The first thing you need to get right when it comes to email marketing is the subject line. If you can’t get your subscribers to open your emails, it really doesn’t matter how good the content in the actual email is. Straight away you can see the value of a compelling email subject line.
It’s easy to spend a lot of time crafting a great message and then just slap any old subject line on it at the end. Spending some time writing compelling email subject lines and analysing the headlines that get you the best open rates is time very well spent. Here are five tips to get you started.
5 tips for crafting compelling email subject lines
Keep it short
You want your readers to see the entire subject line before they click it. You also want to make it easy for people to scan through their emails. Try to get your point across in 50 characters or less, otherwise some vital information might not be displayed. Pay attention to how your subject lines look on your own devices.
Another great idea is to keep a swipe file of subject lines that grabbed your attention. Even if the emails are on a very different topic, you can adapt them for your own needs. I would do this by either copying them into Asana or by simply filing them in a special email folder so they are handy when you need inspiration.
Avoid ‘spammy’ words
Stay away from using any words that could be associated with spam emails. Words like ‘sale’, ‘discount’, ‘coupon’, ‘free’, ‘limited time offer’ and even ‘reminder’ are over used and even if they don’t trigger a spam filter and actually make it to your reader’s inbox, chances are high they’ll get ignored.
Instead, start by using the emails you’re saving in your swipe file and then go back and see what subject lines got the best open rates. Try to analyse why they worked well for your market. Not everything will work well in every niche. Find the types of subject lines that get your readers to open your emails and tweak from there.
Personalise
While personalising emails with someone’s first name has been overused in some markets, it still works well for many of us. Give it try and see if it works for you. Don’t overdo it, but use it when you really need them to open the email.
Depending on what data you collect when your readers sign up, you can personalise other things like their location for example. Seeing the name of your state or even city in an email subject line is sure to get your attention.
Pique their curiosity
We are all nosy and it’s hard to ignore subject lines that sound intriguing or only tell part of the story. A great psychological tool to use is the Open/Closed loop. When you open a loop in a subject line, the readers mind will want to close the loop. Opening a loop could be saying something like; ‘The one email trick you don’t know’. Most people will click on this email as their mind really wants to close the loop and see if they do in fact know the information.
The best types of subject lines are those which have these elements;
If you can evoke one or more of these feelings when your audience reads your email headlines, it will be sure to help your open rate.
- 1 – Self-Interest. These are your bread and butter subject lines – you should be using them most frequently.
- 2 – Curiosity.
- 3 – Offer.
- 4 – Urgency/Scarcity.
- 5 – Humanity.
- 6 – News.
- 7 – Social Proof.
- 8 – Story.
For example, you want your audience to click and open the email so they can find out what you’re talking about (curiosity) or how the story you have alluded to ends.
If you need a bit of help CoSchedule has created a free tool which analyses your headlines and gives them a score. It also highlights where and how you can improve them.
Start making your swipe file today so you’re never stuck and always have inspiration. Make sure you are consciously processing the subject lines of the emails you receive and open. What makes you open?
Do you struggle crafting compelling email subject lines for your emails? Is there anything new here you can try for your emails?
If you want to join my mailing list and get access to my epic Blogger’s Resource vault of cheatsheets and downloads as a welcome gift, you can do that here.
Like this post? Why not pin it!
Comments 1
Such a good point, that creating great content that people rarely read if the subject line doesn’t grab them. I find myself rarely opening emails these days, u less the title really provokes me to, or I’m expecting it. Great helpful post. Thank you!