The subject of your message

How important is the subject line in your emails?

These days everybody is time poor and most people are very savvy when it comes to dealing with messages. I scan the subject line of every email to assess whether to open it, ignore it or file it to review later. Your subject line is your advertisement of why someone should read your email – so make it count! Short, sharp and to the point is best and if your message is time sensitive or needs action by a certain date/time, include that in the subject line. Never have a blank subject because you will lose the majority of recipients straight away.

Try to make the subject line a summary of your message or a key action requirement, for example, “Friday meeting re-scheduled to Monday”. If you’re replying to an earlier email that isn’t related to your current topic, either start a new message or make sure you change the subject line. If the recipient thinks you’re sending another message on an old subject they may ignore it.

Helping your recipients with their time management, by using clear, actionable subject lines, will by default help you manage your time and will ensure your communication style looks professional.