On a regular basis those who I communicate with comment on how I use the Subject: field to help keep e-mail conversations clear and more organized for both sides. I use the Subject: field to help set the tone and to let the recipient know what to expect.
I thought I would share with you how I modify the Subject: field when replying to or concerning ongoing conversations. These tips help keep me and those I communicate with on track with an added benefit of allowing all involved to organize their e-mails better when viewed within their e-mail programs.
Before the established Subject:, I type in the following:
FOLLOW UP:
FYI:
QUESTION:
UPDATE:
Or when I reply to an inquiry I use: REPLY:. Then, as the conversation goes on, I change that to reflect REPLY [2], REPLY [3], etc. Doing this helps both sides keep the conversation in order when organizing e-mails by the Subject: in their inbox.
You get the idea… By adding to the Subject: field as noted above, I let the other side know basically why I am replying to that specific e-mail and what I am looking for. Compared to other cryptic e-mailers, using the Subject: field in this manner will have you appear as a more professional and efficient communicator. And that is always good for business!
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Judith,
Thank you so much for sharing this. I am especially anal when it comes to updating my subject line at work. I actually wrote up a guide for my team to use the same subject line conventions as me. It also helps for me to set up rules in Outlook to organize certain action items into folders and thus make me much more efficient.
I sure hope some of my coworkers read this!
Thanks for your help
Hey, Eve:
Good to hear from you again and thank you for your kind words! Like you I rely on the Subject: field to help me keep organized by using filters too. I also determine what e-mails I am going to address first when I download the hundreds of e-mails I have to weed through on a daily basis.
And I always take the liberty of changing the Subject: field for those e-mailers that do not take the time to input a Subject: that applies to the e-mail at hand. Use an old e-mail to send me a message about something entirely different; and I change it. Use a one word Subject: such as “help”, “site”, “e-mail”, “call” — and there too I’ll change it on my reply to be more reflective of what is being discussed. This is the only way I can remain organized and manage the volume of e-mails I receive.
Those who don’t use the Subject: field properly are simply being lazy. While it may seem easier for them to ignore the importance of properly using the Subject: field, it makes communicating with them difficult and inefficient. And, those are two words you don’t want applied to you when trying to form long term successful business partnerships!