0: Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson, you'll learn how to write

4: effective subject lines, so people actually open the emails you send them,

10: because that is what you want, right? Why do we send email? Usually we send

14: email because we want someone to know something, or we want someone to do

18: something. And they can only do that and get the information you send if they

23: open it. So, this lesson will show you how to write the subject lines that help

28: your emails get opened. Now, of course, when you write to your family or

33: friends, they're going to open your email because they love you, they like

36: you, and they want to hear from you. But what happens in more businesslike

40: situations or more formal situations? There, you have a lot of competition. If

46: your email inbox is like most people's today, you're probably getting — I don't

51: know — 60 to 100 emails a day. Now, if you're a manager, they're getting about

58: 300 to 200 to 300 emails a day, and high-level executives are getting 500 to

66: 700 emails a day. So, if you're trying to get through, if you're trying to get

71: a job, if you're trying to make an application or a proposal, and you want

76: your email to be open — you need to get attention, you need to grab their

81: attention, when there's so much competition in that inbox. Right? So, in

87: this lesson, I'm going to show you an easy way to set up your subject line, so

93: that it can get the attention that you want. All right? Now, before we go any

98: further, let me just make sure that you know what I mean by a "subject line".

103: So, when we write an email, there are three parts to it. Right? There's the

109: "To", so what are you going to put there? You're going to put the name of

113: the person or the email address of the person that you're sending the email to;

117: that's the recipient. Then there's the subject line — the little, short summary

125: of what you're going to write about. That's called the "subject line" — it

128: tells the person what you're writing about, or why you're writing. Okay? And

133: last is your actual message. All right? So, there are three parts. So, in this

137: lesson, we're focusing just on this, because this is the only thing that is

142: seen on mobile devices, or also in your inbox. Right? And based on that, you

148: decide whether you should open it or not. All right.

152: Now, if you weren't sure what to write, or if you're thinking very casually, or

158: you just really didn't understand that it was so important to write an

161: effective subject line, you might have written or seen subject lines like this,

166: which are actually pretty useless in the business situations or business context.

171: Okay? For example: "Hi" or "Hello", "Good morning, how are you?" That

180: doesn't tell us anything. Right? Doesn't say anything about why you're writing,

184: or "Re" with nothing written after it. "Re" is actually short for "Regarding" —

190: you're supposed to put something there. If you don't put anything there, then it

195: doesn't say anything. "Ref" is short for "Referring to" or "Reference" something.

201: Again, if you have nothing there, doesn't mean anything. Some people

205: write: "Dear Fred". Well, if you're writing to Fred Jones, then Fred knows

210: that you're writing him; you don't need to repeat that in the subject line;

214: doesn't tell him anything. Or you say: "From Mary". But if you're writing and

220: your name is Mary, your name is already there; you don't need to repeat that

223: either. Or some people just don't know what to write, so they don't write

228: anything. So, automatically, it just says: "No Subject" and that's not going

233: to help you at all. What will happen if you write email like this in a business

237: context? It's very likely that your email will either be deleted or ignored,

244: most often; or just lost in that sea of emails that keep coming into our inboxes

250: and flooding our inboxes every day. And also, most important, it will stay

255: unopened and unread, and whatever you wanted to communicate didn't happen. So,

260: now, I'm going to show you what to do to make sure or to increase your chances of

266: your email messages being opened. SIS Principle

269: So, here's a simple system you can follow to write more effective subject

273: lines — I like to call it the "SIS Principle". Okay? Why "SIS"? Because

279: it's should be Short, Informative, and Specific — "SIS". Now, that doesn't mean

287: you write three subject lines, but you think through it this way, in order to

292: come up with the last one. Let's go through some examples, so you

295: understand. Okay? So, first, short: "What's the key message? What's the key

301: word, here? What's it all about?" It's a meeting, let's say. Okay? Then make it

307: informative: "Give them some more information about the meeting. Which

311: meeting? Where? What?" June Seventh Meeting. Okay? Now, you've made it

316: informative. All right? Next, make it specific: "What about that meeting? Why

321: are you writing about the June seventh meeting?" Tell them: "Cancelled" — then

327: put a colon — "June Seventh Meeting". Now, even if somebody's really in a

333: hurry, you will have conveyed a very important message to them in your very

339: effective subject line. Okay? Because you said so much. You see how this is so

345: much better than where we started? But even this is so much better than just

350: saying: "Hi", or "Good Morning", or "Dear John". All right? So, let's look

355: at some more examples like that. Okay? And try to think this way, so that we

359: come up with the best one here. Short, informative, specific. So, let's say you

366: ordered something from Amazon, but when it got to you... you ordered a glass

369: bowl, and when it got to you, it was broken. All right? So, you have to write

374: to ask for a refund. So, short: What's it about? Your order. Informative:

382: Amazon Order Number 625. Okay? You're giving a little more detail, there. And,

387: now, specific: What about it? What about that order? Refund: Amazon Order 625.

