I have adopted an email technique that works well for short quick messages to colleagues I find myself sending fifty times a day. Quite simply, I put the entire message in the subject line, leaving the body blank.

Recipients can then assimilate the entire communication without clicking on the message. For people who leave their email up all day on a dedicated screen the messages roll in like IMs, making the only effort needed to read them a quick glance.

I apply the following thought process when sending subject only messages:

1) Will the message be short enough to display in its entirety?
2) Does this user already have my contact info? (send a normal message to new contacts so they have your full signature)
3) Will the user need to reply to you with detailed questions and/or responses?

Consider the following example of a typical short message:

Subject: Meeting
Body: I am double-booked this afternoon. Can we reschedule our 1PM meeting for tomorrow?

Subject only version:

Subject: Meeting - I am double-booked this afternoon. Can we reschedule our 1PM meeting for tomorrow? - Best, Nicholas

Don’t forget to end your message appropriately. Just because its all in the subject line doesn’t mean you can forget your manners.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 10:54 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.