Michelle Rafter posted a letter of introduction (LOI) from a writer who took an ego trip. Instead of an ego trip, I heard from an accountant who must be taking a trip to find blockhead clients. The email introduction implies she thinks writers don’t have business sense.

The email makes a bad first impression coming from a free email service provider using “free_lancer01″ in the address and “abc efg” in the display name. (Maybe the “D” key didn’t work.) Not only that, but she sent it to two others, one of which was someone I knew. Here’s the message with only one part redacted.

Hi Dear:

You are a freelance writer and you know it needs a lot of time to make accouting records and financial statement and at same you also need the accounting knowledge. So to help you i would like to offer my services as a freelance accountant for you.

I would like to introduce my self . I am [sender's name]. I am a proffessional accountant and studying for ACCA and CA degree. I have indepth experience in the field of accounting and auditing as I am working for a multinational audit firm. I have compiled many accounts.

You will just need to your data to me through this email and i will make accounting statements for you.

Please refer to others as well who need a virtual accountant.

Looking forward to a positive response from your side.

Best Regards.

The email ended there. She didn’t even sign her name. Sure, I’ll fork over my financing information. Obviously, she put a little effort into it because she knew I was a writer. (And so is the other recipient I knew.) That’s why I assume she thinks writers aren’t business savvy. It’s tempting to write back offering my writing services. but I’d rather not continue the conversation.

Not that free email services are bad. However, if you’re going to use it in business, at least, display your name and have a less generic ID. Back it up with a signature that reveals more information. I use Gmail more than meryl.net email because spam is less of a problem. I also include a signature that links to my websites and social media profiles.

Have you ever received an unusual email introduction? What was it like? (I’d love to see it, if you have it.) How would you introduce yourself to prospective clients?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Meryl Evans

When I bought a Flip camera in 2008, I also grabbed video editing software. Before buying the software, I researched for a good editor that wasn’t fancy or power-packed. Just enough to get the job done without spending much time with the user manual. With new software, I can usually dig right in. However, past experience with editing software involved more reading time than editing time. After talking to a few folks and reading reviews, I went with Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Version 8.

I installed Vegas and never used it. Eventually, I uninstalled it because it took up unneeded resources and space. I decided to do a little winter cleaning by identifying the largest files on the computer. Three HD videos made the list, so that prompted me reinstall the editing software.

It can’t open the .m2ts files. This 2008 software has “HD” on the box, but it couldn’t open these files. I went to the website to see if the company had a patch or upgrade so it could open these files. It turned out they no longer support that version of the software. How hard would it be to create a plug-in to import these HD files? A search of user forums yielded nothing. I guess not too many people are using version 8 or they have cameras that don’t produce .m2st files.

Having learned my lesson that I don’t make time for editing videos, I looked around for freeware and cheap converter to convert these HD files into one Vegas 8 could handle. Unfortunately, no freeware app can handle these big files. Actually, there was one and it failed. Besides, I wasn’t comfortable using it because there had been concerns about the app having malware. (While working on this, I came across 10 Free Apps for Working with Video, but none could solve this problem.)

The trial version of Sony Vegas 11 converted the three big videos into one. Windows Media Player (Scroll way down to MPEG-4 section for why) couldn’t play it. Two other players could. Whew. I’m out of the video editing business. Back to using the old digital camera for videos.

I understand software companies have to draw the line in how long they support older versions of software. Is it fair to stop supporting a three-year-old app? Maybe Sony would’ve had a fan in me if they had a solution other than upgrade to 11.

What’s your take on software and support?

And now for your weekly links …

Brain food …

• How to Read Virtual Body Language in Email. Some people still don’t know how to write emails and rub people the wrong way. Here are 10 virtual body language cues.
• 20 Ways to Live a More Simple Life. Always try to keep kids’ activities to a minimum and possessions few. For more ideas … 100 Ways to Live a Better Life.
• 5 Unusual questions that freelancers MUST ask their clients. A keeper. When I meet potential new clients, I always ask how they found me. These questions are for after you’ve landed the client.
• 10 Best Ways To Show Gratitude For Others. Gratitude … it’s not just for Thanksgiving.
• 30 Top Facebook Apps for Business. Save yourself time … try this list first.

