I Like B.L.U.N.T. Emails

I’m all for niceties and formalities. But, in work emails, let’s keep them actionable and easy.

Be B.L.U.N.T. in your emails, Bottom Line Up Near The Top.

What’s Askew With Emails

What people often do writing emails is a stream of consciousness, sharing what they’re reacting to in a previous email, sharing their thought process, and concluding all of that with a request or a conclusion at the very end.

I’ve been guilty of this. You’ll have multiple action items, multiple steps, multiple things you’re responding to. And you’ll just start going through them in order.

But the problem is it makes receivers go through your entire thought process, which is not often what they’ll need.

What’s The Solution

So, I always tell people who are newer to writing emails:

• Write that long email with all your thoughts.

• Put that little last summary paragraph or line at the bottom that you’d naturally write with a question, or request, or conclusion.

• Now move that last little bit to the very top.

• And delete everything else. (or just summarize it very briefly)

Be intentional in doing that, and I guarantee your business email writing will get better.

Additional Benefits

I think sometimes people write long, meandering emails and then forget to put in the bottom line. I’ve read many emails where I read it and go,” I’m not sure why this was sent to me. What am I supposed to do with this?”

I think being focused on putting the bottom line up near the top, you get focused on the WHY of the email, and you write to support that bottom line.

What IS the Bottom Line

• A conclusion

• An answer

• A question

• An action item

• A request

What Does It Look Like

I’ll go a little further. I love an email that’s like

I want to get the deal approved for X from you [receiver] by Thursday, the 31st.

More Details:

• Relevant Detail

Is it a bit intense to get an email like this? Sure. But it’s actionable. I’m not reading email for my pleasure. (read this email for pleasure - I got a lot of positive feedback on this) I don’t know about you all, but I’m getting a ton of emails every day. The faster I can work through them, the better.

Ok, The Caveat

But here’s why it’s a B.L.U.N.T. (Bottom Line Up Near The Top) email, and not a B.L.U.T. (Bottom Line Up Top). First, B.L.U.T. is a bad acronym. but more importantly, we’re being nice. So we can start with some niceties. That’s totally fine. In fact it’s prefered.

• So nice to email you.

• Hope you had a nice vacation

• Congrats on the masterful cooking of the chicken dish I saw on Instagram.

We gotta relax. We’re humans. We’re not ChatGPT writing to each other. Maybe one day, but not yet.

If I Were Really Taking My Own Advice, This Email Would Look Like

Hey buddy,

I hope you’re well. Thanks for subscribing to my email list; means a lot to me.

When you’re writing emails, put your main point right up near the top.

Some Details Why

• I like to call it writing B.L.U.N.T. emails, Bottom Line Up Near The Top.

• A bottom line is a question, a conclusion, or an answer - the reason for sending.

• It makes emails actionable for the receiver

• It makes the sender focus their emails and write to what’s needed

• But, yes, you can still add some pleasantries at the top.