PAASTUB Email Process-Step 4: Subjects
BLUF: Your email subject is the gateway to more effective email communications. Grab the reader’s attention by making message content clear from the subject line alone. Brevity, humor, and creative punctuation act like magnets to pull attention to your message in an inbox.The seven PAASTUB steps are:
Step 1: Purpose is Clear: a clear purpose (outcome in mind) is necessary for effective email
Step 2: Action: make it easy for readers to learn what you want
Step 3: Addressees: keep the right people informed
(you are here) Step 4: Subject as Art: make the content clear from the subject alone [makes the message compelling, even better when you can add humor]
Step 5: Take Out the Trash: make the message easy to read quickly
Step 6: Ugly Remarks Edited: keep yourself and others out of trouble
Step 7: BLUF-ing: focus attention with a concise summary
This post describes step 4 of the PAASTUB (pronounced “paystub”) email process: Subjects. It includes:
the problem with thoughtless email addressing
managing “reply to all,” and
to Cc or not?
Step 4 of the PAASTUB process, Subjects, is to make the message content clear from the subject alone. An Email Ninja doesn’t send a meeting agenda with a boring, cryptic subject like “meeting” or “tomorrow.” An Email Ninja uses a brief, clear subject that immediately communicates the purpose of their message like “Agenda and brief notes for call 25 Sept 8”. In this post, you will learn how to frame the core idea of your emails into great subjects.
The average spam folder (or inbox if you lack a good filtering process) is filled with messages and subjects like this:
Ends Today:
50% off sale ends tomorrow
Don’t be left out! Sale starts NOW
Do X before its too late
(FINAL REMINDER)
[Action Required] …
Last Chance
Exclusive. Premium …
Subjects like these can start your adrenaline flowing even when you know they’re from marketers. I can only look in my spam folder so long before I start hyperventilating! Unless you’re the boss, your message has to compete in inboxes for receiver attention with a complicated mess of urgent-looking marketing, training, and funeral announcements. Emails with less interesting, non-urgent, or vague subjects like “meeting” get skipped, mentally filed in the “when I have time” category. The problem is, people almost never “have time.”
Why is your inbox filled with boring, vague email subjects (except for spam)? Bad email subject factor one is that users aren’t clear about what they are going to write when they begin a new email. If you don’t know where you want your email to take you, any old subject will do. Bad email subject factor two is that some people will pick the first thing that comes into their head because they are in a hurry to write the email and get to the next one. Bad email subject factor three is most people don’t realize how high-leverage a really good (with clarity, brevity, and focus) email subject is.
So how does an Email Ninja achieve clarity with brevity and focus in an email subject? By leveraging four key ideas:
Embrace the notion that people decide to open and read your email based on the subject alone.
Focus the subject on conveying the content of the message as clearly as possible as briefly as possible
Revisit the subject and compare it several times to what you should have written before hitting “send.”
An Email Ninja uses keywords, creative punctuation, and humor to make their subject stand out. These are incredibly useful for creating a brief subject that has clarity and focus. Some useful keywords (more are in the book as are tips for using them well) are:
Alert (big problem, read right away)
HOT (very important, better than URGENT because it is shorter, but don’t overuse)
Ouch (something gone wrong, unexpected or difficult). This is an example of mixing keywords with some humor.
Action (you want the recipient to do something based on the email). Always include a due date in the subject of an “action” email like “due 1-18: Action-provide comments on plan”.
Info (no action, recipients should open only they have time or interest)
Subject keywords, creative punctuation, and humor all contribute to getting positive attention for your emails that help you cut through the clutter in email inboxes. They just look more interesting. Keywords are repeatable, easily recognizable signs that telegraph the content of your email. Creative punctuation such as enclosing due dates in parentheses or using dashes to separate ideas is helpful for conveying rich meaning in just a few characters.
For more details about writing excellent email subjects and a full explanation of each of the seven steps, consider purchasing my book “How to: Become an Email Ninja,” $9.99 for the Kindle edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086XMJJ75. My next post on email will summarize Step 5 of the PAASTUB process: Take Out the Trash.