For fun …

• Daily Infographic. Infographics are cool and provide neat insight. But really … most of them are not true infographics because they have a lot of content. Effective infographics let the pictures do the talking.
• 12 Cutest Finger Drawings. They do look like they have personalities.
• 10 websites that changed the world. Surprised I’m not familiar with most of them.
• 12 hilarious closed signs. Warning: PG-ish sign or two.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

I always look forward to seeing what the new design will be on the elementary school Field Day shirt every year. Some great, some average and some blah. At first, I thought this year’s “Field Day is good” was bland. I knew it was a play off “Life is good,” but it didn’t captivate me. However, since then, it grew on me. My eight-year-old didn’t get it. Then the next morning, the newspaper had the “life is good” line in the article about Trader Joe’s and I showed it to him. (Yes, Dallas and places around Texas are finally getting Trader Joe’s!!)

I still have two of my favorite Field Day shirts. A couple of years ago, I caught a shirt one of the P.E. coaches wore and loved it. Then, I looked at the year on it thinking it was before my kids’ time at the school and couldn’t believe it. I could’ve had that shirt. How did I miss it?

The neat thing about the Field Day shirts is they sell for $5. PTA always sells them for as little as possible making only pennies (rounding to nearest dollar) because they want to make it as affordable as possible — not a profit. Huzzah, PTA!

Brain food…

• How to Minimize Interruptions When You’re Working: One of the reasons I’ve been efficient in my entire professional career is because of my deafness. Because of that, I never get phone calls. I think that’s where many waste time. OK, so I make up for it in obsessively checking email. I’m REALLY trying to cut back.
• 38 Life Lessons I’ve Learned in 38 Years and 15 Life Lessons They Don’t Teach You in School: Imagine what a better place the world would be if many of us read these and follow them — bosses, employees, family.
• How Many Times a Day Should You Check Your Email: I’m awful. But I’ve had some days when I force myself to ease up. I close Thunderbird more often and instead just do a quick scan on the BlackBerry for urgent ones. In Gmail, I switch to Contacts so I keep Gmail open along with Chat.
• Using Quora to Boost a Freelancing Career: I tried to use it this week to look up some questions and it felt overwhelming. The best thing to do is have something very specific in mind when searching. It’s too big for generic.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 55 Hysterically Funny Smart Autocorrect Bombs: Warning — Lotsa cuss words and lotsa laughs.
• 10 Rejected Mother’s Day Gift Ideas: Smart move.
• The Anatomy of a Cupcake: Yum.
• 10 Most Amazing Flashmobs: Still looking to join one.
• Geek Zodiac v2.0: Me a samurai? Nahhh… Oh wait. Does this work like the Chinese New Year? You look at the previous year if you were born before the Chinese New Year? That would be astronaut. Eh… [Link: Bitrebels]

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

In coming home from a long doctor’s appointment, I decided to take the tollway for most of the way to get home faster. I rarely drive on the highway, so you’d think I’d be more alert about the exit. Yep, I missed it. I caught the sign for the exit, but thought I wanted the next one. And, of course, it was further than the usual distance to that exit taking me a bit out of my way.

Photo from sxc.hu user maavi

How did I miss it? I had too much on my mind with paying attention to cars, looking for exit signs and noticing all the construction I hadn’t seen before. I had too many filters in my mind getting in the way of the one filter I needed — the right exit.

A Filter Problem

I use Gmail more than meryl.net email. The meryl.net email has been around for years meaning 100 spam emails come in daily. The email app does a good job of diverting spam into its dump out of the way. Still, spam messages clutter email on the mobile device, which makes it harder to identify good emails. Gmail relies on all of its users in creating effective spam filters, so I rarely see spam in Gmail outside of the spam folder.

Some of my regular email newsletters stop appearing where they should. They ended up in the trash despite having their assigned labels, which should’ve filtered them to the label folder. Gmail, why are you throwing away my good email? I studied the “delete” filters to see if something confused Gmail like my multitasking on the road did to the point that I missed the exit. Having used Gmail since 2004, the list of filter felt like a mile long. (It’s still long after the clean up, but it’s more efficient and updated.)

Fixing Filters for Fitter Filtering

Time to take Gmail filters for spring cleaning. I remove every filter that deleted an email and clear many label filters. The only ones that remain — it’s still a bunch — are the ones most recently created. The nice thing about Gmail’s filters is that appear in the order they were created. So the top ones are old and go bye-bye.

