I don’t know why so many people can’t figure out an email. Most businesses rely on email; our accounts payable outsourcing services certainly do. Even our personal lives revolve around the need to constantly check our email. You need an active Gmail account to buy Ugg boots on Amazon. Everyone uses the internet to send their funny pictures to email.
The problem is that most people use it extremely incorrectly. Wrong emailers, like MLM salespeople, are damn near everywhere these days. Bad email skills are so pervasive that we almost need a course on email skills. Or at the very least, one of those electronic wristbands that shock people for making bad email mistakes just before they use their email sign-in.
When you screw up email, you ruin people’s lives. And you alienate yourself from the herd. You become the person who takes forever, thought of as the one who can’t properly participate in the email. Suddenly, you are receiving registered mail letters again because the group no longer trusts sending you emails. Imagine having the check the mail daily again. What an absurd inconvenience that would be.
But you can control your destiny here. You can save yourself by not participating in crappy email mistakes. The formula is simple; just know a few solid rules, and you should be golden.
Don’t Reply All ALL THE TIME
I’m not sure why this is still an issue for some people, but it is. I suppose people still don’t know how to use an Apple TV competently, and that’s been around for a long time, so I shouldn’t be surprised. When you reply to all to an email, unless you know everyone wants to partake in an email chain, you destroy lives. And you become someone who is looked down upon, much like an Amway salesperson or a Scientologist. And you can not be that person ever again. People will see you decades later working at some children’s hospital, using a cane to get around, and think, “Oh, there’s the a#$clown who tragically replied all to an email about the new coke machine in the break room is broken.”
You’re pretty much spoiled meat at that point; you can never be in a group setting again without people worrying if you are going to expose them to dangerous toxins and intestinal damage.
Stop Copying the World
Learn to use BCC. That means Blind Carbon Copy, at least I think that’s what it means. More or less, it means you are not being an email jackass. When you disclose 40 people on a copy, you leave open the opportunity for a massive reply-all festival.
Additionally, you give away people’s contact information. Imagine poor Rebecca, who works as a sales representative for company A; she’s been trying to avoid Bob’s slimy come-ons for two years. And now Bob, whom you go through on a regular basis, has her email. What do you think Bob’s going to do with his newfound discovery? Probably find Rebecca on Facebook. After that? Rebecca either is eternally annoyed by Bob, or Bob eventually turns Rebecca into a lampshade.
Keep people’s information private by using the BCC button when emailing a group. Sure, if you know everyone on the list, it is fine. But if you are sending out new PR, don’t ruin it with a tragic copy situation.
Don’t Write Novels
Hemmingway is fantastic, just not as an email. If you want to write long strings of words, do it in a notebook. Then show up at your local coffee shop for spoken word or poetry night. Wear a fedora. But don’t do it over email. People’s time is money. And for those individuals who are broke and don’t fall into the ‘time is money category,’ you make their poverty 20 times worse by exposing them to long emails.
Long emails are narcissistic. Usually, the writer of the email is just trying to sound smart. Most people won’t even read these emails, so it’s really impossible to know whether you made anyone suddenly feel that you’re smart. What is possible to know is that people will hate you on the same level they hate finding raisins inside of cinnamon rolls. It is a horrible surprise and ruins their day. Don’t ruin days.
If you can’t help but write long emails, write them as a draft and then go back to select all the trivial content and delete it. This will be everything but two sentences. If you are left with 3 sentences, go back and delete one more sentence. This should be the safest possible precaution.
Ultimately, email isn’t difficult. If you needed to read this, you should already be concerned for your livelihood. I can’t imagine the obstacles your days must typically encounter that challenge you, such as opening doors, pooping, and drinking fluids. All the same, I sure hope this helps.
The Art Of The Email Subject Line
Email is back with a fury for communication and email marketing. And email is extra juiced now because it remembers when we all called her dead. Remember when we declared that email would be replaced by instant messaging services such as Skype? We did that, don’t deny it, it only makes things that much worse.
Not only does it email back, but it is once again huge. In fact, it is the best that it has ever been. Most email providers, such as Gmail and Hotmail, now filter out spam and promotions, so people are more likely to actually read their offers again. For a while, people set up filters, unsubscribed from the list, and completely avoided offers and promotions. However, here’s the thing: many offers and promotions are exactly what customers want. Now they have the ability to get them without being wildly inconvenienced by a cluttered inbox.
If you run a small business, like our invoice mailing services, it is hard to imagine that there isn’t a need for you to collect customer emails and email them product updates and offers. However, knowing that and doing it are just the start of things. Because in the end, if no one opens your email, no one reads your email, and your email is as good as dead. A good subject line is the lifeline of your mailer, so it is a best practice to take just a little extra time to make it good.
So how do we “make it good?”
First, avoid general mailer subjects. Let’s play. Imagine that Check Issuing wants to send out a weekly mailer featuring our top blog posts. The mailer has three articles in it (4 ways to prevent check fraud, save money using check issuing, and personalize your checks).
Many companies would use a generic headline, “Check Issuing’s Weekly Newsletter.”
Look, that’s OK. No, that pretty much sucks. Sure, some people might read it, but what if instead the email subject were “Learn To Prevent Check Fraud Right Now.”
Boom! Now people are excited and curious! You hit them with a lead into a subject they most likely care about (I mean, it is our mailer list, people probably care about check fraud and how to prevent it). That second subject line is original; the former subject line was super generic.
Shorter is better. Whenever possible, keep it short (it isn’t always possible, but you get the idea). Most people open emails on their mobile devices, which truncates your subject line. Always send a test mailer to your mobile phone and have a look!
Frontload the action. You don’t want the action items at the end. Let’s play; which of these looks more appealing?
“Reduced Prices if you act today!”
Or
“If you act today, we are offering reduced prices.”
The point of your email was “reduced prices.” You want to hook them with that immediately.
Lastly, test, test, and then test again! No one site or blog post is going to give you the end-all answer. Test your subjects and gauge what gets your client or customer base to open them.
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Last updated: October 2025