395: Now, when Amazon receives that, they're going to know which department to send

398: it to, for the refund. Okay? And that's also more effective, because they can

403: find your email more easily because you've said why you've written, you've

408: given the order number, and it's much more... much easier for them to

413: reference it, and to find it, and to search for it, if necessary. All right,

418: let's look at this situation. This is a... let's say, in a university, you

424: want to meet your professor. Okay? Because you want to discuss something to

427: do with your thesis. So, you could start off with a basic, short message:

432: "Appointment". Then informative: "Requesting Appointment", which means

438: asking for an appointment. And, then, specific: "Requesting Appointment to

444: Discuss Thesis". Okay. Now, you might have noticed that, here, I wrote the

450: word "Appointment". Okay? But, here, I said: "Appt". Now, why is it important

456: to use these abbreviations? Because when I say "short", I mean really short.

464: Today, a lot of people are reading their email... emails on mobile devices. So,

471: what happens? You have very little space; very few words that you can use

475: to convey this information. Right? It's basically, on mobile devices, about

481: three to five words — that's it — that shows up or 25 to 30 characters.

487: "Characters" mean specific letters, plus the spaces. Okay? Those are

493: "characters". And if it's in a regular inbox, or on your computer, you might

497: see five or seven words, or about 50 characters, so you really want to keep

502: it short. All right? So, whenever you can, use a conventional abbreviation; it

507: will help. All right? Let's look at some more examples. More examples

510: All right, so let's pretend you're applying for a job. Now, in that

514: situation — first, before you apply this principle, you should read very clearly

520: and carefully whatever has been written in the job advertisement, and... because

525: very often, they tell you what to write in the subject line, so they can find

531: the people who have applied very easily. All right? So, in that case, please make

536: sure to read the entire advertisement, and write exactly what they tell you to

542: write in the subject line. Okay? But if they don't tell you, then you can follow

548: the SIS principle to help you to write an effective subject line. So, again,

553: SIS stands for what? Short, Informative, and Specific. So, let's say you're

558: writing to apply for a job, so start with the word "Job", in terms of your

562: thinking, then "Teaching Job", and then "French Teaching Job Number 52". Okay?

571: All right? So, again, you've been very specific. Even if the person looks at

575: it, they know exactly: "All right, this is for the French teaching position",

578: and which one: "Number 52". Okay? That's the way to do it. All right. Now, let's

584: suppose again, another business scenario regarding a conference. Okay? But that's

589: the basic subject: "Conference" — short. Get a little more informative: Which

594: conference? "The Marketing Conference". And, then, why are you writing about the

599: marketing conference? What do you want to tell somebody or what do you want to

601: ask somebody? So, then get specific. You could say, for example: "Confirming

607: Attendance: Marketing Conference". Now, you see that I abbreviated the word

613: "Marketing" and I abbreviated the word "Conference", because, again, you want

617: to keep it as short as possible. Or let's suppose you wanted to ask somebody

622: if they are going to attend it, so you could say something, like: "Attending

626: Marketing Conference?" That's okay, too. All right? That's usually for a

632: colleague or somebody that we know pretty well, then you can be a little

636: bit more informal and just ask the question like that. Okay?

640: Now, here's another scenario where you're sending in your resume for a

643: position that maybe wasn't advertised, but you want them to have your resume or

648: your CV. So, you could start with the idea: "Resume", then get a little more

655: information into it: "Receptionist Resume" — that's the position:

660: Reception... Receptionist — that you're looking for, and then: "Receptionist

664: Resume: and John Grant". Now, you're asking me: "But you told me not to put

672: my name because they know my name." Yes. In general, it's true — don't write your

677: name. But when you're sending in your resume, I strongly recommend that you do

682: put your name, so it can be found, so it stands out, so people see your name, so

687: people remember your name very clearly — next to this subject. Okay? So, in

693: that particular case, do put that. Next, I'm giving you lots of vocabulary that

698: you can use for these kind of subject lines. So, here are some verbs and some Vocabulary for subject lines

704: nouns that you can use, and that will save you time when you're trying to

708: write that very effective subject line. Okay? Here we go. "Cancelled",

715: "postponed". What does "postponed" mean? Delayed. Okay? So, suppose there was a

720: meeting, and now the time has changed from three o'clock to five o'clock, or

724: from Monday to Thursday, then you could write: "Postponed". And, again, with any

729: of these verbs, you could put a colon right after it, and then the

733: information; the specific information. "Confirmed", "booked", which means the

739: same as reserved. Okay? "Shipped", which means the same as sent. "Delivered"

746: means your package arrived. "Requested" means you're asking for something.

