You may think that the subject line you use in your marketing emails isn’t too important. After all, customers already know your brand so they’re sure to be invested in your latest updates, right?
Unfortunately, no matter how great of a relationship you have with your customers, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In this fast-paced life we all live, it can be difficult to find the time to open and read the hundred-plus emails we receive each day - even those from a favourite brand.
Email subject lines are the very first thing recipients will see - and often quickly scan over - which means you often have just a fraction of a second to grab their attention. So a ‘meh’ subject line simply won’t cut it.
You need something that cuts through the clutter in an instant. So how do you do that?
It’s recommended that you keep to between 4-6 words and under a total of 43 characters including spaces (most email clients will cut off after that in mobile view).
You can actually personalise your subject line a couple of ways. One, using the recipient’s name somewhere in there - preferably at the beginning - helps it stand out better.
Also, if you have subscriber information such as location, you can use that in there too. An example might be something like ‘Looks like rain in Melbourne - grab a brolly for $5’.
Many studies have shown that using a number (especially an odd one) at the start of an email subject line is highly effective in attracting the attention of recipients and increasing open rates.
We all love a good discount, don’t we? Get the offer across quickly and with an accompanying theme or product, and make sure when they open the email the content corresponds with the offer in the email subject line.
The way you phrase an email subject line and the specific words you use will have different effects on recipients. There are 5 main emotional triggers that are utilised in email marketing campaigns:
Use our very awesome - and totally FREE - email subject line tester at the top of this page to check how it rates. You’ll get a preview of how it’ll look on both desktop and mobile, as well as learning:
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