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Email Subject Lines
Rick Henkin
Just like an advertisement, where a good headline captures the attention and interest of the reader, the subject line of your email is the headline for your message. However, if it's too boring, your reader might not even open the email and see your message. If it's too salesy or pushy, it might not pass the spam filter in their head, let alone the ISP's spam filter. Even the length of the subject line can influence whether it's opened or not. A lot of people just stop there, trying to get as high an open rate as possible. But isn't it more important how many people actually click through to your website or your landing page, than just open your email? You want people to take a specific action, not just look at your message. Short or Long? Alchemy Worx, a UK full service email marketing agency, did an analysis of over 600 subject lines and 200 million email messages and found that long email subject lines = less opens but more clicks to open. It was previously believed that the shorter the subject line, the better. (The open rate is the % of your subscribers that actually view or open the email while the click-to-open rate is the % of opens that actually click on a link in your message, indicating real relevance for them). Now, before you decide to write a short essay and place it in your subject line, Alchemy Worx also discovered that if the subject line contains 50 characters or less, more people will open the email. However, if it contains 70 characters or more, fewer people will open the email, but more will click on your links. They even discovered a dead zone of subject lines containing 60-70 characters which neither helped the open rate or the click to open rate. The reason for this is really simple- by using more words or characters, the subject line becomes more detailed and specific and reaches more people for whom your message is relevant. Those people are much more likely to click on your links than the larger group of people who might open your email because it has a shorter subject line. Also the shorter subject line might convey so little information that the audience for whom your message is really relevant, doesn't even open the email. Can the Subject Line Affect My Bottom Line? If you don't think that the subject line is all that important or that shorter vs. longer makes a difference, consider this: You send out an email with a short subject line to a list of 10,000 people asking them to subscribe to your service for $10 per month. You get 4000 opens and a 2% conversion which gives you 200 subscribers at $10 each per month or $24,000 per year. Now, after testing different subject lines, you use a more specific and detailed subject line. Because the message isn't relevant for everyone, your opens drop to 2000, but the click-to-open rate rises, increasing your conversions to 3.5%. This translates to $42,000 per year (350 subscribers x $10 per month x 12 mos.), an increase of $18,000 in gross annual sales. If your average subscriber stays with you for 3 years and you're sending out emails with better subject lines every month, the total increase in your revenues begins to add up to something pretty significant. What Do I Say in My Subject Line?
Different types of marketing messages require different types of subject lines. A good subject line for a promotion might not work as well for a content rich newsletter. What you send to your subscribers needs to be consistent with what they were told they'd be getting when they first opted-in. If they subscribed to receive offers and promotions, then put that in the subject line. If they subscribed to receive some other type of information, use that in your subject line. Your readers are probably getting dozens, if not 100's of emails daily. Realize that you're asking them to take time out from their schedule to view your message. Oftentimes, we act as if we're working in a vacuum, forgetting that our message is just one of zillions being sent. Look at your marketing efforts from your customer's point of view, it's the only perspective that really matters. ARTICLE DATE: 2009-02-11 REVISED DATE: Share this Article as a Tweet on Twitter
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