Write E-mails from the Top Down

The journalism model comes from newspaper journalism. Editors cut copy from the bottom up so news reporters write in an inverted pyramid style. When you use an inverted pyramid, you start with the most important information and follow with information in descending order of importance.

This is perfect for e-mails. Write them in descending order of importance. Start with the most important piece of information and end with the least important piece of information.

The most important part of an e-mail is the subject line. Create subject lines that say something!