When it comes to crafting email subject lines, there’s a fine line between catchy and spammy. Capturing your readers’ attention is essential, but doing it with clarity, relevance and credibility is the key to inspiring the comfort and curiousity they need to open your email and explore your message further.
With so much riding on your subject line, it pays to follow some best practices that have proven to connect with readers, increase open rates and avoid the junk file.
Keep it short and sweet. Between 50 and 60 characters is about all the space you have on a typical subject line to grab your reader’s attention, entice them to open your email, and take the action you want. With such a limited window of opportunity to make your pitch, keeping your subject line simple and to the point is more important than loading it with details that can be delivered after they open the email. Remember — the objective of your subject line isn’t to sell what’s inside, but to tell what’s inside. Find those few words that clearly tell your reader what to expect from opening your email or what’s in it for them, and your odds of eliciting a positive response can rise significantly.
Be spam filter savvy. With so many people swimming in spam and fed-up with the clutter in their inboxes, spam filters have become more aggressive in heading off unwanted email. Some of the things spam filters look for include subject lines in all capital letters, inserting more exclamation points than necessary, and using spashy promotional phrases such as “Carnival of Savings” and words like “free” and “bargain” that have become associated with marketing pitches. Even if your email is promotional in nature, keep your message as straightforward, descriptive and professional as possible.
Create a sense of urgency. When done well, urgency in a subject line sparks interest and drives action (“Private Sale: One Day Only,” “Last Day to Guarantee Christmas Delivery”). Employing urgency and deadlines as part of a series of emails in a promotional campaign can be very effective. Case in point: “Sale 5 Days Only, Jan. 17-21,” followed a few days later by “Hurry 5-Day Sale Ends Monday.”
For more ideas to drive sales check out the archives or visit Ambit Advertising and Public Relations.
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