E-MAIL – Non-Threatening Spam Subject Lines

Junk e-mail is a nuisance, but it’s easy to spot, so just delete it. Right? Sure, we all know enough not to open messages titled “Make $8,000 to $30,000 a week from home” or “Better Sex!” But some spammers find ways to get around even the most hard-boiled e-mail-using skeptics.

Some subject heads are arresting not for their brazenness but for their subtlety. It’s harder to bypass the ambiguous “Hello” than “Win a Free Motorola Pager Today!” One editor here recounts a message he received recently that combined two sly techniques: vagueness and the use of “Re:” making the message look like a response to something he’d sent. When he opened “Re: Payment,” it said, “How to meet hot young girls.”

“Not what I expected at all,” he says.

In a totally nonscientific poll, CIO writers and editors reported that the following subject heads are the hardest to resist?at least the first time.

“Hi!”

“The information you requested”

“Order Confirmation”

“My new e-mail address” (from a sender named Sarah?who doesn’t know a Sarah?)

“Congratulations!”

A blank subject line

“Remember me?”

“Sorry it took me so long”

Standouts for the most discreditable message titles (besides offers to enhance body parts the recipients didn’t have) included:

“Investigate Anyone or Anything Now!”

“Make Money While You SLEEP!”

“I LOVE YOU AND I DON’T WANT YOU TO DIE!”

“GET RID OF YOUR DEBT TODAY!”

“Do you like Japanese Schoolgirls?”

“Stop snoring today”

“BE ORDAINED NOW!”

One editor offers a useful tip: Avoid all messages with exclamation points; however, he admits, “Last week I did open one that promised to ’Take 10-20 years off your age!’ As it turned out, they were merely offering to make me look 10 to 20 years younger! What a fraud!”

For more on e-mail management, see “How to Tame the E-Mail Beast”.