A subject line that gets read
Write the one line that decides whether your email is dealt with today or a week on Tuesday.
Before anybody opens your email, they see one line of it — and they decide from that line whether to deal with you now or later.
That line is the subject. It is also the thing that finds your message again in two years, when somebody types one word into a search box.
Key points
- Write a subject that names a thing and a when, in about five words
- Change the subject line when a conversation has drifted onto something else
- Know that a vague line is why some of your messages go unanswered — it is not you being ignored
What to remember
- Write the subject last, when you know what you have said. It takes ten seconds and it doubles the chance of a reply.
- A thing and a when. If your line has both, it is a good line.
- Look at your own sent messages some time. The ones nobody answered are usually the ones with the vaguest lines.
- The subject box in a reply is a box like any other. You are allowed to type over it.
Try this
Open your own Sent folder and read the subject lines of the last ten messages you sent. Pick the worst one and decide out loud how you would rewrite it.
Practice: A subject line that gets read. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.