Let's get right to it: Here are my email tips. Read them all orjust jump to the one that bites.

–Make your email readable.

–Make your emails the right length.

–Write good subject lines.

–Keep track of people who should respond and do not.

Also, I made a little screen movie, “Four Ways to Write More Better Faster.” I use thesetools every day.

1. Make your emails readable

Write like you talk. When you talk, you use short words, shortsentences and short paragraphs. Make most sentences active, notpassive voice.

You would never say: “Reclining on the floor covering is aFelis domesticus.”

You would say: “The cat is on the mat.”

If you wouldn't say it, don't write it either.

[Related: Split testing key to successful emailmarketing]

This advice is all well and good. But how do you know if yourwriting is readable? Answer: You ALWAYS run “ReadabilityStatistics” every time you spell-check an email, which, of course,you always do. It's a little program buried in MS Word and Outlook.Sounds exciting, doesn't it?

It should! If your clients and prospects struggle with yourprose and don't read it, you wasted your time and theirs.

It won't make you a great writer. It will make you a readablewriter. (For instructions on how to enable Readability Statisticsin Outlook and Word, Google: “Enable readability in Outlook 2013.”The first doc that comes up will give you instructions for Outlookand Word, both 2010 and 2013.)

Go ahead. Select some text in an email or Word doc. Choose F7 todo the usual spell-check. When you are done with spell-check, nowfor the good part, up pop your “Readability Statistics.” The statsI pay attention to are:

Sentences per Paragraph: I want four or fewer. Useshort paragraphs.

Words per Sentence: In doing a bit of research for thisarticle, I found one author who strives for 25 words per sentence.Gasp! I keep my own writing about 14. Use short sentences.

Passive Sentences: Rarely hits 10%. Use activevoice.

Flesch Reading Ease: According to a piece in Wikipedia,a “Reading Ease” score of 60–70 can be easily understood by 13- to15-year old students. The higher the score, the easier to read.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: My writing is NEVER morethan 8.0. That means someone in the 8th grade could easily read it.If my “grade level” score is higher than 8, I will go back throughthe article paragraph by paragraph looking for big words, longsentences, and long paragraphs. Those are the elements that makefor complication, which reduces readability, which reduces yourability to persuade.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

2. Make your emails the right length

Here are some rules of thumb.

“Call me” emails are short.

Bob, call me. We need to talk about your Brazil High GrowthFund.

Invitations can be short if they link to a longer piece on yourblog or website.

Bob:

I would love for you to attend “What to Do With Cash Now.”It's a dinner seminar, Tuesday night at Ruth's Chris and Thursdayevening at Billy Bob's. There are options you should consider. Thecomplete invitation is on my blog here.

Invitations with no additional information must be long. Youhave to sell people on giving three hours of their time to comelisten to you. How long? I have gone 600 words, sometimeslonger.

“Here is the info” emails: People request info all the time.Your job is to send it AND get them to read it. This style is a fewparagraphs and ALWAYS gives benefits they will enjoy when they readthe requested info.

Bob:

Here is the info on the Individual 401(k) plan yourequested.

When you read it, you will learn:

1. |

   1. Who can contribute

   2. When you can get access to your money

   3. Under what conditions you can get the money beforeretirement

   4. How much you can contribute

I will call you on Monday. I know you get in early. I dotoo. Put a note in your calendar, “Adolphus—7:30AM401(k).”

(Photo: Shutterstock)

3. Write good subject lines

I've been studying headlines for seminars. I wondered: “Aren'tsubject lines just headlines?” Do they follow the same rules?

Answer: Evidently not, at least according to MailChimp, whichprocesses hundreds of millions of emails a second, minute or somesuch.

I started my study by Googling “How to write subject lines.” Thefirst search results all pointed to some articles by MailChimp. Oneof their studies analyzed open rates of 200 million emails. Theresults were eye-opening.

For some research that will amaze you, Google “Subject LineComparison,” which will get you to MailChimp's work. Here are mytakeaways:

“Your subject line should (drum roll please) describe thesubject of your email. Yep, that's it.”

“When it comes to email marketing, the best subject linestell [not sell] what's inside.”

“The general rule of thumb in email marketing is to keep yoursubject line to 50 characters or less.”

The theory: Descriptive subject lines position your email as“non-spam.”

When to write the subject line: The idea may come to you anytime. But I'm thinking the best time is after you have written themail.

Let's say you are sending an email to Bob and BerthaBarking.

You write:

Bob and Bertha.

It's that time again … time to step back, take stock, andmake sure we are on course.

Please call Jewel in my office to schedule your review. Asalways, please bring your last two years' tax returns as well asyour 401(k) statements.

I'll see you soon.

Best,

Adolphus Heckel.

According to MailChimp's advice, what should the subject linebe?

1. |

   1. It's that time again?

   2. Are we on course?

   3. I'll see you soon.

   4. Call Jewel to schedule your review.

   5. It's time for your review.

I vote for No. 5.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

4. Keep track of people who should respond and donot

I write lots of emails. Today, 45. To some of these, I expect areply.

I cannot tell you how many different ways I have tried to keeptrack of who should respond: spreadsheets, flag in Outlook, logs,you name it.

I once even wrote to one of the technology columnists of TheNew York Times to see if they could point me in the rightdirection. (She never answered.)

I've stopped looking.

I have the answer.

It costs $7/mo.

It's sanebox.com.

That's right, your inbox can be sane.

While there are lots of features for SaneBox, the big one is“SaneReminders.”

If I send you an email on Monday, I would normally expect areply Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

To remind myself that you owe me a reply, I will send a bcc [email protected]

At 6:00 a.m., on Wednesday, that email I send you on Monday popsinto my inbox. I glance at it, and if you answered, I deleteit.

But if you didn't answer, I will shoot off another nudge:

Bob—I hate to be a pest but … here's the email I sent youMonday. Can you reply before the weekend?

Then I send a bcc to for 6:00 a.m. Saturday.

I am always up and planning my day by 6:00.

Crack sealed.