July 4th, 2007
7 Tips for effective email subject lines
Excerpted from ConvUrgency.com’s Smart Email Marketing Guide
Here are some additional tips for excellent subject lines. They are fairly self explanatory, so it’s easiest to just put them in bullet form rather than write a section for each.
- Branding. Using your company name within the subject line reinforces the ‘from’ line, and establishes trust.
- Personalization through segmentation. Give each segment of your list a tailored subject line that is more relevant to their profile.
- Be your subscriber. Put yourself in the shoes of someone on your list. What is/are their biggest concerns right now? Incorporate those in your subject line.
- Be consistent. If you use a similar subject line for each newsletter you send (obviously customized by date), then you create instant recognition.
- Steal ideas. What subject lines are other companies using that makes you open their emails? Let them inspire you.
- Test. Send the email to yourself and colleagues. Do you/they open it? Did it get flagged as spam? Does it render fully in all clients (including AOL)?
- Track. Track the results from each subject line. Was longer/shorter better? Which format worked best – humorous, catchy, aggressive, plain vanilla, etc. As you figure out what’s working best, stick with it!
Excerpted from ConvUrgency.com’s Smart Email Marketing Guide
