Four Proven Subject Lines
March 17, 2008
There’s no email marketing if nobody opens your mail! Try these four proven subject line angles.
Subject lines can make or break your email marketing strategy.
They’re the most important of any email marketing campaign because if you don’t convince the reader to immediately open and read your message, it’ll likely end up in the trash!
When you’re thinking up subject lines, picture your reader in front of their computer faced with a bulging inbox.
As they glance over your subject line, what’s going to make them open it first?For starters, nothing is more effective than using the reader’s name in the subject line to catch their attention. (You can easily set up this tried and tested technique with an email service provider like iContact.)
But your subject line must also answer the first questions on your reader’s mind:
- "So what?"
- "What’s in it for me?"
- "Why should I open your message (out of the dozens waiting for me)?"
Only a few subject lines angles actually answer these questions. We’ve tested thousands - and these four approaches have been consistent winners…
Angle #1: Make an announcement or share news
People want to be the first to find out new things - especially if your site covers a specific industry.
The news could be about your site (e.g., "Lana, we’d like your feedback") or about the topic of interest (e.g., "Michael, here’s a new back exercise").
Angle #2: Make the reader curious
You can do this by suggesting the reader is missing out on an important offer or piece of information (e.g., "Chris, are you making this common mistake?").
It’s important to leave something to the imagination when using this technique, usually by posing a question the reader can’t ignore.
Angle #3: Create a sense of urgency
You do this by either limiting time (e.g., "Mary, just three days left") or quantity (e.g., "David, last 50 copies available now").
This approach works especially well when you’re creating a follow-up mailing - and it’s a great way to motivate people to take action now! But don’t overdo it… creating a sense of urgency too often can be a bit like crying wolf, so use it carefully and sparingly.
Angle #4: Emphasize how the reader will benefit from reading your email
Out of these four angles, you’ll always be most successful if your subject lines state a clear benefit and tell the reader exactly how they’re going to save money, save time, or make their life easier by reading your email (e.g., "Christina, save $25.00 or more every time you fly").
If you can state a benefit AND create curiosity, so much the better! The key to writing benefit-laden subject lines is to consider your product or service from your customers’ point of view.
Write subject lines using these angles - particularly ones that emphasize benefits - and we guarantee you’ll dramatically increase the number of people who open and read your emails…
… Making your email marketing strategies priceless!
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Photo by Mzelle Biscotte (http://www.flickr.com/photos/biscotte/60963915/) on Flickr. Some rights reserved (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)
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Great advice on subject lines! As a business to business marketing consultant, I have to add, though, that WHO the email comes from is even more important. Look at your own behavior–and which emails you open first. If you’re like most people, you start with communications from people who have provided value in the past (after your friends and family)–and quickly skip over emails from those who always send you stuff that wastes your time. One of the things that my clients have done to increase their “open rates” is to send through a trusted source. By associating their brand with this organization’s brand, they gain entry where they might otherwise have fallen off the radar.
I’ll second that the “from” address is as important as the subject line in getting the open rate up.
And not only the name that is shown but also the email address itself, because in some cases that is what the recipient will see. If you’re using “Fred Flinstone” as the sender but the email address underneath is still sales@business.com or promotions@company.com, you’re probably losing opens.
In addition, I am no longer a fan of putting the person’s name in the subject line. We’ve done a fair amount of A/B testing here, and it does not seem to help. I think that most people see right through that.
You could still personalize the subject line with something like the person’s job function or a product that they have bought as this kind of relevance makes email more interesting to the recipient…anything that you might have in your database.
We really strive to use subject lines that are similar to what we would write when sending email to friends or colleagues, taking into account not only the words, but also the length of the subject line and avoiding mixed case.
wow, Derek. It’s like you read the minds of internet marketers. Oh, yeah, you’ve “been there,” haven’t you?!
I know I’m guilty of going down a list of emails in my inbox and deleting without opening or keeping for later, unless they have just what you say: A compelling title — a reason that sets them apart from the masses.
Thanks again, for answering the questions that plague so many of us in the business…..
Melissa
I sell advertising locally. My web site brings in customers from all over the USA.
While i have been improving my ability to sell advertising over the phone, faxing a contract and e-mailing a proof, I have been much more successful when looking my customer in the eye while shaking their hand, I would like to improve my local presence and obtain more local responses from my web site. Plus, I would like to find a way to increase both my national presence and my ability to sell nationally by phone, fax and e-mail.
Being addressed as a person instead of an ‘undisclosed recipient’ defines whether I open an email and as Paul pointed out, the FROM name will be another factor (and also if it is a disposable email address). I don’t want to waste my time or deal with someone thats hiding behind ficticious information.
Stupid subject lines are an immediate ‘DELETE’.
First impressions are all so vital to getting emails opened.
Thanks for the tips Derek.