Studies show that the average professional spends one-third of their work day on work email.  That means that email can have a big impact on your career.  Read on for eight common—and easily correctable—mistakes you may be making with your emails. 

Studies show that the average professional spends one-third of their work day on work email.  That means that email can have a big impact on your career.  Read on for eight common—and easily correctable—mistakes you may be making with your emails.   

Emails that are too long.  

Someone once told me emails should be short enough to fit on an iPhone screen.  That isn't always possible or desirable, but it’s helpful to keep that view in mind.  (Of course the people who insist on three line emails are often the same people who then complain about emails that sound curt, so take this with a grain of salt.)  Longer emails—especially if you aren't using headers or space to break things up—make people more likely to skim and miss the content you've provided.  Or they may decide to come back to your email and then forget to do so.  And worse than not reading the email, when your emails are too long, people assume you aren't focused.