How can that be? Simply put, most recipients use the subject line to decide whether to open or delete an e-mail. A good subject line can get your e-mail opened, but a bad subject line can get you flagged as spam. Unfortunately, a bad subject line can kill a campaign.
Subject lines are the most important aspect of your e-mail marketing effort. Forget about the eye-catching layout, beautifully crafted words, or the out-of-this-world promotion you’re offering. If customers don’t open the e-mail, all that glitz, glam and hoopla is for nothing.
Writing a great subject line is no small challenge. Just how do you provoke a recipient, in 50 characters or less, to open your e-mail? Ask yourself, “what’s so great about my offer that would make me open this e-mail?”
For instance, would you open an e-mail that contains the subject lines:
“Free Vacation”
“Getaway Sweepstakes”
“Newsletter”
“This is not spam”
The subject line makes it obvious the e-mail is spam. To get your e-mail read, follow these tried-and-true tips for writing e-mail subject lines:
1. Keep it short and sweet, 50 characters or less, with spaces. That is typically the maximum which most e-mail client’s subject boxes display. Be sure that an important word isn’t going to be cut off if it does run more then 50 characters.
2. Be specific. Vague subject lines are a waste of prime real estate. An example of this would be “eBiz Insider July Newsletter.” This tells the reader absolutely nothing about what they can expect to read inside. Instead, invoke the reader’s interest: “eBiz Insider: Tips for Writing Powerful Subject Lines.”
3. Don’t ask for too much in the subject line. The goal is to get people intrigued. If you give them too much information or seem too aggressive you risk turning them off. Terms such as ‘register’ or ‘buy now’ simply don’t work.
4. Personalized subject lines. Show your customer you know them by personalizing the subject line based on the user’s product or content preferences, interests, past purchases, web visits or links clicked.
5. Create a sense of urgency. Set a deadline: “Order by midnight tonight;” “Last day to ensure Valentine’s Day delivery.”
6. Don’t mislead. Don’t stretch the truth in the subject line or promise more than the e-mail can deliver.
7. Be consistent. Continue the conversation with your customers. Be sure once you’ve started the open dialogue not to suddenly stop or miss large spans of time.
8. Free is not always bad. You can use “free” in a subject line. Just don’t make “free” the first word, use it in conjunction with an exclamation point, or spell it in all caps. People still respond to “free” and it will show in your open rates.
9. Think before you type. Take time to consider the most important aspect of your e-mail before you write the subject line. Write several versions and weigh the pros and cons of each. Then run them by a colleague to ensure they are as witty and compelling as you think they are.
10. Write the subject line last. You don’t write the conclusion before you spell out the entire plot, do you? Once you’ve written the content decide on the most compelling topic and highlight it.
11. Watch out for spam filters. Once you’ve chosen your best two or three subject lines run then through a spam filter to identity spam-like words or phrases.
12. Test, test and test. When you have chosen the two strongest, yet different style subject lines, test them. Split your list in half and use a different subject line for each. Your responses will show which style subject line works best for your clientele.
You will be most successful if you write subject lines that tell the reader exactly how they are going to save money or save time by opening and reading your e-mail. Just remember, when writing the subject line put yourself in the client’s shoes. If that subject line showed up in your inbox today, would you be compelled to open? eBiz
50 characters are all that stands between you and a successful e-mail campaign.
By Michelle Johnson
michellej@ebizinsider.com
