Sloppy Business Email Subject Lines? Guilty As Charged
How do you craft your business email subject lines? As a writer, I should be completely on top of this, right? How about you? I’m afraid that in the “not so crash hot” subject line department, I’m guilty as charged. At best, I’m inconsistent.
I’ve been trying to escape from email hell lately, and am having some success slowly taming my email overload. I’ve realized that I’m actually adding to the noise with poorly crafted subject lines in personal and business emails. “Hi” does not cut it. “Meeting” is not specific enough.
On the other hand, when I send a client articles they’ve commissioned, I’m specific… very specific. I want to be very clear. I want to be paid. Now that’s motivation!
I saw an interesting Inbox Zero video by Merlin Mann of 43 Folders. He talked about the “early days” when there were so few people with email that they were like little virtual “hugs. Well, if emails were virtual hugs then, it seems that these days there is a “whole lotta lovin’ going round.”… maybe a tad too much.
Don’t get me wrong. I love to receive emails from friends and readers. I look forward to those. It’s the other hundred or so I get in my ebox daily that I’m trying to get my head around. I’m not even talking about spam, although some of it is spam masquerading as legitimate business email… but that’s a whole other issue.
It’s dawned on me that writing an email subject line follows similar principles to writing a web article or blog post headline. As email readers scan subject lines, these need to
- Be clear
- Be concise
- Be to the point
- Be descriptive
- Be informative
- Be specific
- Foreshadow the content to follow
- Avoid clever or cute headings
Give your business email a chance to be read before it is zapped by a ready finger hovering over the “delete” button (or worse still mislabelled as spam). Make sure your email subject line is clear as crystal and helps your reader rather than adding to the email overload.
- What are your thoughts, tips or frustrations with email subject lines?
- Does it matter so much with personal emails?
- Do we really need to send (and receive) so many emails?
- What are the alternatives?
Yvonne, this is a timely topic and a pet peeve for me.
I do not know a single person who complains of too little email. I try to be specific in my subject lines too. One of my pet peeves is the FW or reply email that has new subject matter. If I am emailing back and forth, I actually do change the subject line to match the message so the person can quickly determine the true subject of the message. I also would rather pick up the phone and talk for 10 minutes rather than go back and forth for 5 emails. I think we can all help lessen the email burden by thinking through our communications before sending. We take email for granted due to its ease of use but I think we’d all do well to treat it like a paper letter or phone call. I am looking forward to hearing what others contribute - great subject!
Karen Swim’s last blog post..A Post About Nothing
Yvonne, I agree with everything you and Karen are saying. You know what a fun group project would be? Have your readers submit their 10 best and 10 worst email subject lines of the week. Examples would be helpful - I struggle to find the right headline, and being a writer, I suspect I spend way too much time agonizing over it.
Brad Shorr’s last blog post..Prisoner of Microsoft? Escape to Open Source
Excellent article.Creating irresistible email subject lines is not so easy.I think a good subject line raises interest so you just have to open the email.Something like “You`ve got to see this …” or “Check this out and let me know” should work really well.
Yvonne,
This is one of my pet peeves, also. Like you, however, I sometimes get careless on personal e-mails.
Another pet peeve is people who don’t include any of the previous message in a reply - and change the subject without changing the subject line. They reply with something like, “Yes, that’s a great idea.” Huh? I don’t know what idea they’re talking about. At the other end of the spectrum is the e-mail that’s practically a book because it includes the full text of numerous other messages - most of which have nothing to do with the current topic.
Tips and Tricks: How to Write, Send, Reply, and Forward E-Mail is a post I wrote for a group writing project a while back.
E-mail is so important that I always include a section about using it appropriately in style guides I prepare for organizations.
Lillie Ammann’s last blog post..Memorial Day
Pet peeve here, too… especially when the subject is BLANK. Talk about spammy and my mother-in-law is guilty of this.
I’ll change the subject line (when I am not rushing) if a conversation changes direction. I rely on subject lines when scanning my saved emails.
Be careful about using “Today,” “Tomorrow,” “Wednesday” because the person may not read it as fast as you think and it could be confusing.
Meryl K. Evans’s last blog post..Blog 8th Birthday Bash Update
@Tom, the added twist is making sure your subject line does not include words that would direct into the spam filter. I have learned this over the years from managing email marketing campaigns. You have to be compelling minus spam trigger words!
I happen to stink at headlines so I typically just try to be clear on what to expect. *sigh* We all have our weaknesses, eh?
Karen Swim’s last blog post..I Believe In You
A while ago Sia wrote an interesting article at Top Hosting Center blog about words not to use in email subject line (Top 100 Words You Should Never Use in the Subject Line of an Email) and I remember these (words) being the very reasons why some of my emails landed in bulk folders of my clients. I know better now, yet sometimes it is hard to avoid words like “new” or “free”…
I wrote a few articles about writing better emails myself one or two years ago, but somehow I managed to never pay attention to the subject line, probably because I almost always try to write in the subject line a short summary of the email - a short title if you want.
And speaking about emails… I am still waiting for that one from you - remember the one you mentioned a few days ago on twitter?
Mihaela Lica’s last blog post..SEO Book for WordPress 2.5 Available for Free Download
Hi Karen
Email can be great, but I think email makes it too easy to hit the send button.
I agree that in a hand written letter, we would often take more care.
I empathize with the subject line issue.
Do you think we get more emails because they are easier to send or because each is only a part of an interactive communication format… the to and fro?
Hi Brad
Great suggestion. Want to kick it off?
Hi Tom
The other thing about those type of headlines is that if you don’t know the person sending them, you may dismiss them as spam.
When I send to someone I don’t know well, and want to be sure they open it, I make sure I include something in the subject line which will help them realize it is not spam e.g. Your Guest Post At Home Biz Notes (another spot I blog)
Hi Lillie
When the original email is not there to provide a context, it makes it tricky, doesn’t it?
At the other end of the spectrum, the last 10 email to and fro’s at the end should be deleted. I agree with you completely.
Some email signatures are like an encyclopedia entry in themselves with so many links and calls to action etc.
Your style guides sound like a good idea. I wonder how many businesses formally train staff in email business etiquette and communication?
Hi Meryl
Ah… blank subject lines… not helpful when scanning, are they?
Good tip about using words such as “Today”. It’s also good to be mindful of different time zones e.g. Thursday here may not be Thursday somewhere else.
Hi Mig
I’d say a very brief summary of what to expect in the email is exactly what is needed.
Will email you.
Hi Karen
Good point about the spam filters. At least if you have email filters set up, you can tell if something has been added to one of your folders, so you might catch some legitimate emails there too.
I can’t agree much more. I will never understand why people will spend hours writing an amazing offer for their email body and then use a pitiful excuse for a subject that will get nobody excited about opening it. It just doesn’t make any sense.
Email is just as vital to my business as it was 10 years ago but, there are many new tools that I use now instead of email like Twitter for example. Email still has its place but, Web 2.0 apps are really changing things up.
Troy Pentico’s last blog post..Always Use Juicy Snippet Text
Sep 25th, 2008 at 8:53 am
[…] Yvonne Russell rustles up a great discussion about email subject lines. Though email has become a standard tool in our communications box, I still see subject lines (or lack thereof) that could easily send a person’s email into the spam or junk folder. So here’s a list of bad subject lines (or good if you don’t want the person to read the email): […]