Email Network Security Blog

Using Effective and Meaningful Subject Lines in Your Emails

The first two pieces of information a reader sees for each new email item is the sender and the subject. A good subject informs the reader as to the content of the message and helps in managing the inbox.

Here are some thoughts and tips for creating effective subjects:

1. Courtesy: A meaningful subject line clues the recipient in to the purpose of your message before they read it. If they are busy and the subject is non-urgent, this allows them to work more effectively and read your email later when they have time.
2. Concise: Keep it short and to the point. The subject line should be just a headline for the email, cluing the reader into what the content will be. It should not be too short though. (Don’t write a subject line like “info”.)
3. Searching emails: By writing meaningful subjects in your emails, you create search keys for easily finding the message later. Example: If you typically send out a monthly sales report, use a subject like “Acme Corp. Sales Report 200801″. This will allow recipients to later easily retrieve all sales reports from 2008 by searching in their inbox for “Acme Corp. Sales Report 2007″.
4. Mobile Devices: Many people read email on phones and other mobile devices today. In IMAP mode, the clients download the subjects before the bodies. Having a good subject in the email helps them choose which messages they want to download to their phone.
5. Changing The Subject: Sometimes you change the subject in a reply but want to preserve the content from the previous message. In this case, reply to the message and insert a new subject before the old subject. Prefix the old subject with “Was: ” and enclose the old subject in parentheses. Example: Subject: New Design (was: Problem with Existing Design).