Feel like you send hundreds of emails off into cyberspace and it takes the recipient forever to get back to you? Are you lower priority on their response list? According to experts, the subject line is probably the most important part of an email. Imagine the time saved each year if every email subject was so descriptive it pretty much said it all. Here are some example of bad email subjects:
- Hi
- Report deadline
- Brainstorming meeting
- Question
- Wanna go for a run?
Some examples of good email subjects:
- Consulting report deadline: March 8
- Employee party brainstorming meeting: Nov. 2, 10am
- Want to go for a run Saturday at 8:30 a.m.?
- Question about food for Joan’s going away party
An email subject line is like the opening paragraph in a captivating newspaper article–the subject should pretty much suck you in and say it all simultaneously. And since a lot of people use their email inbox as a catch-all/to-do/reminder list, attention grabbing descriptive subjects can help a lot.
And if you want to save your email recipient(s) even more time, put (EOM) at the end of the subject. Example: “Can’t make lunch today – I’ll call later (EOM)”. EOM = End Of Message. As in, no need to even open this email, you can click ‘delete’ and get back to what you were doing before. Time saver!
