Get to the point with subject-only emails

We’re often compelled to write an email by filling out both the subject line and the body. Within the body, we might even have a salutation, a closing, and a signature. If you have a quick message to send, skip the body, and shorten your message to just the subject line:

Shorter is better

A standard email telling everyone “I’m going on vacation” might look like this:

That’s a lot of work just to say “I’m going to be gone for two weeks”. Instead, just put the main point in the subject line followed by “[END]” and leave the body blank:

Why? It saves time

At first, it seems like a subject-line email doesn’t save you all that much time. It’s just 15 seconds or so less than writing a full email. But seconds add up to a lot in a year. Imagine all the quick emails you send annually, and you’ll realize you could be spending that time doing something productive or fun. More importantly, you’re saving the recipient’s time by not compelling them to take the extra step to open the email to read more.