Did you know that 69% of consumers* decide to click the ‘Report Spam’ or ‘Junk’ button based purely on the contents of the email’s subject line? Be afraid… be very afraid.
Then remember that sitting at your desk being afraid will not save your ailing email campaign. Instead, check out our top tips for tip top email subject lines – feels better already, right?
1. Split Test.
My old boss used to say if you’re sending out an email without running some sort of test, then you’re missing an opportunity. He was annoyingly right about stuff like that. A subject line split test is easy to do, and as your subject line is the key to increasing your open rates so it’s well worth it. Ideally this split testing should be an on-going activity, as you might find that even once you hit upon a subject line that works, over time it may cease to – particularly if you’re emailing the same list of people over and over again.
2. Keep it short.
Now is not the time to write an essay. Ideally keep your subject line to 50 characters or less. Much longer, and your lovely readers won’t be able to read your beautifully crafted subject line in any case, as it will be cut off.
3. Convey Immediacy
If your email contains an offer which is only available for a limited time, say so in the subject line. For example, ’25% off until 31st July’ or ‘This Week’s Discounted Offers’ help recipients realise that your offers are time bound and to take advantage of them they need to open your email, and sharpish.
4. Personalisation(?)
Using a person’s name in the subject line has been shown to increase open rates; however you may find that after an initial increase you see this become less effective over time. Test it and see.
5. Honesty is the Best Policy
Try to give an accurate description of the contents of the email. Don’t put an outrageously fabulous offer in the subject line, only to follow it up with an ‘only joking’ message in the body of your email. You might increase open rates, but you also run the risk of annoying your readers. Annoyed readers are unlikely to convert. Nuff said.
6. Check your Spam Score
Over use of symbols such as exclamation marks can lead to increased spam scores. A high spam score could lead to your email getting sent straight to the junk folder. Bad times. Most email service providers allow you to check your spam score before you send. Get it as low as possible. You may have penned the most persuasive subject line and fantabulous email but it will drive nothing to your business if it ends up languishing in it’s recipients’ junk folder.
Got some top tips of your own to share? Please let me know via the comments.
*Source Email Sender and Provider Coalition – 2007 data.
Image credit shnnn