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The Subject Line Says it All

11/19/2013

What are some of the most off-putting email subject lines? BBC News Hour commentator Lucy Kelloway says they include: “Please Read,” “Request,” and “Reminder.” She also ignores “Dear Colleague,” asking why she’d bother to read something clearly sent to all employees, which she would doubtless find out about anyway.

Kelloway insisted she would be quite likely to open an email entitled “orange chocolate biscuits.” Okay, sure. But we all know this kind of ruse will backfire unless orange chocolate biscuits are actually in the offing.

Assuming no desserts are involved, the best subject line, she concluded, was one that conveyed the entire message—so that opening the email wasn’t even necessary. And brevity is the soul of any effective email.

Please let us know: How do you get people at work to open your emails? Share your responses to this weekly discussion question here.

6 Comments

Norman

11/19/2013 01:59:00 am

Ms. Kelloway has a good point, yet I think she misunderstands the medium. She apparently wants e-mail to be the equivalent of Twitter, where the subject line is the whole message, or "tweet." Subject lines are just that, the subject (which should not be generic!); the content is the message itself, which needs to be focused/to the point and of reasonably short length (longer, use a memo/letter or blog or...). If you do these things, you gain credibility with your audience (the ones you want to open your e-mails!), if not, they'll do what Ms. Kelloway does and delete your messages.

Curt

11/19/2013 06:01:54 am

Is it really the subject line that gets my attention? It is more likely the source of the e-mail that gets my attention. Some senders e-mails are always read, most senders e-mails are never read. Could it be that some senders seem to value my time/energy more than others and are less likely to bombard me with needlessness.

Susan Glaser

11/19/2013 07:19:47 am

Norman and Curt: you each mention something I hadn't thought about: Some people do have more email ethos because they don't barrage us with needless information and we don't have to sift through countless words to discover the point. Remember Mark Twain's comment: "I would have made it shorter but I ran out of time. " I think that applies to email too.

Deb

11/20/2013 07:14:51 am

First, I would really like to agree with Curt and Norman - if you gain credibility your email will carry more weight and get you on the filter list that actually says: Read this email...

Next, a title that includes URGENT, or Your Immediate ACTION Required, along with sending the message with an appropriate priority and read receipt lets my intended receiver know it is not the ordinary, or inconsequential email. In order to use this successfully - only use the title line when it IS urgent, or requires immediate action.

Lastly, I have found that people look forward to getting email from certain individuals for various reasons - I find ways to 'tailor' my email to the recipient - if they like "word-of the day" I include a new word and definition, if they like quotable qoutes, I use one. Well, you get the idea here - it is finding out what the other person likes/wants/needs and delivering a nugget to them with each BRIEF communication...I have more than a few people that really enjoy getting emails because the first or last line is: YOU are good stuff!!

susan glaser

11/25/2013 08:53:53 am

Thanks Deb for sharing what you have clearly thought through in a significant way.

Dick Swenson

12/1/2013 08:29:28 am

First, please eliminate my email address
jswenson987@msn.com
and substitute
j)swenson@msn.com
Thanks.

I want the subject line to be explicit. I use that and the name of the sender to screen my email.

By the way, if you ever doubt the legitimacy of the email, you can always read it in 'source' mode where you don't risk opening anything that can be active.

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The Subject Line Says it All

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