753: "Rescheduled" means the timing of something changed. All right? And

758: "approved" means somebody gave their okay. All right? Here are some nouns

763: that you might find useful when you're writing professional or business email:

768: "Arrival", "interview", "introduction". Very often, today in business, we're

775: introducing one person that we know to someone else that we know, who we think

780: would be helpful for them to get to know each other for business reasons, or for

784: some other reason, so we introduce them. So, you can write "Introduction", you

789: can put a colon, and you can put the name of the people or the person.

795: "Referral". Again, sometimes you're referring somebody or recommending

798: somebody for a position or for a job. "Follow-up". It's a very good idea,

805: after your interview, for example, to write a short email to say: "Thank you",

811: and you could say: "Follow-up Interview, January 20th", or something like that.

815: Okay? Just a little thank you, a little follow-up, so they remember you. Okay?

820: And that can score you some good points. All right? "Inquiry" — in case you're

825: asking information about something, or "proposal". Okay? In case you're making

830: a proposal to a company regarding something. All right? So, those are some

837: vocabulary words that will help you. More email subject tips

838: And besides that, let's just go over a few more points so that you can really

843: zero-in and write the best subject lines possible. So, sometimes you'll see that

848: people write: "Important" or "Urgent". Right? Now, of course, when it is

853: important or urgent, then use it; but don't abuse it. Don't use it all the

859: time, because after some time, nobody will pay attention if you write:

864: "Important" or "Urgent". Okay? So, only use these words when something is really

868: important or urgent. All right. Next, do not write in all caps or all capital

875: letters. So, I wrote: "No all caps", because when you write in all capital

880: letters, then it's like you're shouting at that person; it's too much. Okay? So,

885: just don't do that. Even if it's important or urgent, very rarely, they

891: will write "important" in all caps. Okay? But that's the most, then. Next,

897: what happens if you are replying to someone? Okay? Because you say: "Yeah,

901: Rebecca, sometimes I'm writing a letter, but sometimes; lots of times I'm

904: replying." Right? Sure. So, what happens then? Then you just hit "Reply", and

909: whatever subject line that person wrote to you is now going to continue with a

915: "Re" before it. So, let's say that person wrote: "Proposal". Okay? He

921: didn't watch this lesson, so he doesn't know how to write a really good subject

924: line; you do. But suppose, initially, he said: "Proposal", when you reply, it

929: will say: "Re" — dot, dot, which is colon — "Proposal". And it'll keep going

934: like that every time, and it'll say: "Re, Re, Re, Re". After a while, what

938: are you going to do? Sometimes there are seventeen messages from that one subject

943: line. Is that effective anymore? Not really. So, what should you do? Well,

948: you can do one of two things. If the subject you're talking about is still

952: the same, then you can keep that subject line. Okay? So, everybody can find the

958: email related to that subject. But once the subject starts to change away from

963: "Proposal", and you start talking about the marketing conference or some other

967: subject, then change it. Change the subject line, so that, later, you and

972: that other person can find the email related to the real subject you're now

977: discussing, and not to the original subject that you started off discussing.

981: Okay? So, that's kind of the rule you can follow. All right.

984: Now, when should you write your subject line? Should you write it before you

988: write the email, or should you write it after? There are advantages to both.

993: Usually, I recommend that it's helpful for you to write it before because it

997: helps you to focus on the content of your email. But after you finish the

1001: email, just make sure to go back and check that the subject line is still

1005: about what you wrote because, sometimes when we start writing, we write more

1009: than we had planned to write. So if there's more, then maybe you want to go

1013: back and modify, or slightly change your subject line to match the content of

1018: your email. All right. And last, remember, again, to keep it short,

1023: informative, and specific — all right? — so that you can get that job, get that

1029: customer, and get that next opportunity and make the most of it. Okay? Now, if

1036: you really want to master this process of writing effective subject lines, go

1040: to our website at www.engvid.com. There, you'll find a quiz on this subject. Of

1047: course, you'll also find about 1,000 other lessons on all kinds of subjects

1053: that have to do with English, so you can look around there as well. And subscribe

1057: to my YouTube channel for lots of other useful messages and lessons in English

1064: that will help you to learn English faster and more effectively. Okay?

1068: Thanks very much for watching. I know you care, and I know you're going to

1072: make a big difference in your English. Bye for now.