Keep to One Subject Per Email

Has something like this ever happened to you? You need to write an email to your boss because you have a question-- let’s say it’s about the cost of some equipment. But she’s been on vacation for the past two weeks, so you figure you’ll earn some bonus points by asking about her trip. While you’re at it, you decide you’ll save time by writing just one email and ask her about throwing a going-away party for an employee who is leaving next week. So you write the following:

Lucretia--

How was your trip? I hear Sicily is lovely in August. Have you gotten over the jetlag yet? I did some pricing on the new copiers, and it looks like the cost is almost twice what we’re paying per page now. Does that seem outrageous to you? Also, next Friday is Freddie’s last day. Would the firm object if the department went to lunch early and didn’t come back? It’s awfully hard to work after a couple Margaritas.

Barney

Of course this is all very important, and you need a response right away. When you get one it says: “Yes.” That’s all. “Yes.” What are you going to do with that? Write your boss back and ask her to reread your email? Guess which one of your questions she was answering? Or apply it to each of your questions so you can take the half day on Friday?

Email may be a great medium for conveying information, but it’s not so good at dealing with a lot of questions or details all at once. Part of the problem is just due to email’s format. While books, word processors and newspaper columns are all set up so that only a certain number of characters fit on one line for easy reading, that isn’t true of email. A line of text in an email can be as long as your computer monitor is wide, which can make for difficult reading. But most of the problem is simply the result of email’s being perceived as a “fast” medium (which isn’t an oxymoron). People tend to write email quickly and they tend to race through when reading them, scanning rather than reading them thoroughly. They may even hit “Reply” and start writing their response after reading just the first sentence or two, which is why you get replies like Lucretia’s “yes” that don’t really respond to the entire email. Those curt, one word responses that aren’t very helpful are also inappropriate. But there isn’t much you can do to improve someone else’s writing skills-- especially those of your boss.

If you want to improve your written communications you’re going to have to do the heavy lifting, and one of the best ways you can do this is to limit your emails to one main topic. Sure, you can throw in a little chatter about the weekend or the weather, but keep to one issue that matters per email in order to avoid having to figure out what someone means by “yes.” Sticking to one topic can also help you avoid writing long emails full of questions (which often looks like polls) or facts (that can read like those tickers running at the bottom of the screen on the news channels) that, in all likelihood, aren’t going to be read all the way through. If you’ve asked too many questions, you probably won’t get all the answers you need. And if you’ve provided too much information all at once it’s likely to be ignored or put aside to be read “later.” Avoid all this trouble by sticking to one main topic and sending more than one email if necessary.