Email Subject Lines That Work

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Apart from your name, the subject line is the one line the recipient will scan to decide whether to open your email or delete it. So what is the objective of a subject line? According to email marketing expert, Mark Brownlow, the subject line’s objective is three-fold: recognition, interest and action.

Understand the importance of subject lines. Spend some time to frame your subject line be it for your e-newsletters, nurture emails or other marketing offers.

Here are some points to keep in mind to create recognition, interest and action from your subject line.

Keep It Short
According to email marketing company MailerMailer, which analyzed over 1.2 billion email subject lines, anything less than 15 characters enjoyed the highest open rate.

Source: MailerMailer

As a thumb rule, restrict your subject line to 50 characters or less. Next time try a snappy subject line with just 1-2 words. You might be surprised by the results.

What Words Should You Use?

1. Personalize the subject line (if your email tools enables personalization) whenever appropriate by saying “Hi Mike, SEO Resources Email Tool Update” instead of “Email Tool Update”. It can improve open rates by 22%, says Adestra B2B Subject Line Analysis Report.
2. Use company branding when appropriate. Send a webinar invite with your company name in the subject line like “SEO Resources Webinar on PPC Blues” instead of “Webinar on PPC Blues” to be instantly recognized.
3. Use descriptive words that clearly explain what’s inside. Don’t deceive. It’s illegal.
4. Hit a customer pain point. Desirous of a solution recipients are likely to open your email.
5. Use bold and catchy language. For inspiration check out news headlines.
6. Say something controversial, unexpected or negative. For example, “Bad News from MarketingProfs University” was the subject line for an email about a MarketingProfs course on presentation skills. So what is the bad news, you ask. At some point in time you'll be called on to give a presentation, but the good news is that MarketingProfs University has a cure for your presentation blues.
7. Question marks can work well to stoke curiosity.
8. Avoid all CAPS. This is the equivalent of shouting online.
9. Use numerals in place of words such as “34 Ways…” instead of “Thirty Four Ways…”
10. Use symbols whenever appropriate such as “&”, “>” and “$”.
11. Frontload your subject line so that it makes sense even when cut and the most important words are not lost. Most email programs display the first 30-50 characters while mobile devices show only 20-30 characters. For instance, say “Refer a friend, win a gift!” instead of “SEO Resources’s referral program. Refer and win a gift card!”
12. Familiar with PPC? Use Google Keyword Tool to choose keywords that appeal to your customers. Use them appropriately in your subject lines.
13. Follow influential bloggers on Twitter. See how they compose their tweets and get people to act on it. Can you borrow anything from them?
14. Keep off salesy words. “Discount”, “% off”, “free”, “half price”, “early bird” and “save” experience below-average open and click rates, says email marketer, Adestra.
15. There is no winning formula. Always try new things. Keep experimenting.

Things to Keep in Mind While Testing
There is no substitute for rigorous testing to achieve email and subject line success.
While testing keep in mind:

1. It is easy to test data. The difficult part is interpretation. Draw the right conclusions.
2. Vary only the subject line. Keep the email content and design the same. Trigger both at the same time. This way it will be an apples-to-apples comparison.
3. If you change the subject line to your e-newsletter that has been unchanged for a year, note there are two changes – novelty and the impact of the new one.
4. If you test a subject line with branding and one without branding, again there are two differences – the missing brand and the change in length. Note all differences between variations.
5. Initially test broad concepts such as funny versus serious, short versus long and direct versus indirect. You can drill down further as you build up data and findings.
6. If you have a small sample size, don’t try too many variations. Test two subject lines.
7. Give time before you collect the numbers. Some people may archive your mail and open it after a few days.