5 Tried and Tested Tips to Craft Effective Email Subject Lines
Contrary to popular opinion, email marketing is not dead and very much alive.
There are more than 4 billion users around the world and that number is only growing each year [1]. So it is very important to include email marketing in your marketing strategy to stay ahead of the competition.
However, just including email marketing in your marketing plans is not enough. As more and more companies are turning to email marketing to increase their brand awareness, boost engagement, and promote their products, you need to stand out.
One of the most effective ways to make an impression is to craft emails with catchy and exciting subject lines. Even if the content of your email is amazing, if the subject line lacks the oomph, the chances of the opening of your email are very bleak.
An email with a poor subject line can be marked as spam, denting your reputation as a brand among search engines and your customers.
Did you know that around 69% of email recipients flag an email as spam only based on the subject line? [2].
Even if users do not mark your email as spam, they will look at the subject line to decide whether they want to open the email or not.
Keep in mind that interesting and attention-grabbing subject lines can boost your engagement and ensure that your emails are not reported. This is one of the main reasons why you should not overlook subject lines as they are an important part of your email marketing campaigns.
In this article, we will take a look at some of the email subject lines’ best practices that will help you boost your open rates.
SEE ALSO: Impact of GDPR on Email Marketing and How You Can Avoid Paying Heavy Fines
Email subject lines best practices
Here are a few points you should consider to stay on target.
1. Length of the subject line
You should do some research and testing to evaluate the optimal length of your subject line for your customer base. However, the guidelines suggest that subject lines that are 6 to 10 words in length are the most effective.
Having said that, a few more or fewer words will not affect your overall results so much. However, do not stretch it too much and keep your email subject line below 20 words.
2. Do not use the word “newsletter”
Under any circumstances, do not use the word “newsletter” in the subject line of your email.
Research indicates that the open rates go down by nearly 19% when “newsletter” is included in the subject line.
This is primarily due to the fact that people think of conventional newsletters as “boring” rather than informative. This is why, even if you send a newsletter, avoid using that word in your subject line.
You can talk about the valuable content that is inside the body of your newsletter instead.
3. Refrain from using special characters, spammy words, and SHOUTING
If you want to keep your reputation intact, you should do everything in your capacity to stay out of the spam folder.
Nothing reeks of “spam” to email recipients and internet service providers more than words in ALL CAPS and special characters. If your emails do not end up in the spam folder, recipients could unsubscribe from your email service.
Some of the most common spam words include:
- Cash bonus
- Cheap
- Billion
- Auto email removal
- Apply now
- Double your income
- Compare rate
- Eliminate debt
- Extra income
- Fast cash
- Free
Avoid these common spam words and your emails will remain outside the recipient’s spam folder.
Oh, another point! Do not use a lot of exclamation points as well.
4. Use emojis
When emojis were introduced, it was hard to imagine using them in business emails, especially in the subject lines.
Times have changed and it is safe to say that those days are well behind us now. A lot of studies have shown that using emojis in subject lines boosts the open rate, which is why updated email marketers are making the most of this trend.
However, you need to be aware of how to use them. If you use a lot of emojis in the subject lines, it is considered spammy. Besides, using emojis in transactional emails and similar emails may not be a good idea.
5. Preview text
Think about it this way. If the subject line of your email is the title, the preview text is the subtitle.
What is a preview text?
The preview text is the small bit of content that follows the subject line in your email subscriber’s inbox before they open the email.
If you do not put an effort to customize the preview text, your email platform will pull it from the starting of the email. This approach is just fine. However, if you are really looking to create an impression, add a personalized preview text to stand out.
The preview text gives you an extra leeway to play around with your subject line. It will grab the attention of your audience, act as a teaser to the email content, and most importantly improve your open rate.
A well-writen preview text along with a catchy subject line often does the trick.
Final words
There are very few channels within the digital marketing ecosystem that are as personal as an email. It is one of the best channels to build confidence and trust between your audience and brand.
An email offers you an opportunity to provide all the information your subscribers are looking for about your brand. Besides, email campaigns help place your brand as a go-to for value. The value can either be added from products, services, and content.
A lot of businesses often neglect email marketing as they believe it is not as effective as social media marketing and other channels. However, that is not the case. If you do not believe us, you can go through these email marketing statistics.
Now that you are familiar with how to craft email subject lines, you can put them to the test in your next email campaign.
SEE ALSO: 10 Best and Effective Email Marketing Templates for 2022
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Sources:
[1] (2021) “How Many Email Users Are There?” 99Firms [online] Accessed [February 2022]
[2] Rudolph. S (2016) “Understanding the Importance of E-mail Subject Lines [Infographic]” Business 2 Community [online] Accessed [February 2022]
[3] (2018) “How to Write Email Subject Lines People Can’t Wait To Open” Robert Katai [online] Accessed [February 2022]
