What 4 billion internal emails reveal about capturing employee attention in the inbox.
Despite the rise in new means of communication at work — from Slack and Zoom to project management platforms — most employees still rely on email as their primary source for sending and receiving messages. In fact, data reveals it’s still the most effective channel used by internal communicators.
Having a main channel of communication offers many benefits, but it’s not without drawbacks. One of the biggest problems: Too many messages competing for the recipient’s attention.
Below are five data-backed best practices for internal communicators eager to craft emails that cut through the noise and get noticed. These best practices are derived from PoliteMail’s 2025 Benchmark Report, which analyzed over 4 billion emails sent to 12 million global employees.
Best practice No.1: Write short, straightforward subject lines
An email subject line either captures someone’s attention or doesn’t. Depending on the result, readers tend to open the message or ignore it.
When writing a subject line, keep it short and compelling. Opt for simplicity over creativity. Since mobile devices and modern preview panes limit the length of subject lines, most people will only see the first 42 characters — or five to seven words — so make them count. Emails with shorter subject lines containing intriguing keywords that fit within the preview window receive 7% more attention.
The best subject lines raise curiosity, convey urgency, and are easy to understand. Avoid imaginative yet vague statements, such as “Thought we’d never ask? Think again!” Rather, be direct. Go with, “Engagement survey due today: In office or WFH?” A clear and concise subject line previews what’s to come in the email.
Subject line examples
If you want to elicit a response by a specific date, state that upfront. Include days or months in the subject line, along with words such as “reminder,” “update,” “action,” “new” or “now.”
Here are a few examples:
- “Action Required: Register by Friday”
- “Due Now: Submit Budgets by June 15”
- “Reminder: Survey Due — Your Feedback Matters!”
- “Update: Enrollment Opens Nov. 1”
Don’t forget the preview text
The preheader text is your second chance to grab attention, appearing in Outlook’s Preview Pane and other inbox views. Without editing it, the preheader will display the first few lines of text in your email, which may be confusing or not convey what the message is about. Editing it allows you to expand on the subject line, clarify the email’s purpose, and entice readers to open the message. A thoughtful or creative preheader can make the difference between an email that’s ignored and one that’s read, helping your communications achieve greater reach and engagement.
Best practice No.2: Send to smaller segments and more targeted lists
Sometimes a message meant for everyone ends up speaking to no one.
Since a big part of successful communication involves knowing your audience, consider creating distinct groups of employees who share similar characteristics. This could mean segmenting recipients by age, location, department or seniority level. Depending on the size and needs of your organization, some individuals may belong to more than one group.
Data reveals that emails sent to well-targeted audiences of 5,000 or fewer individuals usually lead to higher-than-average interaction rates.
With well-defined audiences at your disposal, you can tailor email content accordingly, boosting reader engagement rates while reducing the sense of email overload among the workforce.
How to segment an employee email list
A good place to start this process is by asking yourself what your company needs most. What kinds of projects will your organization be working on in the coming year? Which employees tend to have the lowest response rates to your emails? The answers should help inform what kinds of audiences you should create.
Next, partner with colleagues on your HR or IT team to make sure every employee email address in your directory is accurate and up to date. They might even have existing lists of employees based on certain traits, giving you a head start on forming your target audiences.
Best practice No.3: Send from a recognized and respected email address
Let’s face it: An email from the boss carries more weight than an email from an external vendor you’ve never heard of before.
Sending a company-wide email from a name and address everyone knows ensures credibility. It increases the likelihood that recipients will open it and read it.
Internal messaging is most effective when it comes from two or three trusted senders. Indeed, employees tend to give 8% more attention to emails from individuals (typically executives) who are not the primary communicators. Sending from a generic mailbox produced the lowest engagement rates. Regardless of who wrote them, messages coming from managers and leaders tend to attract more eyeballs.
What do employees pay attention to?
Everyone is busy. Workers have more emails in their inbox than they have minutes to read them. Even if they somehow come across a free hour to chip away at the pile of messages, they may not have the energy to respond.
Due to people’s limited time and attention, they generally ask themselves two questions when navigating emails in their inbox: “Who is it from?” and “What is it about?”
If internal communicators constantly rely on a single email address to broadcast a variety of messages of varying importance, employees will learn to tune out these messages to help make it through their day.
When we examine message length in relation to sending frequency, a clear pattern emerges: shorter emails consistently outperform longer ones, particularly as frequency increases. Sending concise messages more often is more effective than sending longer content less frequently. Readership stays high even for emails sent multiple times per day, as long as each message remains brief.
Best practice No.4: Send earlier in the week
Keeping your audience in mind, it’s better to send an email near the start of the work week when employees are fresh and rested, as opposed to the end when they’re tired and daydreaming about the weekend.
Benchmarking your data can reveal the exact days and times you’re likely to see the highest open and read rates amongst your specific audience. Statistics can also help identify specific behavior patterns across different segments.
PoliteMail data shows that Mondays and Tuesdays tend to generate the highest levels of attention, readership, and clicks for emails. These rates, however, decline throughout the day and throughout the week. In fact, 39% of your audience will spot the email within an hour, 50% within two hours, and the majority, about 87%, will have seen it within 24 hours. Given these email patterns, the ideal time to send a follow-up message would be two or three days after the initial send.
How to schedule an email
One way to take advantage of this situation is to schedule emails to arrive in employees’ inboxes at the most opportune times.
To schedule an email in Outlook, for example, open a new email and write your message. Instead of clicking the send button, click the downward-pointing arrow next to it for the option to schedule a send. Set your desired date and time. The email will stay in your outbox until the scheduled time, when Outlook will send it automatically.
Best practice No.5: Use more words and fewer banners in the preview window
Placing large company logos and banners at the top of an internal email may seem like a good plan on paper, but it’s usually a waste of precious space.
Employees are already familiar with the company’s brand. They shouldn’t feel like they’re on the receiving end of a marketing campaign.
Instead, internal communicators should begin emails with the key messages and action items. This allows the main purpose of the email to appear in a recipient’s preview pane, increasing the chances of it getting opened.
Indeed, data shows text outperforms images in an email’s preview window by 8% when it comes to measuring attention rates.
What is the preview pane?
An email preview pane is the section of an email in your inbox that shows a snippet of the message’s content without fully opening it. The area typically appears to the right or below other important information, such as the sender and subject line.
Engage your workforce with email
Email may not be the newest workplace communication tool, but it remains the most reliable channel for keeping employees informed and engaged.
Beyond going into more detail about the tips outlined above, PoliteMail’s Best Practices Guide offers more advice and guidance for internal communicators looking to make the most of their email strategy.
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