Your Email Marketing Campaign Needs Killer Subject Lines

By: Meghan McKenzie, Account Manager at Constant Content The most important words in your email marketing campaign are the first ones that users will read. They are not contained in the opening paragraph, because many recipients will not even get that far. Unless your email marketing campaign has a subject line that captures users’ interest and inspires them to find out more, your email could be consigned to the deleted items folder without ever being opened. In a recent study by Baydin, makers of the email plugin Boomerang, the average user received 147 emails each day. About half of these were deleted without being read. The typical user then spent 75 percent of his time online on only 12 of the remaining emails. It’s clear that competition for users’ attention is fierce, but Baydin’s study also revealed that certain words can be more of a turn off than a turn on for email recipients. It found that email subject lines containing words like â€Å"opportunity† and â€Å"apply† got more responses than words such as â€Å"join†, â€Å"invite†, â€Å"press†, or â€Å"confirm†. Writing a killer subject lines is an art form all of its own. Instead of selling your product or service in a 500 word email, you have only half a dozen words to hook the user’s interest. Here are our top tips for creating the perfect subject line. 1.State the Benefit to the Reader When users are prioritizing their inboxes, they are more likely to set time aside to read an email that will solve a current problem or save them money. Use your subject line to state the solution or saving on offer. 2.Create a Sense of Urgency If you want the reader to take action after reading your email, clearly state the deadline in the subject line. In a planned email marketing campaign, you can incorporate a series of countdown emails to increase the sense of urgency. 3.Personalize the Subject Line Where you hold up-to-date information on a subscriber, include a personalized reference in the subject line. Include her name or a reference to a previous purchase to make your email stand out. To support your efforts at personalization, ensure that it is easy for subscribers to update their details and email preferences. Using incorrect personal details can backfire badly. 4.Relevance is Key Keep your subject line relevant to the information contained in the email. Persuading recipients to open emails by using misleading subject lines will frustrate and annoy them. If users feel cheated, they are unlikely to respond positively and may even unsubscribe from your mailing list. If you go to the trouble of providing great unique content in your emails, you won’t have a problem creating a relevant subject line that compels recipients to click on your email. 5.Test and Evaluate It pays to test out subject lines to find out which ones work best for you. If you have time, run a pilot campaign on a segment of your subscriber list using two different subject lines to find out which one works best. Gather data at the end of each email campaign to allow you to analyze which subject lines provide the best open rates and conversion rates. Use this data to sharpen up your subject lines for future campaigns. Of course, if you would prefer to have someone else craft killer subject lines and compelling email content, you can always connect to an expert content writer to ensure your campaigns perform as well as you’d hope.