Here’s why no one is reading your emails at work

I love email. Anyone who has ever written a letter should love email. It’s easy, it’s instant—it’s basically magic. But I seem to be part of an increasingly-shrinking, emailing-loving crew. One of the first communication complaints I hear from co-workers and clients is, “I hate email! No one reads mine!” When I tell people to send me a sample, almost every single one is #fail for one or more of these reasons:

Readers won’t even open your email if your subject line is boring

If it’s READ ME: UPDATES I’ve deleted it already. You want your employees to sign up for benefits during open enrollment? You’d think a subject that includes the words “deadline” and “health benefits” might implore them to drop what they’re doing and enroll, but you’d be wrong. However, a subject that says “See our new wellness perks for 2020—enroll in your benefits by Friday” might make me click. On mobile, I’d probably only see the first half, but I’m in it for the perks, baby.

Readers won’t stay engaged if your emails don’t tell a story

I can hear you grumbling, “it’s not a story, it’s just an email,” right now, and I’ll stop you there. Everything is a story. Say you want everyone at the company to know what your engineering team has accomplished in the last month. But no one wants to read a never ending list with no arc or purpose. A basic story consists of character, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. Let your reader know who was involved, where they were when they started this journey, why they decided to tackle certain projects, what issues they found along the way, what goals they achieved, and what your reader can look forward to in the sequel.

Readers will give up if your emails are too damn long

We’re looking for a short story. A very short story. Especially if your reader is on their phone, which around half of us are. Most people are scanning their email, looking for the information that is relevant to them, so give it to them. If it’s in your organization's vernacular, throw a TLDR (to long, didn’t read) at the top or use photos or gifs. Highlight important tidbits with a few bullet points. Tell people in the opening paragraph what they can expect below. Bold an action item in the closing paragraph. Say your piece. Wrap it up.

Readers won’t connect if your email sounds like a robot wrote it

Communication is about connection with another human being. Read your email out loud. If it doesn’t sound like anything you or any living person would ever say, fix it.

Readers will be overwhelmed if you send too many emails

Not everything needs to be an email. There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing the same person’s name in my inbox every day, knowing that the content inside is more drivel that could have been condensed into something more infrequent, an actual conversation, or nothing at all. Again, you’re not sending emails for yourself, you’re sending them for your reader. Before you even begin to compose, ask yourself why.

You’re right: some people will never read your emails

And there’s nothing you can do about it. No catchy subject, compelling narrative, or life-or-death content is going to make them read your emails because they never read emails at all or only read them from certain people or they have some other baffling habit that you’ve never thought of and will never know. That’s why it’s important to diversify your communication strategy.