How to: Deliver meaning with Email Subjects

Ahhhh email, forever the source of information, inspiration, entertainment and even frustration, both in the workplace and at home. Already, in the relatively short life of this blog, I have published numerous posts about various aspects to effectively using email in the workplace. Today, I would like to address the equally important yet far more often overlooked aspect of email: the Subject.

First and foremost, I think one of the biggest problems with the subject of an email is that it sits at the top of the email when initially composing it. This seems logical, in the sense that it is the first thing that the receiver sees, however it generally leads to the subject being the first part of the email that the author fills out. Due to this, it is often way to vague or broad, and generally lacks meaning. A common misunderstanding is that anything vaguely relevant will suffice as an email topic. I severely disagree.

The email subject should give a clear representation of the contents of the email, and more importantly, how this email affects the reader.

Allow me to explain. If I get a new email, the first thing I want to know is ‘What is required of me?’ Do I have to reply, do I have to execute some other form of action, is it just for my information, or is it a reminder about something? I want to know this without having to open the email. After all, time is precious but emails are numerous, and I need some way to instantly decipher what I need to do with each email. The easiest way I have found to address this problem is by using a prefix, followed by a colon (:), then a succinct description of the content/purpose conveyed in the message body.

For example, I may have to send an email to my people leader asking them to approve my annual leave that I have entered into the payroll system. I could use the subject “Annual Leave.” It relates to the broad subject, but gives no indication of what is required of the reader, or specifically what the email may be about. This would need to be followed by some kind of instruction in the email body, which requires the reader to open the email. Instead, I would use something like “FYA: Please approve my annual leave in payroll.”

Immediately this conveys that action is required of the reader (FYA = For Your Action), and that this action involves logging into the payroll system to approve my leave. In fact, the reader could effectively action my request without even reading the message body (if I even included one). I could have not even bothered with an email body, and simply appended <EOM> to the subject, indicating End Of Message (i.e no text in email body).

Now, there are a couple of limits to this situation. First and foremost, don’t use abbreviations unless the audience knows what they mean (or at least include enough extra info to enable them to figure it out). Secondly, consider the audience, as brevity can sometimes be interpreted as rudeness. I guess the bottom line here is use common sense and you will be ok.

There is a brilliant article written quite a while ago by Merlin of 43 Folders about Writing sensible email messages (what a great word – sensible). This article is a brilliant read; some great points on email subjects, amongst other things, and of equal value are the comments left by some of the readers; there’s some great tips and ideas there. And on this note, I guess my main tips can be summarised into the following:

• Include an appropriate prefix. Examples I use are FYI: (For Your Information), FYA: (For Your Action), Link: (if I am sending a hypertext link to something) or Reminder: (self explanatory).
• Don’t include a body if it’s not needed. Instead, append <EOM> to the subject line.
• Be clear and succinct in the subject line. The subject should clearly convey the meaning and purpose of the email but it shouldn’t be longer than about 6-8 words.
• Change the subject line if appropriate. Often an email might be replied to and forwarded numerous times, and the actual content or purpose may change. If this is the case, don’t be afraid to change the subject line to indicate the updated meaning.

I’ve found that implementing these basic tips invokes a quicker and more accurate response, and also gives my emails a more professional feel. You’ll also notice that I have tried to use a similar approach to my blog post titles; if I’m missing the mark, don’t hesitate to let me know!

Also, a great way to start using some kind of system like I have described is to send an email to your team with a few of the basic pointers that you’re about to implement. That way, everyone is on the same page so they can interpret your subjects, and even have a go at implementing the system themselves.

So, what about you? Which abbreviations do you use, or which tips/tricks can you recommend when it comes to email subjects? Let us all know by leaving a comment below.

Thanks for reading!
-Howo

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