You would have taken the article more seriously if he had simply said "send more email"? By phrasing it as a suggestion and not a command, that indicates a lack of confidence?
Yes, actually. Whenever someone says "You should do X" I immediately have a gut reaction to NOT do X. If it's phrased as "When I'm doing X, my Y increases by 20%" I find that much more palatable.
Telling me I should do something is a lot more annoying to me than presenting the information you're going to tell me anyway, and letting me make my own decision.
