No One Is Listening
"I told you I needed this!"
Do you ever wonder why crucial emails seem to go ignored? You have an important task for someone and you send them (what you think are) clear instructions on what to do, but they just don’t seem to listen. They do listen, they just forget what you've said; attention spans are short, and they’re getting shorter. Short attention spans mean your recipients don’t remember what you told them five minutes ago, let alone three lines ago in an email. The fact that you’re reading this fifth sentence is something of a miracle. So with those short attention spans in mind - why, in God’s name, do you dribble on at the end of an email?
“But I was so clear!”
You've probably written an email just like this. I know because I sure have.
“Hey, we need you to do a quick run of the numbers on [XCO]. This is really important to the people upstairs, so please get started on it immediately. Hope this email finds you well; call me if you have any questions. Thank you in advance. See you later at the meeting.”
"Meeting? What meeting? There's a meeting?!"
When you write an email like the one above, you’ve just wasted their time and yours and there’s a 50% chance they won’t bother to do what you just asked them to do.
Start Strong, Finish blahblahblah?
Somewhere along the way, your English teacher or boss has told you to get to the point quickly. And that’s fine, but immediately after the point, you feel the need to apologize for your brusque opening, and then you dribble on with pro-forma nonsense like “call me with any questions.” Or the ever passive-aggressive “thank you in advance,” which translates to “I’m too lazy to thank you later and I’m going to presume you’ll drop everything to do what I wish, despite that pile on your desk." And then there's that last line. Something about a meeting? So now your recipient will think is “meeting? What meeting? Was I invited? Where’s this meeting? Was I supposed to reserve a room?” And then - poof, they've forgotten all about your request.
FINISH strong!
I know your bosses have told you to start with what you want in a simple phrase, but ignore them for now – END with what you want. Because your reader reads that sentence last, your reader will remember that sentence first. It’s the closest in terms of time. Behavioral economists call this bias the “peak-end rule,” by which they judge and remember an experience based on the last thing that happened. The last sentence of your email is prime real estate – your point (and request) should be there.
Jeremy teaches "Writing on the Job" at NYU's School of Professional Studies and is the owner and lead trainer at No Monkey LLC, a professional communication and consulting firm in New York City.
