Most people spend as little as 15 seconds scanning a message to determine how it applies to them. If they can’t quickly identify the purpose of your message, they’ll probably 1) dealing with it, 2) filing it for later or 3) trashing it.

1. Make the purpose of the message clear

When recipients receive your email message, they should be able to see at a quick glance how the message relates to them and why it’s important. They may be looking at a preview of your message in Microsoft Outlook or on a Mobile device, and might only see the Subject line. If your Subject line is confusing and irrelevant, your email will surely get deleted in a hurry.
The subject line should always reflect the substance of the email.
An example of an effective Subject line is “Action Requested—Review all department spreadsheets for year 2013 budget and return to me by July. 18th.”

2. Tell them what action you want them to take

Be completely clear about the actions you want the recipients to take. Put all the material that is related to an action in one place. To get even faster responses, always give due dates and clarify what type of action you want the recipient to take. There are basically four types of actions you could request. If you make this level of detail clear, the recipient will be most likely to read the email and take the action right away. The four actions include:
• Action: The recipient needs to perform an action
• Respond: The recipient needs to respond to your message with specific information. i.e., “Let me know if you can attend the meeting at 9:00 A.M. on Friday.”
• Read only: The recipient needs to read your message to make sure they understand something.
• FYI only: No response is necessary. In fact, even reading the message is optional. i.e.,

3. Provide the proper data and documents

Make sure you give recipients all of the information they need to complete an action or respond successfully to your request. They shouldn’t need to come back to you asking for information, whether it is a supporting document or a link to a file on a shared website. You can include supporting information in the body of the message, in an attached file, an attached email or a website link.

4. Send the message only to relevant recipients

Target your message to the appropriate audience. Only people who have to complete an action on the Subject line should receive your message. Be thoughtful and respectful when you enter names on the To line. The results are more effective because people observe your thoughtfulness. Here are two simple questions to help you filter the To line recipients:
• Does this email relate to the recipient’s objectives?
• Is the recipient responsible for the action in the Subject line?

5. Use the CC line wisely

It’s tempting to put loads of people on the CC ( Carbon Copy) line to cover everyone, but doing so is one of the quickest ways to turn people off. Here are some things to consider when using the CC line:
• No action or response should be expected of individuals on the CC line. The recipient needs to only read or file the message.
• Only individuals whose meaningful objectives are affected by the email should be included on the message.

6. Ask “final questions” before you click Send

The final thing you want to do is check and make sure you are supporting meaningful actions. Sending clear, well-defined messages can reduce the volume of email you send and receive, encouraging correct action, saving time, and limiting email trails. Make sure you ask the following questions before you send the message:
• Have I included supporting documents and links and written a clear Subject line?
• Did I write the message clearly enough that it does not come back to me with questions?
• Am I sending the message to the correct recipients?
• Have I spell checked and edited the message for grammar and jargon?

In Summary

One of the quickest ways to get onto your recipients’ “delete radar” is to overwhelm them with meaningless email. Responding to email with “I got your email, thanks,” or sending out lots of irrelevant data that you think they might want to know about is a quick way to create a track record of sending junk mail.
To summarize, it is incredibly easy to create an unproductive culture using email. Follow these guidelines and you can be sure you and your team are able to keep focused on meaningful objectives and don’t create email overload.