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Topic: Subject Lines: so important yet so hard
| Author | Message |
| JCH | Posted – 1/26/2006 7:33:13 PM | show profile | email poster What is a good subject line for networking emails so that people will actually open them?! I am assuming my emails are getting deleted because people don't recognize my name and think it's spam. (Then again it could just be me, but I don't want to think that....) - Is ''hi'' or ''hello'' too generic? - If you're going on a friend's tip, do you say something like ''TKTK referred me''? |
| leftcoaster | Posted – 1/26/2006 7:48:20 PM | show profile If somebody I didn't know sent me an e-mail with Hi or Hello in the subject line, I would immediately delete it (if my spam filter hadn't already). In fact, a large portion of my spam has that in its subject line. When I write to somebody based on another person's reference, (did it just the other day, in fact), I say ''TK suggested I contact you.'' If I hadn't been referred by somebody we know in common, I don't think I'd send an e-mail to someone without a specific purpose in mind, like an article pitch. But whatever I wanted from him/her, I would identify that in the subject line so he knows what to expect on opening the e-mail. Anything else I would consider as ''bait and switch.'' |
| r|s | Posted – 1/26/2006 9:45:19 PM | show profile I'm a fan of ''Subject (referred by Joe Smith)''. Someone once sent me an email this way and well, it worked so I stole it =]. And, as further testament, I once sent a networking email with the subject ''Communications Consultant'' and had no response. A week later, my contact called up the person and asked if she'd heard from me. She said no. I then sent the exact same email with the subject line ''Communications Consultant (Referred by XYZ)'' and bam! within four minutes she replied. Hope that helps ... good luck! |
| Lotus665 | Posted – 1/27/2006 11:31:12 AM | show profile Also true for queries Editors all seem to want queries via email these days, and the question is what is the subject line? ''QUERY'' or ''Article Idea''? Someone once told me just put the headline of your proposed piece in the subject line but that seems like it might be taken for spam. What about something like Article Query: {topic or headline here}? What do YOU usually do, folks? (I'm from the snail mail era and hate email querying.) |
| leftcoaster | Posted – 1/27/2006 12:37:38 PM | show profile If I've never worked with the editor, I put: Query for TK Section: Topic If they already know me, I put: Article Pitch for TK Section: Topic I'm not sure why I change it, except I think the word ''pitch'' sounds so sales-y that I feel it makes me look pushy when I don't know the person. (I'm sure the editors wouldn't care, but I still do it.) I put the suggested section in the subject line so a) they know why I'm sending it to that person in particular and b) in case they happen to be currently looking for things for that section, they might open it faster. I laughed at your comment about snail mail vs. e-mail, Lotus. I'm the exact opposite. When I read writer's guidelines that say they prefer mailed pitches and clips, that's a huge disincentive for me to pitch to them. That's partly because I'm so disorganized that I'm never quite sure where I've left my envelope of stamps... |
