How Long Should Business E-mails Be? | Business Email Etiquette

As long as you can communicate clearly and succinctly. For most this is only a couple of paragraphs.

Many times picking up the phone and discussing the issues at hand is much more efficient and effective than typing endless commentary that may not get to the heart of topic or actually create more questions than provide answers. It is a rare talented communicator that can hold a reader’s attention and write effective e-mails. This is a skill I work at daily (and I hope you are too).

Most issues we discuss here have to do with each person using their discretion. Many times e-mails that are too long do not hold the reader’s attention causing them to scan for the details or answers they seek. I have even caught myself doing this when pressed for time and a long e-mail arrives in my inbox.

When replying, this is where down-editing is so critical to keeping the e-mail on point. Removing what doesn’t apply and only commenting directly to what does, minimizes confusion and allows the e-mail to remain focused.

Another thing to do is use bullet points to get your thoughts across is a short, sweet and concise manner. Since using coded bulleted points can trip some spam filters, do what I do –use “=>” before each point. Then hit enter twice after each point to space things out and provide some white space.

The key is to think about what you want to accomplish with your e-mail and stay on target. Keep paragraphs short; only a sentence or two and make sure they have no ambiguity.

In most cases if your e-mail goes on longer than a handful of paragraphs it may be best to consider another alternative. For example, what I do when a client needs allot of information from me, I’ll include links to the areas on my site that cover the info they seek rather than repeating it in an e-mail. Or I’ll create a PDF and have a short and to the point e-mail noting what the attached document contains.

A recent study has reflected that e-mail can cause a decrease in productivity by up to 40%! Working to keep your e-mails short, brief and concise helps both sides to be more efficient and spend less time e-mailing!