If you’ve ever received an email without a
subject line, chances are you’ve never felt inclined to open it as soon as
possible. The email subject line is critical to capturing the user’s attention,
as it helps to ensure they understand what they can expect from the email’s
contents. Here are a couple of pointers on how you can create more effective
email subject lines to increase the chances of them being read.
Email
Subjects Benefit the Reader
A key aspect of the fine art of email subjects
is that it is there to help the reader determine how valuable the message is.
This helps them determine whether it’s worth investing time in. While it might
seem easy to see a generic subject line and avoid it, it’s even more tempting
to bypass one with no subject at all. This is extremely important for messages
that go out to a lot of people.
Subject
Lines Shouldn’t Be the Entire Message
While the subject line is important, it
shouldn’t be the entire message. The subject line is only meant to be a glimpse
of what the message is about. Save the entirety of the message for the actual
message subject body. If the message is complicated enough that you need to
explain it so thoroughly in the subject line, then perhaps it’s best to have
the conversation in person. The best subjects are short enough to be consumed
while providing an adequate summary of what the message is about, keeping the
majority of the details for the message itself.
Make
Sure You Use a Subject
If someone doesn’t include a subject on their
message, you can assume one thing: the sender doesn’t find it important enough
to assign a subject. This basically means that anyone who has a considerable
amount of responsibility might never get around to reading emails without a
subject, or at best be pushed to the side rather than thrown to the top of a
priority list.
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