What your work emails say about how others perceive you

Every day, 376 billion emails flood inboxes worldwide. Most come from businesses, professionals and bots. Whether it is a quick update, a formal proposal, a casual check-in or an annoying bit of spam, email is the preferred communication tool for many.

While frantically sending, replying and forwarding, few stop to consider what this constant stream of communication might be saying. Are writing styles coming across as assertive, collaborative, friendly, decisive and professional? Or something else entirely?

Recent research from Melbourne Business School offers valuable insights into these questions. It shows that word choice, sentence structure and punctuation plays a powerful role in shaping how others perceive power, confidence and credibility. In short: writing style might be speaking louder than previously thought.

Jen Overbeck, professor of management and associate dean at Melbourne Business School, says a key goal of her research on word usage was to find out whether the power someone tries to project in their writing matches how others actually perceive it. 

“Consciously or unconsciously, we tailor our communication to reflect how we want to be seen and ideally to influence how others actually see us,” she says. “We wanted to find out whether, when people try to convey their sense of power through language, others actually pick up on it.”

Powerful language

The research analysed linguistic cues in relation to specific concepts of status such as power, dominance and prestige. Key findings suggest that expressing negative emotions correlates with being perceived as less powerful, while using analytical language is positively associated with perceived power and prestige.

“What’s interesting is that people tend to judge those expressing emotions, especially negative ones, as less powerful,” says Overbeck.

 

"If you want to come across as more powerful, you don’t have to be overly positive, but reining in those negative emotions is a really important thing to do."

 

This is particularly true for emotions like anxiety and sadness.

“If someone says, ‘I’m really worried about this’ or ‘I’m feeling down about what happened’, people tend to perceive less power in the speaker. Similarly, when someone writes an angry email, people do not see a reason to respect them,” she says.

“If you want to come across as more powerful, you don’t have to be overly positive, but reining in those negative emotions is a really important thing to do.”

Clear and concise

Contrary to common advice about keeping emails short and to the point, the research also shows that longer emails are positively associated with prestige.

“Surprisingly, the study shows we respect people and think that they’re saying more valuable things when they write longer emails. That doesn’t mean you need to be overly wordy, but if you provide a deeper analysis people perceive you more positively,” says Overbeck.

Jordana Borensztajn, communications specialist and author of The Little Book of Influence, says being concise is crucial to increase the impact of the message.

“To make sentences more direct and powerful, you should review and remove softener or filler words. Phrases like ‘I just want to’, ‘I’m not sure if’, ‘I think that’ or even ‘actually’, can dilute the message.”

Clarifying the desired impression can help refine writing style. For example, to sound confident without being curt, focus on clarity and brevity.

Similarly, to come across as collaborative, be specific about roles and next steps. And when the outcome matters most, shift the tone to be more formal, empathetic and fact-based to maintain professionalism and calm.

Authenticity and audience

While these are all helpful tips, there are no hard and fast rules on the best way to communicate through email; rather, it depends on the context, says Borensztajn.

“It really comes down to knowing who your audience is. Who is my client? Who is the person on the other side of this? Who are my colleagues? What dynamic do I want to encourage and create here?”

For those unsure what that is and how to hit the right tone, Borensztajn suggests that artificial intelligence (AI) tools offer some help, but should be used carefully.

“Our tone reflects our personality — whether we’re friendly, funny, blunt, warm or direct. The structure, wording and even the spacing of an email can indicate how we think and communicate,” she says.

 

"Our tone reflects our personality — whether we’re friendly, funny, blunt, warm or direct. The structure, wording and even the spacing of an email can indicate how we think and communicate."

 

But if the message is not authentic to the author, that is where things fall apart.

“You can’t rely on AI alone, because your authenticity is what truly connects. That is the foundation of any relationship. How well do I know this person? How well are we connecting?

“AI is great for brainstorming and idea generation, but it is an assistant. It can never replace the human factor, which is the most important part we bring to all forms of communication,” she adds.

Borensztajn has one simple piece of advice to follow before hitting send — read the email out loud.

“Our words and ideas sound very different when we vocalise them. Reading aloud reveals how your message truly sounds, not just how you imagine it to sound.”