Developing Successful Email Subject Lines For Business Communication

Woman writing an email message at her desk

When writing an email message, your key objective should be getting the reader to read it.  This task is easier said than done.  Most of us get bombarded with messages each day and many e-mails get deleted without being read.  According to 24 Hour Translation Service, a good email message subject line motivates recipients to open and read messages and develops your reputation as someone who sends important emails that are informative, clear and concise.  However, if your subject lines are usually dull, meaningless or trivial your messages are more likely to be overlooked and deleted.  Over time, your reputation for sending messages containing important details will diminish.

What Motivates People To Read Email?

Take a moment to review your inbox and the messages that you have opened and read.  What influenced you to open those messages and read them?  Most people choose to read a message based on the sender and the topic of the message.  The recipient might read a message because they think the message contains important details, requires immediate attention, or has a special appeal.

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When developing a subject line, you should focus on the detail most important to your audience members.  Never over promise or exaggerate a claim or information contained in your message.  Instead, be reasonable and honest and be as explicit as possible.  An imprecise subject line that lacks clarity is less likely to capture attention and be read.

The placement of keywords is also important.  Always place keywords near the beginning of the subject line.  This allows the recipient to quickly grasp the subject matter and prevents the most important part of the subject line from being truncated by the e-mail software.  As more emails are read on mobile devices, creating condensed subject lines with keywords placed near the beginning of the subject line is increasingly important.  Finally, since most people use e-mail as a database, using keywords that people use in your subject line will make them easier to locate.

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