[4-minute read]
When I was in my 20s, I worked for a Japanese import/export company in San Pedro, California. My boss was the son of the founder, a solid, successful Japanese-American businessman. One day, he asked me to write a report on the sales prospects for an item they were planning to import. I asked, “How long do you want the report to be?” In measured tones, he replied, “As long as necessary. As soon as possible.”
There is No Right or Wrong Length of an Email
In those words, he summed up an essential principle of business writing. There is no right or wrong length of a document. Our goal is to transmit our message into the mind of the reader. If that can be accomplished in ten words, great. And if takes a few hundred words to fully explain our thoughts, that’s okay, too.
Shorter is Better
Having said that, however, one fact remains: Most people avoid reading long emails. Don’t you?
Writing an email that’s over 200 words long may lead you to lose touch with your reader altogether; even if those 250 words expressed your idea, they didn’t express anything if your reader didn’t read them. At the same time, emails that are too brief may seem curt or dismissive. The sweet spot seems to be between 50 and 125 words per email.
In summary, there is no fixed rule about email length. Every email should be “as long as necessary.” However, shorter is better. People are more likely to read a 75-word email than they are to read a 750-word missive.