I recently received an email from an an organization I support, which came from an individual’s email address. The subject line read, ‘quick note to say thanks.’ It was written in all lower case and I didn’t immediately recognize the sender’s name - so I was intrigued enough to open the email. I then realized it was from an organization I frequently receive messages from, but because it seemed more personal, I felt compelled to open it.
Over the past decade, we’ve grown accustomed to aggressive email marketing tactics, some of which have proven to be more effective than others. But what’s in a subject line? How important is it that you captivate a reader’s attention, and how do you do it? Does a word limit guarantee your readers will open the email? Or is there something else to the ‘special sauce’ of subject lines? While I have yet to see a ‘magic bullet,’ or guarantee for successful opens or click-throughs, following are four principles that can improve your email open rates:
- Make it short and sweet: Four, maybe five, words in your subject line will grab a recipient’s attention. A quick phrase or salutation prompts the reader to find out more, and at the minimum, open your email to follow up on an intriguing subject line.
- Offer ‘news you can use’: A subject line that immediately informs readers how they can improve their sales cycles or otherwise build business can be very effective for boosting open rates. Offering a succinct line such as, ‘Achieve record growth with...’ or ‘Five easy steps to...’ will motivate the recipient to find out more about what you’re pitching.
- Provide a call to action: Why should the reader click to open? What do you want her/him to do if they actually open your email? Providing a sense of urgency, a reason the reader should take the next step with your communication is critical to successful email marketing. A generic update or newsletter subject line is less likely to interest the already inundated email recipient, so offer something they can do e.g. ‘Improve your marketing now...’ or ‘Uncover sales leads...’ . Once they’ve opened the email, is there a hyperlink to an online case study or a report? What happens next? Can they easily contact you/your company for a demo or more information?
- Consider a question rather than a statement: I have employed both a question and a statement as part of A/B testing of email marketing campaigns, and in comparing the two, have seen higher open rates with questions. A subject line in the form of a question can inspire an email recipient to read on, assuming the question is directly relevant to the individual’s particular business objectives e.g. ‘Are you reaching your targets?’ or ‘What’s your brand equity?’ or ‘What do your customers want?’ can be instrumental in captivating the reader’s attention so he/she wants to find out more.
Inherent to email marketing is repeated contact with your target audience, rather than a ‘one-and-done’ approach. All companies need to find the delicate balance, the right mix between contacting customers regularly without overloading them to the point of inspiring the ‘Unsubscribe’ request. Because email subject lines are essential to building trust with your target audience, and you want to be in frequent communication as part of your marketing strategy, make those subject lines count.
