E-mail Subject Dos and Don'ts | Business Email Etiquette

The Subject: field of your e-mail should not be underestimated. Just as with anything e-mail, this one field can impact how you are perceived and even if your e-mail will be opened.

Here are some Dos and Don’ts when it comes to your Subject: field:

Do be sure to include a brief and descriptive phrase of your e-mail’s contents.

Don’t use a previous e-mail, hit reply, and start talking about a totally unrelated topic. If it is a new topic, start a new e-mail!

Do be sure to type with proper capitalization and grammar, otherwise you could be mistaken for a spammer.

Don’t type your Subject: field in all lower case or all caps.

Do make sure that you think about the tone your chosen Subject: will relay — very important to framing your e-mail’s content.

Don’t use the Subject: field to ask a question or contain the entire e-mail’s content. Not only does that give the perception of lazy, but sending a blank e-mail because you’ve used the Subject: field for your entire e-mail can cause your e-mail to be misidentified as spam.

Do change the Subject: field when necessary to reflect a change in the e-mail conversation’s focus.

Don’t assume that a new contact will recognize your e-mail address. Use the Subject: field as an opportunity to remind them why you are e-mailing. Such as: “Your Request for Widget Specs.”

So as you can see by the above; the Subject: field is an important part of your e-mail that will help you to communicate efficiently and with clarity!