Your subject line largely determines whether your readers open your email. If the subject line doesn’t grab them, you can forget about your email being read.
The average businessperson receives over 121 emails a day. Some people receive several hundred emails daily. Dealing with email takes up to 11 hours a week for most workers — and much longer for others.
Given the cascade of communication your reader is receiving, why should she respond to yours?
If your email is immediately relevant to an issue that she considers important, she will probably respond promptly.
However, the email tsunami renders readers numb about how to respond to most emails. So here’s the secret: Don’t wait for your reader to figure out what you want him to do. That might never happen.
Here are three subject-line elements that will trigger a response from reluctant readers.
1. Tell the reader what to do.
· Please Respond
· Response Required
· Immediate Action Required
· Please Approve
· Please Confirm
If you want your reader to respond, tell him what action to take. Clients tell me that by writing Please Respond or Action Required at the beginning of a subject line, their response rates soar. In your subject line, write phrases like:
2. Tell the reader when you need it.
People respond to deadlines. When everything seems urgent, how do people decide whom to respond to first? Often, the message with a credible deadline moves to the top of the pile.
Think of your own experience. If you receive a subject line that says Documents Needed, will you rush to send the required files? But if the subject line says Documents Needed by Tuesday EOB, you are more likely to respond by Tuesday.
So, your subject line might say:
· Friday Approval Needed: Purchase of New Scanner
· Respond by 5:00: Audit Report Review
· Please Confirm Now: Lunch Today at 1:00?
3. Tell the reader why it matters to them.
Adding a “hot button” spin to the subject line will generate more responses. How will your reader benefit from opening your email? What will it cost him to ignore you? Don’t be manipulative or salesy when you touch hot buttons. For example, you wouldn’t write Act Now While Supplies Last!, because that sounds like spam. But you could write Send Docs Today to Avoid Late Fee.
If you met a person and exchanged email addresses, remind them briefly in the subject line that you are a person they want to know.
Turbocharging the subject line
Imagine that you have a customer who has orally agreed to a deal. You have sent them the contract. Days creep by and they have not signed. If they don’t sign by Tuesday, you will no longer be able to honor the project deadlines in the contract. What do you do? Compare these subject lines.
· Following Up on Contract
· Checking In on Contract
Yawn. You can keep waiting.
When that doesn’t work, you could try:
· Signed Contract Needed by Tuesday EOB
That might work. If you want to turn on the turbo, you would write:
· Action Required: Signed Contract Needed by Tues EOB to Avoid Project Delay
· Avoid Project Delay: Sign and Return Contract by Tues EOB
By asking your readers to act, you trigger the deeply ingrained impulse to do what we’re told. By adding a deadline, you increase urgency. And by showing them what’s in it for them, you add motivation.
Try this approach and watch the responses roll in.
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A longer version of this article originally appeared on Inc.com.
To read Elizabeth Danziger’s most recent articles on Inc.com:
Four Ways to Manage the Tone of Your Email
Craft Your Email Opening for Your Audience
Take me to your leader! Communication woes drain the lifeblood from an organization. Connect me with your decision-makers and see how Worktalk can transform communication in your world. Contact me at lizd@worktalk.com or 310.396.8303.
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