The Subject is the Subject Line

Getting too many emails? Spending exorbitant amounts of time doing
replies, deletes, and filing? You are not alone! Today we address
how to help people (and you) to be more effective with this techno
touch - the Subject line!

First off and most important: Put something in the subject line.
Some email programs won't let you send without filling the subject
line in which just goes to show that even a machine thinks it's
important.

So what do you put in the subject line? This is the question
that makes you either effective or ineffective and also shows
your professionalism and style.

If it's a new email ask yourself how you want to be perceived
by the reader when they get your email. I recently spoke to a
woman who gets more emails than she wants and feels capable of
handling. She's in email overload like a lot of us. She spoke
at length about how ineffective many people are in using subject
lines. She is brutal in deleting anything without a subject line,
with a subject line she doesn't think applies to her or that
seems like an ad. She scans down that subject line and gets busy
deleting first thing.

It occurred to me that she may be missing some things that may
be of value that she possibly needs to see etc. but with over a
hundred emails coming in each day she feels the risk is worth
the wasted time. This is a decision that she has made and works
for her but if people would use subject lines more effectively
she won't have to worry because emails with valuable information
will state that in the subject line. At least yours will after
reading this article!

If you want busy people to read or reply you MUST put in a
relevant subject line.

Here are a few ideas on subject lines:
1.Be Specific and familiar
Subject: Here's the status xyz project
Subject: Completion of project xyz is on time
Subject: Please RSVP for Nov. administrator conference
Subject: Company picnic info

2.Be Concise
Subject: Your order is on its way
Subject: It arrived!
Subject: Deadline is March 1
Subject: Final outline
Subject: [Name of ezine]

To be more effective on email read the subject line first and
if it states something you feel could be of value then glance
at the sender and you either open it or delete it and others
can do the same to you.

Be careful of sending real generic subjects or ones that may
seem like an ad. Those are the first emails busy people delete
and your important information may go in the trash without a
glance. This could be why you don't get replies
sometimes from people you send information to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~An Aside~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aside from the human spam deleter did you know that many
servers have their own automated spam catchers? This is
nice for you the recipient, but what if you are a legitimate
marketer sending out a promotion to your customer list?
How would you even know if your message is being blocked
at the server? Here's a freeresource you can use to test
your message for spaminess before sending it out:
(http://www.adcook.com/spamcheck)Spam Checker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I do realize that spammers are getting very clever with the
subject lines they use which is why some of the icky stuff
makes it past filters but with a little thought you can be
a lot more effective by using subject lines specifically
and concisely!