When I unsubscribe to an email newsletter, I also delete the filter. But sometimes I forget. This cleaning helps clear those. I prepare myself for piles of emails showing up in the inbox after the filter wipe out. Anytime an email comes into the inbox, I either unsubscribe or create a new filter. It’s hard to let go of some email newsletters, but I tell myself that a cleaner email account is more important than subscribing to the email newsletter just in case I get around to reading it.

I’m paying attention to my actions when reading emails with several labels (email newsletters, for example). If I delete them every time, then I unsubscribe unless there’s a reason to keep them such as the rare coupon. If an organization sends too many emails, I see if they have another subscription option to get fewer emails or unsubscribe. (I don’t think any organization needs to send an email more than once a week aside from the Groupon types.)

Inbox, Spam and Domains

The only emails coming into the inbox are the quick ones that I read and delete in an instant from looking at the subject lines (Groupon is one). I also try to avoid creating filters with subject lines or @domain.com with no user name. For “@domain.com” filters, I limit those to clients from companies unlikely to have unrelated emails coming from their domain. For instance, if I had a contact at Apple, I wouldn’t create an “@apple.com” filter since it’s plausible I’d receive newsletters and notices from that domain. In this case, a filter with the contact’s complete email address works best.

I also bring back the spam folder. I had done away with it and told Gmail to send all spam to trash. But after the filter clean up, I want to check the spam folder for anything that slips through.

You can apply these steps to any email account with filters.

Results: The two email newsletters that kept landing in the trash stopped going there. I also have fewer emails coming in since I shed some of the email newsletters.

Next: Cutting down on checking email. I’ve been working on this habit all year and have improved a little. But I still check emails too often. The problem is that I need Gmail open most of the time so my husband can reach me through Google chat. I tried the chat window pop out, but it felt awkward. Even with the pop out, Gmail must stay open or else it closes the chat window.

Multitasking has its strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes when the brain or filter has too much going on, it can let something slip through. Choose your multitasking activities wisely. Sometimes it’s more efficient to focus on a single task than to do many. Or in Gmail’s case, clear the filter cobwebs so it can make better choices.

P.S. Instead of checking emails this morning, I wrote this blog post. Now let’s see if I can work for a couple of hours without checking email. (Oh, boy. Help!)

What tips do you have for managing emails more efficiently?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

Driving the "A" train to nowhere

I used to repeat the Columbus poem over and over to tease my social studies teacher in elementary school. Really, I didn’t know the rest of the poem. I thought the next line was “In 1493, he brought back something-something and tea.” But I couldn’t find anything like it.

Anyway, sometimes I wonder why we have a Columbus Day in the U.S. other than to give a day off to government works and the U.S. Postal Service. Heck, America isn’t called Columbica, is it? There’s a lot of controversy surrounding Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci.

My family went to Plano’s International Festival last weekend for the first time. (And I had been trying to get there for the past few years.) The neat event has performers, art, food and children’s activities from a variety of cultures. My sons took a greater interest in the Interurban Railroad Museum located next to the festival. And of all things to pick for a snack, they chose ice cream. Then again, ice cream was the cheapest option.

We actually plan to go to the Texas State Fair this year! I think the kids will enjoy it more especially with the auto show. My older son loves all things cars. I will report on this later. Keeping this short as my brain’s circuits are in slow mode today due to a bad night’s sleep. It happens.

Brain food…

• You’re Already Perfect: I love Zen Habits’ stuff. It digs deep and helps you change. While I may not have ears that hear, I know I have eyes that see and couldn’t imagine life without eyes and ears. I’m appreciating the little things about myself better than I used to. How about you?
• Missing Frank: This sad, but important post teaches the importance of depression screening. If you know someone that can’t “snap out of it,” please get help. If you don’t know how to help the person, ask someone for advice. Don’t let it go on. You’d be surprised how many amazing people you know that have depression.
• How to Backup Your Social Media Accounts: Facebook now has an export feature. Don’t fret if you can’t find it. It’s not available to everyone yet.
• How to Handle Difficult Client Situations: Eight possibilities. Eight solutions. [Link: Leslie A. Joy]

For fun because we’re allowed…

• The new mobile Twitter: So all pay phones will turn into Twitter phones? [Link: Diana Adams]
• If you do this in an email, I hate you: Another winner from The Oatmeal. Only thing I wonder about are the three social network links. Hmm… that’s my call to action. To connect at one of ‘em. [Link: DJ Waldow's What's In Your Email Signature?]
• 6 Things Your Body Does Everyday That Science Can’t Explain: (Yawn) I know why I am yawning more today. I didn’t sleep well last night.
• Favstar: Popular recent tweets.
• 200 New Species of Frogs, [ick], Mammals and More Discovered: Gold mine of a find for scientists.

