4 Tips for Writing Emails That People Will Read

We have all skimmed an email — or simply deleted it — because it didn't seem immediately important or useful. That was likely not the author's intention. These four tips will help your email be read, not trashed:

1. Delete redundancies. If a reader senses repetition, she is likely to start skimming or stop reading altogether.
2. Use specifics. Replace adjectives and adverbs with numbers or examples. "This large mistake is costing us lots of money" is better said, "This mistake is costing $1 million a month."
3. Stay on topic. If a sentence doesn't relate to your main point, delete it.
4. Shorten. Many people read emails on a mobile device. Keep in mind that an email with only 10 sentences looks like a lengthy missive on a Blackberry screen

Source: Harvard Business Review