Your subject heading is critical for making your e-mail get noticed, read and therefore acted on, so as a writer, you need to place as much importance on the subject heading as you do for the rest of the email.
We constantly see subject headings with vague, inappropriate or incorrect structures, so to help you, here are a few useful tips to apply to subject headings in future:
- Include a brief and descriptive phrase about your email’s contents.
|
Meeting Minutes (too brief) Request for Weekly Meeting Minutes (descriptive/clear) |
- Capitalize the first letter of each main word excluding prepositions and articles.
|
Enquiry for business English writing courses (incorrect) Enquiry for Business English Writing Courses (correct) |
- Use either a gerund (verb + ing) or a noun phrase to begin your subject.
|
Request Q4 Sales Figures (incorrect: ‘request’ is a verb) Request for Q4 Sales Figures (correct: ‘request’ is a noun) |
- Use positive sounding words, and avoid negativity.
|
Reply to Complaint about Poor Service (inappropriate) Customer Service Standards in ABC Retail Store (appropriate) |
One final tip is during an ongoing email exchange with the other party, it is quite common for the e-mail topic to evolve. So, don’t forget to change the subject heading when necessary to reflect a change in the email’s focus.