When Someone Important Emails You With No Subject Line

Alison Leiby remembers feeling her heart beat harder when she saw the email without a subject line appear on her phone.

It was from Anna Wintour, longtime editor of American Vogue.

As Leiby tapped on the message and waited for it to load, she felt a bolt of anxiety and thought, “Oh, God. What is about to happen?”

To her relief, Wintour’s two-sentence message offered congratulations on a one-woman, off-Broadway show Leiby created and starred in. Wintour had been in the audience on opening night in May 2022, Leiby told Business Insider.

While she didn’t need to worry about the contents of the message, Leiby nevertheless found it unnerving to receive an email sans subject line — especially from the doyen of fashion.

“In a professional context, it’s genuinely terrifying because the door is open for it to be anything,” said Leiby, a comedian whose writing credits include the TV series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

It’s been reported that Wintour, who recently said she would give up her role as editor in chief of the American fashion glossy to devote more time to other responsibilities at the magazine and its parent company, sometimes sends emails without subject lines.

Despite Leiby’s initial anxiety about the message, she later posted a screenshot of the email on social media, describing it as “the best email of my life.”

A representative for Vogue didn’t respond to a request for comment from BI about the message to Leiby or Wintour’s email practices.

While leaving the subject line blank might work for some leaders —especially busy ones — workplace observers told BI that it’s often a good idea to include one in business communications.

Picking the right subject line

Kathleen Schmidt, a publishing consultant in New York City, forces herself to add a subject line to most client emails she sends, even though she “hates” having to summarize a message with a title.

“They’re just impossible to come up with sometimes,” Schmidt told BI.

So, for less formal communications with colleagues, she’ll often omit them. Schmidt sometimes does the same with friends or her husband — a practice that Schmidt said “drives him nuts.”

“It’s from me. What do you think it’s going to say? Like, ‘We won a million dollars?'” Schmidt said.

Thinking about your audience

Barring a life-changing financial windfall, including a subject line for work communications is often beneficial because it can help people suss out what’s most pressing, Lizzie Post, great-great-granddaughter of etiquette authority Emily Post and coauthor of the book “Emily Post’s Business Etiquette,” told BI.

Those keywords can help people categorize a message and provide insights into its significance, she said.

“It’s really important, I think, for the vast majority of us,” Post said. “But I’m also a Vogue devotee. I will not go against the queen.”

Kate Walker, a human resources consultant and executive coach in California, offered a similar assessment. Even though the summaries can be annoying, they have a purpose, Walker told BI.

“When I’m writing a subject line, I need to think about my audience,” she said. “We’re competing for people’s time.”

Leiby, the comedian, said that working as a performer and writer means she’s grown accustomed to getting rejection emails. Even seeing an email from someone she’d interviewed with for a job can be nerve-racking, Leiby said.

Yet, when a message arrives without a subject, “your heart stops for a minute,” she said.

“You’re like, ‘Oh, God, is this about to change my life in a good way or a bad way?'” Leiby said.