First off and most important: Put something in subject line. Some email programs won't let you send without filling subject line in which just goes to show that even a machine thinks it's important.

So what do you put in subject line? This is question that makes you either effective or ineffective and also shows your professionalism and style.

If it's a new email ask yourself how you want to be perceived by reader when they get your email. I recently spoke to a woman who gets more emails than she wants and feels capable of handling. She's in email overload like a lot of us. She spoke at length about how ineffective many people are in using subject lines. She is brutal in deleting anything without a subject line, with a subject line she doesn't think applies to her or that seems like an ad. She scans down that subject line and gets busy deleting first thing.

It occurred to me that she may be missing some things that may be of value that she possibly needs to see etc. but with over a hundred emails coming in each day she feels risk is worth wasted time. This is a decision that she has made and works for her but if people would use subject lines more effectively she won't have to worry because emails with valuable information will state that in subject line. At least yours will after reading this article!

If you want busy people to read or reply you MUST put in a relevant subject line.