Email thread is one of the email management practices that assist you in getting the conversation flow in place. When you have an organization or business that uses email communication, email cluttering is a common scenario. This leads to using email threads to make your inbox more organized.
The statistics show that an estimated 392.5 billion emails will be received and sent daily by 2026. So, this huge number of emails sent and received leads to inbox cluttering over time.
However, there are some drawbacks to using email threads often. You may find it difficult to search for specific replies within the thread, or the thread may get stretched too long, which is annoying.
So, let’s find out the email thread’s best practices to determine the right use of it.
Table of contents
- What is an email thread?
- Email thread pros & cons
- Enable email threads in different clients
- Best practices of email thread
- FAQs
- Wrap Up
What is an email thread?
An email thread is a sequence or email chain that contains replies in chronological order. All the emails in this group indicate a specific topic that starts with the conversation. Here, emails don’t show individually but show with a group or thread that contains a series of conversations.
The image shows an email string gmail conversation packed within 2 to 3 emails, and the rest of the emails are within the email chain that also belongs to this conversation.
Although Gmail supports group sorting or threading emails, there are email clients who do not support this feature. With no implementation of threading, you will receive emails separately, and this will ultimately lead to an email disaster in your inbox with a long email trail.
So, use an email client that supports email threading, such as Apple iPhone, Gmail, and Outlook. These email clients are widely used. You can get an idea of the most used email clients list here from the statistics.
Email thread: Pros and Cons
The email thread or email chain is the source of replied messages. To maintain a clean inbox, you need to know which way you can utilize these to manage your email inbox. Find out in the later section.
Email thread pros
The assistance of email threads saves you time when searching through an email in a specific conversation. Threading emails in a conversation also declutters your inbox and helps you track the emails more conveniently. All the conversation email threads contain only one subject line, while it would look messy with the subject line in each email if there’s no message thread. It leads to communicating more appropriately to the messages.
Email thread cons
There are some disadvantages of email threads as well. The main disadvantage of threading emails is the long queue of emails. This long queue might bother you at first sight. Another disadvantage is that some irrelevant messages might appear in the threads, which can disarray the inbox.
Enable group emails or email threads in different client
Some email clients don’t support email threading, or you can enable it if it’s disabled. Here are some of the popular email clients and how to enable threading in them.
How to enable group emails in Gmail by thread
You can easily enable Gmail threads in one-on-one email sending. Although Gmail, by default, enables the thread of emails, you can still enable or disable it if you prefer.
1. Sign in to your Gmail account and click the Gear icon (⚙) on the top right. Click on See all settings.
2. Now, in the General tab, scroll down and find the Gmail Conversation view. Click on Conversation view on. This will enable email threading.
How to enable group emails in Outlook by thread
Sign in to your Outlook account and click the Gear icon (⚙) on the top right. Then click on Message Organization→Show email grouped by conversation.
How to enable group emails in Apple Mail by thread
Sign in to Apple Mail and Click on View from the top bar. Find Organize by conversation and click to tick or untick.
How to enable group emails or threads on iPhone iOS Device
Go to Apple Mail and open the Mail setting on the Mail app on your iPhone. Scroll down to the Threading section and tap the Organize by Thread to turn it On or Off the thread organizing and also tap the Complete Threads to turn it On or off.
Email thread best practices
Email communication gets easier when you don’t have an abundance of emails to reply to. When replying to a specific email consistently, it becomes a long message thread.
If there are two or more people involved, this will be considered a back-and-forth email, and keeping track of the responders will be difficult.
So, here are some of the best practices in the email thread you need to know. Check out!
Precise subject line
The first and foremost, to maintain proper email etiquette. The subject line should be precise, and to the point the email is all about. This will ensure the recipient comprehends what the email intends to say.
Otherwise, confusion arises about the email and leads to questioning or keeping it unopened by the recipient.
Pro-Tip
If you find it hard to explain the email subject line, you can use the preheader text to explain what the email is about.
Don’t send too many emails
There is a chance that you need to send several emails at a time. It stretches the conversation over time, and your inbox looks messy with no email threading option enabled. Sending too many emails may annoy the recipient and, ultimately, keep an incomplete conversation on what the email is about.
Pro-Tip
Always keep the conversation brief and don’t get diverted from the email topic.
Add Cc & Bcc when needed
When there are several recipients involved, and you need to add them to inform or hide their identity, use the Cc or Bcc options. However, try to avoid Cc or Bcc as it may create confusion among the recipients. When a conversation keeps going on, and Cc or Bcc joins in, it creates confusion in the email thread.
Pro-Tip
Add Cc when it needs to, and they need to be in the email conversation and avoid adding Bcc to an email thread. Remember, you are one of the active senders here. The duty of an active sender of specific discussion keeps the group on track.
