Improve the vocabulary of your email subject line with “The Hamster Revolution” – Susan Weiner Investment Writing

Increasing the power of your email subject lines is the best way for most people to increase the effectiveness of their emails. It’s a focus of my email presentations.

In this post I share subject line tips from The hamster revolution: stop information overload: reclaim your life! by Mike Song, Vicki Halsey and Tim Burress. Some of their suggestions may be especially helpful for team members who email each other regularly.

Start email subject lines with these keywords

The hamster revolution suggests starting your email subject lines with words that define their category. “These categories provide context and quick understanding for your reader,” the authors say.

Here are the category words recommended by the authors:

1. Action
2. Confirmed
3. Delivery
4. Info
5. Request

1. Action and 5. Request

The authors don’t say when to use “Action” instead of “Request.” I see the two as overlapping. Each word could start a subject line that reads “help George create a plan.” In my opinion, you can drop ‘Action’ in favor of ‘Request’, which is number 5 on their list.

2. Confirmed

“Confirmed” can precede the details of an appointment or agreement. For example: “Confirmed: October 15, meeting at 3:00 PM.”

3. Delivery

The meaning of “delivery” in the subject line of an email is not immediately clear. For this reason, it is best suited for use with members of your team after you have trained them in its meaning.

Here’s how Hamster revolution defines it:

Delivery is used when you respond to a specific request. It’s your way of saying, “I’ll deliver exactly what you asked for.”

4. Info

To me, ‘Info’ indicates that an email simply provides information; it requires no answer. As I wait for that information, I quickly realize that the sender has met my needs. On the other hand, I may be able to archive the email without reading it. That saves time.

I’m more likely to use FYI than ‘Info’, but either is fine.

Useful abbreviations

Abbreviations can help teams communicate more efficiently. When I led an investment communications team at an asset manager, we used “EOM.” As I discussed in “Put it in your subject line EOM,” EOM appears at the end of the subject line and is an abbreviation for “end of message.” This means you don’t need to open the email as the entire message appears in the subject line.

The hamster revolution suggests two more subject line abbreviations:

• NRN for “no answer needed”
• NTN for “no thanks needed”

I imagine both abbreviations save time for teams. However, NTN can come across as a bit off-putting, like saying, “You should really thank me, but I’m letting you get away without doing it.”

Best for team emails

These subject line tips will be most powerful when you use them with your team members, especially after you train them on how to use them.

When communicating with clients, you may prefer to skip category words in favor of other powerful words. For example, if customers are waiting for information about the XYZ Fund, the subject line “XYZ Fund info” will convey your message more efficiently than “Info: XYZ Fund.” This is because readers focus more on the first words of your email subject lines.

Stay away from abbreviations like EOM and NRN with customers unless you know they understand them. You will confuse them.

Revelation: If you click on the Amazon link in this post and then purchase something, I will receive a small commission. I only link to books where I find some value for the readers of my blog.

Remark: This post originally appeared in 2015, but remains relevant.