Communication 101: How to Write a Good Email
Write like it’s for a POTUS.
As we evolve (devolve?) more and more fully toward emoji expression, we half expect cave drawings or hieroglyphics to make a comeback. But even in our time of hobbled IRL communications, we would like to place a vote of confidence on the good old-fashioned written word. When it’s good, persuasive writing is still effective AF—and maintains ample utility in our tech-enabled world. Sure, you can try to advance your new ideas in a Zoom pitch, but half your audience may be multitasking and the other half (introverts, mainly) don’t care for having ideas sprung on them without being prepared. In other words, words on paper have a better shot of making captives of your audience. After all, it was a little thing called The Federalist Papers that gathered momentum for our upstart nation.
One way to put a finer point on your writing is to make like you’re briefing a typically busy person, say, the sometime leader of the free world. We’re lucky to know some people who have done just that, with written memos to the “boss” in a past administration—an intellectual leader, and big reader, in the genre. We’ve downloaded their makeyourpoint tips, adapted for our modest purposes, to help you get your way with words.
Take it minute by minute. If you do make it to the Oval Office, you can never be sure how much time you’ll have—so you’ll want three versions, a one-minute, five-minute and fifteen-minute version, available. This is equally germane to sending better emails. The one-minute version is a strong subject line (noting the why for sending it). The five-minute version is the crisp body of your email. The fifteen-minute version is any attachment that provides supporting info to drive an action or decision.
Read the room. Take time to do some research on your audience. What do they want or need from this communication? What do they already know (since ‘splaining is everyone’s pet peeve)? How does their mind work? What other readers might eyeball your words, beyond the initial addressee? Keep in mind that communication is for the reader’s benefit—not a stage for your look-how-much-I-know show.
Spoon feed ‘em. Don’t make work for the reader—make your main points easy to digest. A good email or memo gives an early answer to the busy reader’s question, “Why am I reading this?” What is its purpose? What is it about? What does it say? The reader needs to be informed from the start why this particular communication demands their attention, and convinced it will meet their needs.
Start where they are. Aim directly at your reader’s level of familiarity with the issue. Don’t waste ink waxing about obvious or well-known matters. Don’t delve into inessential technicalities. Above all, don’t force the reader to think like you; seek instead to enter into their mind.
Put the BLUF (Bottom line up front). Make your main point in the first sentences; don’t bury your lede or save it for the end like a suspense novel. If you’re creating a memo, start with a roadmap providing the lay of the topical territory, so the reader knows what is coming and in what order.
Find your format. Make your writing scannable, in case your reader lacks the time to read it carefully. Use formatting, titles and subtitles, black space and white space, to advance your cause. Subtitles should be summaries of the main point of the section and should not be wasted on pedestrian nomenclature like “introduction” and “closing.” State the main ideas of each paragraph in your first two sentences.
Say it like you mean it. Check your style: Choose short, tough words and sentences. Avoid the passive voice. Express key statistics in creative, meaningful ways.
Yang your yin. Keep discussions of problems and their potential solutions close together. Balance recommendations with discussions of their feasibility. Make sure issues of equal importance take up equivalent space: the more important, the more space, and vice versa.
Inspire action. Above all, think about what you want your reader to DO after reading your communication. Suppose they understand and are persuaded by it. What’s the next move? Have you given them what they need to take action on the basis of your memo? If yes, hit send and let it fly like Air Force One.
