Write Better Emails: Use Headings to Help Reader’s Focus
October 29, 2008 · Print This Article
I’m teaching a couple of guest slots at Stockholm’s Påhlmans Handelsinstitut this week, talking about how we can all communicate more effectively when writing email.
One of my favourite tips is to use a Table of Contents at the very start of long emails. This makes it so much easier for people to track what you are saying and prioritise what to read.
Here’s a wonderful example (the names are changed to protect the innocent).
I do see people who send out regular reports using headings, and I’d like to see more people use them. I don’t need the ‘contents menu’ list at the top as you have shown, just headings that break up the subject matter is good enough for me.
Still, wishing people would use headings is a stretch when most people around me can’t even construct meaningful subject lines.
I get a gazillion emails with the subject of ‘Update’. Sheesh.
I think my favorite time saver has to be:
----No Reply Necessary---
There’s so much “Thank you”, “You’re welcome”, “No, thank you” going on.
Typically, Swedes over-estimate how polite they need to be in English and this produces masses of emails.