Email subjects – how can I phrase them to be more effective?

Email subjects – how can I phrase them to be more effective?

 

Sometimes email subject headlines don’t communicate effectively the level of urgency or importance, so how can we make them more effective?

 

The subject of an email can make or break it. If write a bland or dull one why should we expect the email to be read. How many emails do you get in a day? 20, 50, 100? If we get a lot or we’re very busy we tend to read the email for those people we think we should or those that look interesting or urgent. So getting the subject right can be vital.

(One caveat before go any further is that we should not make them too extreme or they may resemble spam rather than well crafted emails.)

 

A good place to start is what do you want the recipient to do with the email? So we can start with the action we want, for example;

1. For your information
2. Action required
3. Action required by 4.00pm on Tuesday 17^th April
4. Update on zebra project – no action needed

More to follow on this subject