Write better email with these 5 usability tips
How to get your message across clearer and more efficiently via email.
Usability principles aren’t just important to consider when designing apps or websites. Concepts of usability — that is, making sure your user or audience can figure out how to use or understand what’s in front of them — can be applied to other digital platforms too. Including email.
Here’s how you can apply usability concepts to your emails to make them easier to read and ensure that your message gets across to the recipient. Some of these may seem obvious, but considering these when drafting your next email will make a big difference.
1. Don’t make me think and don’t waste my time
In a matter of seconds, the receiver of your email should be able to identify what the email is about, why they’re receiving it, and finally which actions (if any) they should take. This starts with choosing an appropriate subject line that sums up the essence of your email in a few words. A good subject line to me is not a matter of tricking your reader to opening up your email, but rather coming up with an appropriate couple of words that set the tone of what’s to come in the email.
2. Important things first
Consider what the most important thing of your email is and put this at the top. By doing so you’ll help ensure that the reader will get the key piece of information of your message before he starts scanning the email or even closes or deletes it.
This is similar to how most websites, magazine articles or newspapers are structured. The headline sets the tone, the most important information goes into the first text section, the second most important details in the following one and so on.
3. Split up your email into sections
If your email is longer than 50 words, think about the structure of your text. Split it up into chunks of text that go together. This makes it easier to read and helps the recipient get an overview of the email in its entirety. We all know the feeling of anxiety when opening an email and being face with a wall of text. It’s not a pretty sight. And you would be surprised how many business professionals do this.
4. Use bullets
Bullets are another handy tool for splitting up the content of your email and adding structure. If you’re listing different items or describing steps in a process, they’re are a great way to present them in an easy to read format. I use bullets whenever I send reports to clients and want to highlight different findings. Or if an email contains different action points that I’d like the recipient to do next.
5. Highlight important words or numbers
If your email contains certain words, short phrases or number that are you’d like the reader to notice, highlighting them can help accomplish this. By making small parts of your email text bold or add a background color to the text, it will stand out and will instantly be noticeable when the reader scans your email (which, just like websites, they do).
Try using these practices the next time you write an email. You’ll most likely find that your messages will get across much clearer and that the response you receive in return will be more useful too.
Email is a chaotic format. There are few constraints so it’s completely up to you as a communicator to make sure that your message comes across clearly to the recipient. I think the key to writing good email is to follow simple and common sense usability principles.
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