Avoid short responses
Another reason your email conversation thread gets too long is using short responses. Responses like Good, Thank you, and All right are suitable for chat apps or business communication apps like Slack. Sending short responses in an email conversation makes the thread unnecessarily long and takes up the recipient’s inbox space. So, avoid short responses all the time.
Pro-Tip
If you need to respond in a short manner, stick to the email topic, mention something relevant to the previous conversation, and use email sign-offs at the end.
Notice the reply and reply all
When replying to an email, make sure you respond to the person by Reply only. If there are multiple participants with Cc or Bcc and you need to reply to a specific person, use Reply only. Use the Reply all when you need to respond to all the participants in the email.
Pro-Tip
Reply all will send a message to every participant with Cc or Bcc. If your email address is Bcc’ed and you Reply all, your email will be exposed to all the recipients.
Decide whether to respond or not
If you are CC’ed in the email thread but not directly involved in the main conversation, avoid adding unnecessary responses. Doing so can extend the email thread and lead to off-topic discussions.
Pro-Tip
Respond only if you need to and send emails to the active participant or whom you are communicating with.
Use conventional form for responding
Use the conventional form of communication for responding. This will ensure the email message maintains a professional and formal tone. You should maintain official and business communication using the conventional form of talking.
Pro-Tip
Do not use any unconventional form of language, such as an informal way of expressing yourself or using irrelevant emoticons in the email body.
Stick to a specific topic
If you have been asked questions that are out of topic, it might prolong the email conversation. Moreover, it might drag on another topic that is unrelated to your current conversation. So, stick to the single topic as much as you can. If you need to discuss something out of topic, open a new email string.
Pro-tip
Notice the responder on what they reply, and evade the out-of-topic conversation or open a new message thread. This way, your email thread doesn’t get long or messy.
Craft emails with your conscience
Write emails to the point and clearly introduce your intent in the email body, subject line, and preheader. This will maintain email etiquette and relieve you of extended email conversations in the thread.
Pro-Tip
Write an email in short form, summarize the complex points, and proofread it at the end to see if there’s anything you need to fix.
Communicate over the phone for a detailed discussion
You won’t keep the conversation on with your recipient with endless emails. If you think you need to come up with a detailed discussion, plan for a meeting over the phone or video call. This will eventually relieve you from the long email threading.
FAQs
Is it correct to say email thread?
Ans: Email thread is more common, and the appropriate way to address the series of emails or a whole email conversation. So, It is correct.
How to add someone to an email chain?
Ans: You can add someone by clicking Reply or Reply all. Then, edit the TO, Cc, or Bcc field to add someone to the conversation and mention ‘Adding ABC’ in the email. In the case of Bcc, you don’t need to mention it.
Which is correct, the email thread or the email trail?
Ans: Email thread and email trail both refer to the similar things, but using thread is mostly used in current conversations and trail is used in the previously happened email conversation.
What is another word for an email thread?
Ans: Another word for email thread is email chain, email conversation, or email series. Moreover, you can tell it text thread as well, as it contains email text messages.
How do I email a thread of emails?
Ans: To email a thread of emails, use the Forward option. Click Forward all. Add the recipients to the email and click Send.
How to forward an entire email thread?
Ans: To forward an entire email thread, use the Forward option and click Forward all. Add the email address to the TO field and click Send.
When should you forward instead of replying to an email?
Ans: You want to send email in private, if the recipient is omitted and you let the active conversation know that you didn’t include one.
Sending an email to the wrong person can result in which of the following?
Ans: The sensitive information such as contact address, email address, or financial information may get exposed to the wrong person.
Which option should you use to respond to every single person included in an email?
Ans: Use Reply all to send responses to every single email address. Make sure, the reply is brief and on point.
What does the reply to all email function do?
Ans: Reply to all functions; send email to every recipient included in the email conversation.
When you get an email, what you should do?
Ans: When you receive an email, you should do the following as quickly as possible-
- Respond to the email when you need to reply back.
- If the email won’t have anything to reply to, tell them you have got their email.
- If it’s urgent and takes only 2 minutes to reply, go for it.
How to forward just one email in a chain?
Ans: Open the specific email in the email thread, find the Forward option, and Send.
How does the 3-x-3 writing process help people avoid wasting time when creating messages?
Ans: This process involves planning, writing, and revising to prevent mail conversations from going off-topic. It also ensures a straight-up approach to providing accurate and the right message.
What are the differences between an email chain and a thread?
Ans: The email chain revolves around a series of emails that are not related to a single topic, and the email thread refers to a series of emails that are linked to a single topic. That’s where email chain vs thread explains.
Wrap Up
Email thread is an invaluable option when you want to sort your inbox. Without email threading, your inbox can become cluttered, making it difficult to find the right email. On the other hand,some people may prefer to disable email threading and keep emails separate instead. It’s a matter of personal preference.
Our comprehensive discussion about email thread best practices will assist you in nurturing the structure of email personalization. Also, finding the best email marketing tool and following email compliance are necessary.
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