Who is your favorite explorer? Why?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

Yesterday was my 20th wedding anniversary. Wow. Two decades of marriage. I’m very lucky to have Paul as a partner in life, parenting and silliness. Yes, I’m up for many more! I just hope he can handle me!

• What books do people proselytize about?
• 10 steps to get your e-mail inbox to zero every day [Link: Aliza Sherman]
• How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live: I watched #tonys on Twitter last Sunday and it was quite an experience different than what I am used to on Twitter.
• Social Networking Medial ROI Calculator

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 40 Fantastic Sand Sculptures
• How to Plan a Vacation Using Social Media: Note to self… remember this when I finally manage to plan one.
• Guess the Logo: Love these games.
• 8 Weird and Wacky Items Sold on Amazon.com

Due to skier’s thumb, I can’t type long notes, articles, or blog entries. I’ve used the opportunity to clean up my email box since it only involves the mouse (which I’ve become adept at with my left hand though I’m a lefty, I use the right hand for mousing business) and a finger or two instead of both hands.

I use filters to file emails from certain companies and email addresses into specific folders. I keep the inbox as empty as possible. It rarely reaches 10 emails after a review. You’ve probably read most of these tips at some place or another, but it never hurts to have a refresher.

Here’s a list of things to do to clean up email boxes with details following.

• Notice which newsletters you never read or always delete and take the following action:
  1. Unsubscribe.
  2. Change email options to help you receive fewer messages from the sender. Some companies have multiple options or let you control the frequency (daily, weekly, monthly) as well as individual vs. digest (all the individual emails combined into one daily digest).
  3. Create or edit the filter to file it away or delete it.
• Take instant action on emails that won’t take longer than five minutes. For example, someone asking for canned food donations? Get up, grab a few cans, put in bag, and put by door or inside car. As soon as that’s done, delete or file the email.
• Create a folder for things you like to read (newsletters), but they don’t require action or instant reading. That way, when you get a break or need a break, you just jump to the newsletter or reads folder and read away.
• Create a folder for current work. This helps me ensure I keep my inbox as clean as possible while keeping current work in an easy to find place. Once I finish the project or assignment, I file the email into its permanent folder.
• Create a folder for other email accounts. For example, I’m a big PTA volunteer and have PTA email addresses. Those all go into my PTA folder instead of my main inbox. When I take care of the PTA item, I file the email into the specific PTA folder (elementary school, high school, or city PTA) out of the main PTA folder. The main PTA folder acts like my inbox for PTA stuff.
• Create a folder for follow up. These items have no time constraints and low priority. Or you can treat the folder that you check once a week or else the emails will stay there for too long.

Sometimes we forget to change things up. For instance, I’d delete the same newsletters that came into my inbox daily. So I started paying attention to these deletions. As a result, I’ve either unsubscribed to the newsletter or change the filter to send it to the delete folder or other folder out of my way.

I don’t want to unsubscribe to all of them because some do still have gems. Either it may not be what I need on a daily basis or they send too many promotional emails between newsletters with valuable content.

Gmail handles most of my newsletter subscriptions. So I can always search if I need something. I rarely enter Gmail’s trash folder beyond searching for items. With my desktop email, I’d delete trashed emails a couple of times a week. It used to be every day. Gmail helped me curb that wasteful habit. I never delete trash in Gmail.

In essence, Gmail helped become less obsessive with email cleaning. I added Gmail into Thunderbird (my email client) as an account using IMAP. Gmail has instructions for doing this. The Gmail folders in Thunderbird reflect those in Gmail. I can create a new folder in Thunderbird for Gmail and it appears on Gmail, too.

I moved a lot of my Thunderbird filed emails into Gmail. Three reasons:

1. Access the messages from any computer, anywhere.
2. Better backup solution than my computer’s backup.
3. Keep local inbox lightweight as attachments go into Gmail or elsewhere.

