12 Tips on Writing Good Subject Lines That Get Your Emails Opened and Read

12 TIPS ON WRITING GOOD SUBJECT LINES THAT WILL

GET YOUR EMAILS OPENED AND READ

The subject line of an email is always the last thing people think about.  It should be the first.

When your email pops up in your recipient’s in box, that person has just a few seconds to decide whether or not to read your message.  Their decision is based entirely on the effectiveness of your subject line.  A few hastily chosen words in the subject line will result in sales unnecessarily lost, potential customers missed and brand recognition wasted.

Here are 12 simple tips to greatly enhance the chance your emails will be opened and read.

1.Short is best:  Three to four words is ideal, never use more than 10 words or 50 characters.

2. Avoid Spam Alerts:  Never put an exclamation point in your subject line.  The exclamation point is very common in spam emails, and the search engines will interpret your email as spam if an exclamation point is in your subject line.  Other words that are interpreted as spam are:  “exclusive,” “free,” “hurry,” “limited time.”  Use a spam filter to check out how your subject line rates to minimize inadvertently including spam type words in your subject line

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 3. WIIFM:  Always keep in mind the needs of your readers…the “What’s In It for me?” mentality.  Your subject line must briefly describe the message of your email in a way that answers the reader’s question:  “Will this message help me meet my needs, solve a problem, or make my life easier?”

4. Urgency:  Your subject line should contain a sense of urgency.  This will motivate the reader to act now instead of later.  Incorporating a time element into the subject line creates a sense of urgency.  For example:  “Orders received by this Friday receive a 25% discount.”

5. Unique:   Make your subject line unique.  This approach presents your message as containing something new and different.  For example, “Discover why Scandinavian vitamins make you feel five years younger, “as opposed to “Scandinavian vitamins enhance your energy.”

6. Specific:  Be very specific in a way that will make your readers think “now what does THAT mean?”  You could have fun with this approach.  Here is an example:  “Best time of day to ask for a raise,” or “5 things not to put in your baby’s diaper bag.”

7.  Precise:  Provide precise information.  If you’re inviting someone to a meeting, say:  “Invitation:  End-of-Year Conference, New York, Dec. 1” instead of a bland “End of Year Conference.”

8. Detail:  Provide details that let the reader know what you’re talking about immediately.  If your message requires a reader’s response, say so…within the first one to two words.  For example, “Response needed for project approval.”

 9. Tease:  A cleverly worded subject line is sure to get a reader’s attention and pique their curiosity.  If you’re selling eye glasses, for example, your subject line could say “You won’t believe your eyes!”

 10. Test:  Test your email on a small segment of your market to evaluate the effectiveness of your subject line prior to sending out a mass email campaign.  This will give you the opportunity to adjust your subject line copy if necessary.  Many companies test the effectiveness of their emails this way:  Three days before they launch an email campaign, they’ll send up to five of their best subject lines to a small segment of their mailing list.  Twenty four hours later, review the open rates and conversation rates to determine which subject lines were the most effective  

11.  Name recognition:  People are more inclined to open an email from someone they know and are familiar with.  For example, if a reader subscribed to your Ezine entitled “5 Ways to Train Your Dog,” your subject line might include the words “Dog Training Tips.”  This will remind the reader that they did sign up for your Ezine and make them more inclined to open it instead of deleting it.

12. From Line: Incorporate name recognition into the “From” line.  Let’s use the “5 Ways to Train Your Dog” example above.  Your “From” line may read:  “http:www.5waystotrainyourdog.com.”  This frees up your subject line to highlight a specific tip in your email copy.

In addition to the 12 tips listed above, here are five additional ways to write effective subject lines. Bob Bly, one of the most successful copywriters out there today, suggests these five tips to boost the success of your subject line:

1.       Put a number in your subject line.  When readers see a number, it arouses their curiosity and they’re more apt to open your email.  For example:  “7 Ways to Do X”.

2.      Be mysterious, arouse curiosity, hint at what you’re offering in your email but withhold the answer.  The recipient has to open the email to find out exactly what you’re talking about.  Mr. Bly gives this example, which generated 392 orders for an eBook he wrote:  “The Easiest Product To Sell Online”

3.      Make a big promise that gets the recipient’s attention.  Putting a question mark after the promise can help address the reader’s inherent skepticism.  For example:  “Get paid $22,500 to write a letter?”

4.      As a question that the reader wants to answer.  For example:  “Is There a Book inside You?”

5.        Offer to reveal some secrets.  Secrets are powerful word in a headline and lost secrets are even more intriguing.  For example, “3 Lost Secrets of a Winning USP”.   Also putting quotes around text in headline or subject line increases readership.

In conclusion, the best way to ensure that your emails will be opened is to provide precise, concise, thought provoking subject lines support by a message that offers a quality product, valuable information and good pricing.

--Emily Foshee

November 2008

Emily Foshee is a freelance copywriter with more than 20 years of marketing communications experience.  She has worked for numerous Fortune 500 corporations including Centex, Pizza Hut and Sprint.