I always breathe a sigh of relief when I get an email or another kind of text from someone who has bothered to make it easy and pleasant for me to read it. I’ll read the whole thing. And enjoy it. The good writing espoused by Ballpoint is in the service of your reader. We are all too harried to have to work at getting through someone’s writing. In fact, we’ll just click through. Next!
When writing emails, typos, punctuation errors, and shaky grammar are just part of the picture in making them quickly readable. If you want someone to read your email — or your post or your comment or your document — pay attention also to how your text looks.
- Brevity: If it’s too long, some people will skim it at most.
- Formatting: Big chunks of paragraphs are too dense. Use shorter ones and headers. Bullet points are short and easy to skim.
- Typeface: Use a plain sans-serif, at least 11 point.
- Tone: Conversational and neutral will serve you well.
- Prioritizing: Put your point up top, not as a conclusion.
Taking this post as a case in point, would you have even read this far if this text looked like this? Continue reading
