1.2 The Inbox Audit
Time: ~20 minutes
What You'll Learn
- How to identify what makes an email effective at a glance
- Common patterns that make messages confusing, too long, or easy to ignore
- The difference between emails that get action and emails that get archived
- How to audit your own communication habits
Key Concepts
The Effective Email Checklist
Great emails share a few traits:
- Clear ask — The reader knows what you want within 5 seconds
- Right length — Long enough to be complete, short enough to be read
- Scannable structure — Headers, bullets, bold text for key points
- Appropriate tone — Matches the relationship and the stakes
Common Failure Patterns
You'll learn to spot these instantly:
- The Wall of Text — No structure, no formatting, buried action items
- The Vague Close — "Let me know your thoughts" when you need a decision
- The Tone Mismatch — Too casual for the stakes, or too formal for the relationship
- The Reply-All Novel — Messages that should have been a document or a meeting
In This Lesson
Claude will walk you through sample emails from the course materials. For each one, you'll:
- Read the email and form your own opinion
- Discuss what works and what doesn't with Claude
- Rewrite the weak parts
- Start building your instincts for what "good" looks like
This is the foundation for everything else in the course.
How to Start
start lesson 1.2