How to Write Emails Faster with 3 Easy Steps

If you are slow at writing emails, don't worry. Based on the various conversations across social media, you are not alone – thousands of people are wondering how to write emails faster every day.

It's also clear that many of us are worried about what people around us think about emails being such a tedious task.

Not to mention the mental drain it causes for themselves. The good news is that anyone can learn to write emails more quickly. And this is what the blog post you are now reading is all about.‍

Next, we will dive into the reasons for emails taking so long to write, introduce you to an easy 3-step process for writing any email faster with the help of AI, and close with tips on how to write emails quickly starting today.

Why does email take so long to write?

Let's get it out there. People write at different speeds, and there's nothing to be ashamed about that. If you want to test whether you are slow at typing, but the reasons why emails take so long to write for many of us are far more multifaceted.

Putting conditions like dyslexia and ADHD aside, one of the most common reasons people are slow at writing emails is our tendency to overthink them. Behind this common problem is a fear of being misinterpreted. It's often driven by the lack of being able to utilize cues like body language, hand gestures, the pace and pitch of speech, and facial expressions that help us deliver the message like we intended when communicating in person.

Another typical reason is a tendency to write too long emails. It can be related to the previously mentioned problem, one's ability to write concisely, or simply trying to communicate something over email that would be better conveyed in a meeting or through a phone call.

Dealing with spelling and grammar can be difficult for those who need to communicate via email in their non-native language, especially at work. Even if your efficiency in your company's business language would be on a professional level, you can find yourself googling for specific words or phrases, obsessing over commas, or pondering over proper email etiquette.

To keep this part of the article short enough, let's not even get started with the plagues of modern work called multitasking and content switching.

However, we still need to address the fact that sometimes it's simply hard to get your thoughts on the paper. Even though your ideas would clear as a day inside your head, they don't translate well to the text. When you are staring at an empty screen with a blinking cursor, this phenomenon, also known as blank screen syndrome, can get the best of any one of us. Especially when you need to write an important email.

No matter why you perceive yourself to be slow at writing emails fear not, the help is near. Just keep reading, and we can pretty much guarantee that you'll be writing them faster in no time.

How to write emails faster with 3 easy steps (with MailMaestro)

The following 3-step process and accompanying examples will introduce you to a way of writing emails fast with our Outlook AI. We even dare to claim that it's not only fast but the fastest way to communicate via email. You'll be the judge, try it here:

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‍Want to join the 55,000+ companies already using our AI to write better emails, faster? Install our free extension, by clicking the links below:

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1. Write short bullet points

To get started, write a couple of sentences about the essential parts your email should consist of. Don't worry too much about the phrasing or grammar, but aim to jot down thoughts as they naturally come out of your head. After this, you are ready for the next step.

2. Decide the type of email you want to write

Now that you know what you want to say, it's time to consider which type of email you are about to send. Who's the recipient, and what are you trying to achieve with the email? Perhaps you are cold contacting potential clients, inquiring about the status of a project from one of your vendors, or reminding your manager about a deadline that's approaching.

In MailMaestro's Template gallery, you can find ready-made templates for the most typical emails people write daily. Furthermore, you can create your custom templates for the type of emails you send most frequently or the ones you find yourself spending too much time on.

3. Watch the email write itself

This is the part where the magic happens. Once you've selected the right template, you can sit back and relax while MailMaestro writes a fully-fledged email based on your bullet points. If you are not happy with the outcome, you can generate a new version with a click of a button. If something is still off, just do changes manually, and you are ready to send.

This is all possible thanks to our use of the latest advancement in artificial intelligence, and there's plenty more to help you stop struggling with writing emails. Do you find yourself obsessing over how the receiver might perceive certain word choices or phrases? You can select the tone MailMaestro writes the email for you. Worried about spelling and grammar errors? Our tool is fluent in English. Blank screen syndrome? Forget the bullet points, select the right template, and MailMaestro will generate an example email for you.‍

5 tips for writing emails quickly

"What if MailMaestro doesn't fit my workflow," you say? Well, we obviously dare you to give it a try, but here are some actionable tips you can implement to write emails quickly without any extra help from AI email assistants or any technology whatsoever. 

1. Follow the standard email structure

To speed up your writing, it's essential to follow the conventional structure for emails. This will make your writing faster and help the recipient read your message more quickly.

In case you are not familiar with the classic email format, here's the 101:

• A subject line
• Greeting
• Content – no more than three paragraphs 
• Closing
• Signature
  

You should separate these parts with paragraph breaks to make your email easy to digest. The go-to way to further improve on the speed of the writing is to start each content paragraph with the most important thing. Once this way of writing emails comes naturally, you can go from thoughts to delivery much faster.

2. Write the way you speak

Whether written or spoken, the purpose of language is to communicate thoughts, ideas, and feelings. However, when communicating via email, especially in a professional capacity, things often get more complicated than they should, slowing us down.

We tend to use more complex sentence structure when writing than when speaking. Depending on the audience, we may also use contractions to make emails much more formal than usually necessary. Not to mention the use of more formal vocabulary and jargon. You get the point, so I won't even get started about the endless support points with details and explanations of one's thought processes.

Injecting a bit of speaking style into your emails makes them more conversational, engaging and most of all shorter, meaning that you'll be writing them away faster.

3. Write first, then edit

When you try to perfect every word and sentence structure you write, you'll inevitably rewrite as you go. Needless to say, this is a slow way to write anything – let alone emails. Just get your ideas to the screen, and once you are done. Go through the text once to edit out typos and formatting errors. After this clean-up, you should be ready to send, but if gut feeling says so, you can still proofread the email once – even out loud.

4. Put yourself on the clock

Set a timer. We all have one on our phones, so there are no excuses. Give yourself five minutes, and when the alarm goes off, you're done. No matter where you left off, it's time to wrap up. At the end of the email, you can even state that you are happy to elaborate further if needed. This forces you to think, type, and get to the point faster. If the 5-minute limit is way out of your reach, find another aspirational goal to strive for – it's all about improvement, not perfection. 

5. Count the words

Like we already established, the amount of time it takes to write an email doesn't always correlate with the number of words you end up writing. A few sentences can take unnecessarily long to write if you are worried about how your message will be perceived. However, if your emails are very long, it's worth the effort to start using a word counter to break the habit. Some email clients have this built-in, and for others, there are tons of browser extensions available. Set yourself a limit and aim to stick to it. Need a benchmark? Well, it depends. But based on analysis of over 40 million emails, the just-right length for a sales email is 50–200 words. Work your way towards that. 

Did this blog post help you to write emails faster? In case not you can find plenty of other posts on the topic in our blog. We cover everything from productivity hacks to writing tips and tools that will help you to stop struggling with writing.