Don’t do an Anna Wintour with your subject line

Comedian Alison Leiby recently received an email from the famously frosty US Vogue editor, Anna Wintour.

It had no subject line. Just: From: Anna Wintour.

The message itself was a lovely congratulatory note.

But Alison described it as ‘genuinely terrifying.’

Without any context, her brain instantly spiralled into ‘What have I done wrong?’ territory.

(I’d have done the same.  I’ve never met Anna Wintour, but I have watched The Devil Wears Prada… 😱)

Because that’s the power of a subject line.

It can set the tone. Signal importance. Invite curiosity. Or in this case, create total and utter panic.

Most of us aren’t Anna Wintour – we can’t afford to skip the subject line or phone it in.

But more and more, our readers decide whether to open our emails based on our subject lines alone. They scan their inboxes, silently asking:

Is this email likely to be:

a) Interesting

b) Useful

c) Urgent (for me, not the sender)?'

If the answer’s no, they move on to the next burning building.

So remember to give your subject line some love, instead of treating it like an afterthought. Write it last, after your email.

And think about the positive - or negative - emotion it might convey.

Anna Wintour probably doesn’t care.  But you just might.