I don’t file everything into Gmail because I like the faster and offline access to the emails on my computer. That’s a personal preference. I also moved many of my newsletter subscriptions from my desktop account to Gmail.

Only habit I haven’t broken is checking email less often. But email is my “phone” that I hear from school and elsewhere needing instant addressing (like to pick up my sick kid from school). What tips do you have for better email management?

I believe I’m a resourceful person. I try to find answers on my own through support pages, FAQ, research, search engines, and other resources.

But we can’t find everything we need. We may need to contact people who have the information or the knowledge stored in their brain cells or on the computer’s hard drive.

A Story… a Story…

I visited several large sites in need of reaching someone. They had no contact information whatsoever. At best, they’d have “info@”, “sales@”, or “support@.” I found an email address like this that worked for one of my contact needs.

It bounced.

… And it bounced the next day (just in case the server was hiccupping).

… … And it bounced again more times than Tigger.

So I went to the mother ship site and looked for a contact there. Hey, I was determined to serve my client well! Found a generic email address (info@) and within 30 minutes, I received a reply from the head executive along with two others!

The executive cc’d others and provided the contact’s name and email address. That person had the info I need. Another person asked where I had found the original email (the Tigger one) address as it wasn’t supposed to be a valid one. It was in a few press releases from this year as well as on a web page somewhere.

Why Didn’t You Figure out the Email Address?

It only took about a week to land the right contact. Oh sure, I know how to figure out email addresses and have done it many times. In this case, the only name I had was a big shot and I didn’t want to bug him.

I remember once emailing someone and received the response of “How did you get my email address? It wasn’t public knowledge and only insiders know it. You must work here.” Yikes.

Make It Easy to Reach You

Amazon is massive. Yet, I never had trouble contacting the company when needed. The company does a good job with its customer service emails. Other companies like T-Mobile have an awful script that sounds condescending, over-sugary, and provides more wasteful content than helpful.

No one should have to work hard to find out how to contact you. What if it’s a PR opportunity? Potential customer? You just never know.

Ensure people can find you with these in mind:

• Include Contact in your main or global navigation.
• List contact information on every page. What kind of information depends on your business and your customers. Local businesses probably should list the street address along with a link to an interactive map so people can figure out how to get there with minimal work. Bonus points for listing hours of operation. Smart retailers include a toll free number on the top of every web page and any place where it’s logical to have contact information.
• Consider your visitors’ contact preference. Some call. Some email. Some even fax. You may not use the method much, but unless you want to cut yourself off from potential business — be open to what the person contacting you wants.
• List an email address. You might have a form (like I do) to avoid spammers. Some forms, however, have too many fields and turn off the visitor.

No company is “too big” or “too much of a hot shot” for people to contact them. We’re not asking for the email addresses for the likes of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

One more bit of advice: Even if it takes time for you to find the answer to someone’s question or you can’t respond in full within a day or two, respond to the person and let them know you’re on the case. We should all apply this habit in every aspect of our lives.

A friend wanted to know the status of her order as many of us had received ours. She received no response in over four days. Yet, I received a reply within a day (my order was missing one thing).

Yes, technology compels us to expect responses within two days. We just have to make do and it only takes a moment to say, “Got your message. I’ll get back to you within a week or so.”

“Gaily bedight
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.”

– Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe

Businesses don’t have to journey long to find Eldorado of marketing. Most companies start right by establishing a Web site. However, some don’t make the most of having a Web site or build it without considering the requirements for building successful Web sites.

Some build Web sites more like elaborate brochures touting the company’s many qualities and competencies. A few companies, like Amazon.com, and retail giant L.L. Bean, have turned these online retail brochures into success stories. Many try to replicate this success with uneven results.

Web pages tend to require prospects to find them. Then, if the customers find them, they forget about it when they need something.

A few businesses counter these problems by complementing direct email offers with their Web sites. For example, a reader visits Amazon.com to look at the latest fiction releases. Later, the reader starts receiving emails Amazon announcing new releases of fiction, and some accompanied with a discount. These emails contain links taking the reader to the Web page.

Mining Internet for Prospects

Almost three-quarters of American adults are online with half of those having a high speed internet connection at home according to Pew Internet. They still use the Internet for two primary purposes, email (93 percent) and research to find information or driving directions (over 85 percent).

