (e.g., someone's life was threatened). So when we do make a mistake—not something that's entirely uncommon, given the lack of a copy editor and the high turnover of posts—we do our best to correct it asap. If it's a typo, we fix it, and if it's factual, we do our best to update and explain the mistake.

But yeah, no comment deletion happening here, so we have to suffer the consequences of grammatical holier-than-thous whenever we make a small typo. It's a blast. ;)

@Adam Pash: I've always wanted to ask this...how much in advance do you prepare your articles?

callrecall911

totally agree with this:
Company-wide or to Executive Committee = 30 to 50 revisions

that would mean they (The Company) would NEVER send anything out! fantastic

ffolliet

This might be a useful tip for some, but not for me. I revise emails (and comments) too much as it is. (I made two corrections as I typed those two sentences, I've made three more editing this sentence and I haven't even gotten to the email review process.) There are times when I'm at home and I apologize to my wife that I have a quick email to send; twenty minute later she peeks in and I tell her I'm finishing it up ("twenty minutes later, to say you can't come to the meeting?").

I agree that good subject lines are important. I love Gmail's threading feature but that makes it even more important to edit the subject if replies back and forth have shifted to a different topic than the original email.

Also making sure you highlight the actionable steps you're asking of the other person. And if you're addressing a few topics, divide them into sections. I try to make my emails both informative AND skimmable.

The problem I've been having lately is with people answering me on their iPhone. I have an important email with clearly-marked questions and all I get back is a misspelled one-line reply that doesn't address any of the issues I've laid out. I either have to send it again (which I fear will be seen as rude) or just rely on my own judgment and hope I don't get reamed out later. Please, people, if I've spent half an hour writing a mini-report of an email I don't need or want an half-assed answer back five minutes later.

martin_kelley

I usually revise at least three times.

As far as using a catchy subject or writing style, pay attention to the audience and the reason for the email--what do you want the reader to get out of the email and who are they.

You can get your message across with a dry email but using a catchy subject or some humor in the body may well help with message retention. You rarely have to worry about retention among executives as much as you do the rank and file.

Some simple rules I try to follow are:

1. Do it dry first, then add what may be needed to increase understanding and retention.

2. Be stringent with the use of style, color and markup.

3. Be brief.

4. Repetition has a reason to exist but rephrasing has more reason.

William Clark

wonder what the revision quota is for blog posts. I'm constantly surprised by poorly edited/revised content being published by high profile blogs (cough). excuse me

If it takes someone 30-50 revisions to get an email right, then it's time to find a different person to write the email.

SNForrester

What was this post about again. Could you get to the point and repost. Note: I recommend at least 100 revisions before you repost.

jharrell

@projectvirus: I think it depends where you are/what status you have in the Company...

fatuousplatitudes

I know a great way to get people to read your e-mail -- make this the subject line:

I baked five pounds of homemade brownies, snickerdoodles, banana bread, and cherry pies for you! When can I bring them by?

No Unexpressed Thought

@GirafficPark: And, dammit, when you do a revision make sure you don't chop out more than you intended!

GirafficPark

I edit for a living but I think the formula for the number of revisions is more than a little silly. For most day to day correspondence, just write what you need to say, read it over a few times slowly, fix any glaring problems, and hit send.

Email is an informal medium. Getting the job done is usually more important than coming across like Oscar Wilde.

If the message is truly important (responding to a job offer, dealing with a cranky But the most important thing is to not hit send at the moment when you think you're done. Wait at least a few minutes, then read it again, chances are you'll pick up some mistake that you missed on the first round.

GirafficPark

I used to be anal retentive about emails that I was sending company wide. One of my classics was the monthly "update your virus scanner" email. I checked that thing a dozen times before sending it.

@projectvirus: I don't know man, I agree with the idea, but come on, if someone really requested your assistance on something called Project X could you refuse? I would jump on that offer, and then run to the meeting, calling out for Professor Xavier... maybe that's just me though.

Michael

@SNForrester: yup. step away from the keyboard...

a person making 30 to 50 revisions of an e-mail suggests perhaps OCD. that, or an utter inability to communicate nonverbally.

rhodius

My revision process? Copy into Word, read it and look for typos. Do a spell and grammar check. Quick read again.

a person entangled in as much revision as is suggested in this article is a person with a communication problem, period. it's difficult to imagine that the message that person sends is gonna be much improved by 50 revisions.

rhodius

@callrecall911: It depends. Most posts are written and posted the same day; bigger feature-length posts are generally written a day or two in advance.

I revised this comment 187 times.

I look for: brevity, a clear message, and proper spelling and grammar.

I always revise the email messages I send to fit the above specifications.

sagetyrtle

@projectvirus: You can filter that out much more reliably just by looking for your name in the To: and CC: fields. Not there? Sent via email list. CC:? Maybe not so important. At the start of the To: list? More important. The only one on the To: List? Live and direct.

kc2idf

My company emails are hilarious, so everyone reads them. The company president comes to my defense when people complain.

TheOtherHalf

One of the things I do to help ensure that I don't hit the Send button (ctrl + enter) by mistake or get a snippet of news that would affect the contents of the email I've just written is to create a "Doh!" rule in Outlook. I delay the sending of an email by 5 minutes using an Outlook rule so that I have time to change my mind/cool down/cancel an unneccessary email, etc.

I couldn't agree more with eliminating email redundancies. I've been shooting my one-page CV with a short and sweet introduction. Maybe my expectations were low but so far I am surprised with the responsiveness; it makes a big difference.

Micho

@Dr.Jeckyl: What if the message is nothing more then "Call me about lunch" or "Need projected dates for the Manhatten Project"?

Of course I would only use something like that for a coworker/friend who really understands what that topic means.

Best way to make sure that your e-mail will not be read: Put Viagra in the subject line.

@fjpoblam: I've seen people put "(SSA)" (subject says all) or something at the end of the subject line

tomboygirl

@stever: Reallly? It is very hardd to belive. :)

ossigeno

@Dr.Jeckyl: I disagree. for example, if you were sending out a message to tell people to not put the whole message in the subject line, it could look something like this:

To: [undisclosed recipiants]

and I'm sure everyone would completely understand your hypocritical message!

most often the emails that I get (for work at least) are just the subject, and it makes it that much easier to read. The subject tells me the important parts, and I can tell if it's directed at me specifically. It's basically equivalent to "twitter" or a text message for semi-important stuff.

@psychiccheese: for example, I just recieved an email with the subject "back in 30 minutes". the subject popped up in the corner of my screen, along with the senders name, and so I now know everything they were trying to tell me.

My formula for updates to Managers/Directors and above;

1 Simple 2-3 sentence intro/summary
2 Bulleted highlights/action items
3 New paragraph titled "Detail". I can get wordy here explaining how someone else caused that project to fail...they can choose wheather or not to read that part.

My primary audience is NOT interested in 'Wordy' emails. This model conveys the major points, the reader can easily retain the highlights and it's easy on the eyes.

BumpusWI

@matilde:

Huh, thought it was just me. GMail's been getting real slow and glitchy for me as well. I can't think of any alternatives off the top of my head though.

armoniv

@armoniv:

There is a new post about it on the front page. Check it out.

matilde

I have an automatic spellcheck set for all outgoing emails. That allows me a final chance to reread what I am sending and in many cases cancel the email and rewrite sthg I find to be wrong.

iribamn