When it comes to email marketing, subject lines are everything. The subject line is the first thing your recipient sees – it’s that make-or-break moment to catch their attention and push them to open the email and read on. Too dull and they’ll skim right over it. Too flashy and it could go be filtered out by their spam filter. (Read How Do Spam Filters Work?)
In the age of digital communication, our inboxes are overloaded with social media notifications, personal correspondence, newsletters, sales and marketing messages. So how do you stand out and get noticed in the inbox?
Writing a well-crafted email subject line could be the key. Here are our top 6 tips to getting it right:
- Be obvious: Explain up front what’s inside the email. Show that there’s clear value in clicking through with a simple, obvious label
- Be compliant: Include your company name, not only will your email be CAN-Spam compliant, but it will help recipients identify the message is from your company.
- Be quick: Keep it short. Email inboxes get skimmed through, subject lines can get truncated. Quick and to-the-point is almost always a safer option.
- Be funny: Try out a little humor, incorporate a play on words to turn a LOL into a click
- Use numbers: Lists and numbers are simple to digest, for instance this subject line – they promise quick and snackable content
- Get personal: If your database contains first names, and you have relevant content for that person. If using a reputable email delivery tool, try mail merging in the First Name or the Company into the subject line to get more personal.
- Avoid Symbols or Characters: While an exclamation or question mark can make your subject line eye-catching. These characters don’t normally appear in subject lines because they increase your risk of being filtered as spam.
Do you have any subject line rules that you live and die by?
Post them in the comments below!