What's in a name?

I'd like to talk about the importance of naming conventions for emails. I can talk about this now because I've finished being mad at myself for making a silly mistake at work. You know the old adage"to assume makes an ass out of you and me." Well that's exactly what I did in this situation. I foolishly assumed that an email that was named Enquiry Welcome email 2016 entry was only being sent to enquirers who were interested in beginning their studies in 2016. However, upon closer inspection of the filter attached to said email, I discovered that the email has, in fact, been going out to enquirers who are  interested in 2016 and 2017 entry.

So I hold my hand up and say that I should have checked the filter thoroughly to make sure it was going out to the correct recipients. But equally a lot of time could have been saved and a lot of frantic unapproving of emails and drafting of apologies, if the correct naming convention had been followed in the email title.

So not only are naming conventions useful when searching through a long list of emails, you can also use them to make sure you are crystal clear who the email is aimed at in order to differentiate it from similar emails.

In short email titles should include WHO, WHAT and WHEN. Who the email is aimed at, what the email is about, when it is being sent out.

What else should you include when choosing a title for your emails?

• Keep names short, but meaningful. - To easily identify which emails are for different customer segments, use acronyms or abbreviations at the front of your titles, e.g. UG, PGT, ENQ (for enquirers), APP (for applicants).
• Avoid unnecessary repetition and redundancy in file names and file paths. - If an email is intended for enquirers, you can use the acronyms above at the front of your title and then there's no need to mention it elsewhere in the title.
• If using a date in the email title always state the date ‘back to front’, and use four digit years, two digit months and two digit days: YYYYMMDD or YYYYMM or YYYY or YYYY-YYYY. - I would say it is not necessary to go as far as a four digit year but this is personal preference. It can also be useful to mention the period your email is dealing with, e.g. 2016 entry, August, 21 day follow up
• Avoid using common words such as ‘draft’ or ‘letter’ in the title, unless doing so will make it easier to retrieve the record. - In addition to this, there is no need to include that it is an email when it will be found in a list of emails.
• Order the elements in a title in the most appropriate way to retrieve the record. - Put the most important information about the email at the beginning by using the acronyms and abbreviations in the first point.
• The file names of records relating to recurring events should include the date and a description of the event. - As an example, emails relating to open days should include which open day they refer to as there are bound to be multiple events throughout the year or across different customer segments. Also if the type of email is a common element of your communications plan like a welcome email or monthly email, it is useful to include any subject or theme variation, e.g. May Monthly (Accommodation), Media Studies Welcome.

The above is based on work done by the University of Edinburgh on file naming conventions.

The most important thing to remember is that having a naming convention is important not only to make your life easier but also to help others so it's important to come up with your own rules in conjunction  with others and stick to it.

Something I must try harder to do in future.

That's all for now.

Liz