Last week's column had as much to do about the use of headlines and subject lines as it did the actual topic. Several of you sent me follow up notes from which I gleaned there are some definite, strongly held opinions out there about that topic. It sure makes sense when you figure that the typical office worker gets around 150 messages per day; for many that can be up to 40% of their work week.

I believe that a headline or a subject line should be a statement that offers the reader of glimpse into a better future. I'll bet many of you feel that way too, but you may not recognize the importance for you to be good at writing them. It doesn't matter if you communicate to thousands in a newsletter/blog like I do each week or not. If you think about how many emails you compose each week, your audience is huge! I'll bet you notice, at least subconsciously, and maybe even appreciate well written subject lines as you sort through your own sea of emails every day. So maybe it makes sense for you to be seen as someone to pay attention to, someone that is trustworthy, someone who has something important to communicate. So, would you consider taking some time to learn how to write great headlines? Do you care enough about the reputation that you have with those you communicate with via e-mail? Would you prefer to be looked at as someone on point and knowledgeable, or someone who wastes time by being long-winded or confusing? Trust me, you do get judged. If you think about how you scan your mailbox you'll notice that like most people, you care more about the sender than the message.

When you think about your subject line, picture yourself rapidly scrolling through your list of e-mails. What would you want to see? You will stop and read the ones that do a good job at getting the message across or you can more quickly mark or sort them to be dealt with at another time. Remember, what you want to do is convey the main point of your e-mail or the idea that you want the reader to take away from your e-mail. Be as specific as possible. As an example, if your message happens to be time sensitive, you might want to include the date in the subject line. It's also perfectly acceptable to not put anything in the body if you can get your message across in just a subject line. Now of course that doesn't mean you get to use several sentences in the subject line!

While it is certainly not my favorite, USA Today was the first publication of its kind to essentially be entirely focused on creating fabulous headlines so that you get a snapshot of major stories. Maybe it'll help if when you sit down to create a subject line, you envision yourself as a highly paid headline writer. Depending upon whose attention you are trying to get to in your office, it's not too much to say you might need to use a little seduction.

Here's a couple of examples. Which ones grab your attention?

 

    Instead of writing "Profit report", to which the potential reader

    might yawn and say yeah I'll look at that later, say "20% profit

    expected for 2nd QTR."

 

    Or how about instead of "Sales report", "Sales this week
    were insightful."

So hopefully I've sparked your interest in giving some focus to your subject lines. If your subject line is vague or even boring, you run the risk of having missed a great opportunity to accurately inform or persuade your reader. And your message may end up in that mail folder known as Delete or its sister, To Read Later. Either way it's not a good plan.

Come join our discussion on our blog, or I welcome your feedback through email.