Every day, I receive about 400 business-related emails. In my personal accounts, there are probably another 150 or so emails. If I read all these emails, do you think there would be any time left during the day to do other things? Hardly.

While my number of daily emails might be a bit higher than what you receive, the fact of the matter is all of us receive more emails now than we did in the past.

One way of quickly deciding which emails are important enough to deserve immediate attention and which ones can wait, is by the subject listed.

This post, however, isn’t actually about receiving emails, it’s about sending them. When you send an email, what you put in the “Subject” field can often determine how quickly you get a response (or if you get one at all).

As you write new emails, help the recipient by typing an appropriate subject. For instance, if you’re sending an email that’s not all that important, you might type something like “No rush on this – when you get a chance.” A subject like this will really help the person on the receiving end organize his or her handling of email. On the other hand, typing “Please read and reply ASAP” should alert the recipient that this email is important. (Of course, don’t forget the boy who cried wolf. If you always use a subject indicating that the email is important when it’s really not, you might get ignored when it is.)

Try this starting today. Make your email subjects help the person on the other end!