A JupiterResearch report indicates that over 40 percent of email users say that email compelled them to make at least one online or offline purchase. The report also emphasizes the importance of delivering relevant information in emails. Combine email marketing efforts with social networking to have the greatest impact. JupiterResearch also reports over half of business professionals with decision making power say that advertisers have the best chance of reaching them by internet and email.

A successful online marketing plan takes advantage of all online marketing tools including emails and social network sites. A newsletter should contain links to the company’s blogs, RSS feeds and social network identities and vice versa.

A Return Path study states that 85 percent of business people sign up for emails. Furthermore, marketers can reach them on the go as an Exact Target study in 2007 reports one-third of business professionals read emails on mobile devices on a regular basis. In 2007, Wall Street Journal writes that 81 percent of American executives subscribe to business-related email newsletters for product and business information.

What do all of these numbers say? Email and Internet are important marketing tools.

Compel Readers to Read the Newsletter

Business professionals get over 50 emails a day with plenty surpassing the 100 emails mark. When opening their email, they have three thoughts in mind:

• Which do I read?
• Which I save to read later?
• Which do I delete without opening?

Rule number one: send your newsletter to people who want it, so encourage readers to opt-in to your newsletter.

Rule number two: provide value in your newsletter so they continue subscribing, opening, reading, and acting on your emails.

Most marketers want to thump the company’s chest by talking about great new products or amazing services, touting recent awards, or announcing new hires or mergers. However, the better strategy focuses on the newsletter’s content.

Pull rather than to push with your content by offering articles that explore issues, open dialogue, and solve problems your readers face. Do you care about Company ABC blowing its horn? Americans receive too much email, so they trash anything smacking of a pitch.

Keep your newsletter in the “read and saved” by making sure your content meets the following criteria:

• Relevant: The content speaks to the customer’s interests and not your company’s.
• Anticipated: Distribute on a regular basis so people expect your newsletter to arrive around a specific time, but don’t publish so often they tire of hearing from you.
• Monitored: One of the best online marketing channels benefits is reporting. Monitor how readers are looking at your newsletter and alter it to conform to their interests.

Email newsletters with timely, interesting articles have a greater likelihood of readers forwarding them to others, which increases the number of readers with time. Everyone who reads the newsletter and decides to opt-in to a company’s turns into a qualified lead. Business to business newsletters remain an Eldorado in a Web 2.0 world.

As the Edgar Allan Poe poem ends with one modification…

Down the Valley of the Shadow,
“‘Ride, boldly ride,’
The marketer replied-
‘If you seek for Eldorado!’”

Yvonne Russell rustles up a great discussion about email subject lines. Though email has become a standard tool in our communications box, I still see subject lines (or lack thereof) that could easily send a person’s email into the spam or junk folder. So here’s a list of bad subject lines (or good if you don’t want the person to read the email):

1. [blank]: Many people scan their inbox by reviewing the subject lines. Seeing nothing in the subject line doesn’t make always them more curious. Instead, they skip it because they figure it’s not important or it’s spam. Sure, they might recognize the sender’s name, but they might not look in that column first.
2. Hi, Hey, Hello, How are you?: Spammy spammy spammy. Even a catch up email needs a better subject line. Capture the main subject of the email. If it’s small talk and catch up, then use “Catch up” or “Checking in.”
3. Today: But I might not see the email until tomorrow and then I’ll be confused. This applies to “tomorrow,” “Tuesday,” “Next week.”
4. [First line of message]: Some people start their email in the subject line and finish it in the first line of the email. It doesn’t work well because they still have to look at the body of the email. Put the main point of the email for later scanning. People save emails and scan them by looking at the subject line. Who wants to open every email until finding the right one?
5. [Name of newsletter or company]: Actually, it’s good to start a newsletter or company email with the name because many people set filters to send such emails into the right folders. Don’t stop there, though. Add the topic of the email after the name (you can filter by the first part) so if someone recalls an email covering ABC and wants to find it — it’ll be in the subject line.
6. FW: Re: [Old subject line]: After a couple of back and forths about one topic, an email conversation can easily take on a new direction. I’m guilty of this when I get absorbed in the discussion, but then I catch myself and change the subject line. I don’t think it’s necessary to write “Re: [New topic] Was [old topic].”
7. Check this out, I think you’ll like this or some variation: I had to break this habit. When I find a web site to share with someone, I would put this in. But now, it’s turned into a spammy line. Instead, put the topic of the resource.

Anything else? Add yours.