10 more on e-mail

Every month, internet users send 30 million e-mail messages. Approximately three of them are effective.

OK, maybe I overestimate the number of poorly written e-mails, but not by much. What can we do about it?

Last summer, I posted my downloadable article, “10 Tips for Effective E-mail.” Now, Matthew Stibbe gives us “Ten laws for better email*.”

Yes, some of Stibbe’s ideas overlap mine, but it’s a fresh take on an evergreen topic. I really like his number 1 law:

Email is about the reader, not the writer. Don’t think about what you have to say. Think about what the reader needs to hear. There’s nothing more tedious than an email that starts out with 200 words of self-justification when all it needs is a single sentence containing a question.

 Check both articles out, and put the advice to use TODAY!

*You say email, and I say e-mail. Some people hyphenate it (but I think more people are starting to use the un-hyphenated form) and some don’t. I don’t much care whether you put in the hyphen or not, just be consistent.