Don't plead in emails Jan24 '07

When writing an email, please do not include verbiage such as:

I am not sure how to resolve this issue, but I feel that it is something that does need to be taken care of. Please let me know what, if anything can be done about this.

I just wasted 5 seconds of your time, making you read that.

Why does this even need to be said? Just state what the problem is, and that's it. This is just excess verbiage, which only forces the recipient to keep reading, even though these sentences don't contain any relevant information. It's just a "plead," if you will.

When reading requests from people, I often find myself scanning the entire email for the relevant sections, which are usually only a sentence or two. The rest of the email (approximately 90% of it) is just pleading.

I really need this fixed because I can't run reports, and this slows down my entire day. Is there any way this can be changed so it doesn't happen again in the future?

Yes, and while I'm at it, is there anything else that I can make perfect for you? Because it all revolves around you - Mr. email sender. I, of course, have nothing else to do except sit here and wait for your pleads to come in. This is my sole purpose in life.

I am not saying pleads are wrong - but just keep them short.

Here's a few examples:

  • Thanks. Let me know when you get a chance.

  • If there's anything I can help with, please let me know.

  • If you have any questions, please let me know.

And for absolute urgent requests:

  • I know you are busy, but can you please take a look at this at your earliest convenience?

Categories: Communication , Email , Rants

Add Feedback (view all)

Leave feedback

Feedback

Input format: The editor controls below will assist with Markdown syntax.

Status

Sub-status

Your info

matthom is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from a suburb of Chicago. Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.

Contact Matt

Popular Pages

  1. Fast rounded corners in Photoshop (4135 recent visits)
  2. PHP – passing variables across pages (1552 recent visits)
  3. JavaScript set selected on load (1285 recent visits)
  4. Removing all child nodes from an element (878 recent visits)
  5. iPod songs out of order? (745 recent visits)
  6. Britney - Everytime piano tab (669 recent visits)
  7. Firefox 3 smart address bar: wildcard search (626 recent visits)
  8. MySQL LEFT JOIN syntax (540 recent visits)
  9. Breathe Me - Sia (505 recent visits)
  10. Tumblr: how blogging should be (398 recent visits)

Similar Entries

Stats

1 unique visit since August 2008

Syndicate

Advertisements