Asian Efficiency suggests a handful of subject line prefixes your team can adopt to help email be more productive:
FYI: For Your Information. It replies that no reply is needed, and is usually a short message.
Example: “FYI Free Donuts in the Kitchen”.
URGENT: Used for when something is really urgent. Don’t use it if something is not urgent. And if something is truly, truly urgent, it’s best to follow up with a call or IM as well.
Example: “URGENT: Final reminder to file quarterly team reports”
EOM: End of Message. This is usually used when the entire email is in the subject line.
Example: Elevator is broken today, please use stairs EOM
NRN: No Reply Needed. Indicates that the receiver doesn’t need to reply. There is likely a body to the message but no response is needed.
Example: “Jennifer wants you to call her back NRN”
NFA: No Further Action. Same as combination of FYI and NRN. For your notification only, no action or reply needed.
Example: “Mr. Tanaka will be in at 11am not 10am NFA”
Writing useful emails goes beyond a simple productivity tip—communicating quickly and efficiently is the key to staying nimble. Sometimes that means getting up and talking face-to-face. Other times, it means putting a little more thought into email before hitting “send.”
This article was originally published on 99u.com.
Sean Blanda is the managing editor of 99u.com.
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