We are all aware of how important (and cheap!) the email marketing is. This makes it relevant today, even though we have many new digital marketing tools to reach our customers.
Strategically crafted emails and newsletters in your customer’s inbox are still one of the most effective tools to generate more leads and to maintain your existing customers without huge spending.
Along with segmenting your customer’s database into different email lists and preparing the great offers which are to be sent out to each of those, we also need to find a way to make our email subject line compelling enough so that customers actually want to click on it and read it.
One research in the field showed that 47% of email recipients open email solely based on the subject line. At the same time, 68% of recipients send it straight to spam after seeing its subject line. So, an interesting subject line can significantly improve your email open rates and the customer experience with your brand.
In order to achieve this, the only thing you need is a bit of creativity!
What makes a great subject line?
To create a perfect, engaging subject line, successful companies out there combine things. Intriguing questions, numbers, ‘fear of missing out’ lines, humor, and even emojis. There is no universal formula. However, here are a few tips you can use to excel in this task.
Keep it short and simple
The real art of a catchy subject line is to explain and summarize your email in a few words. It is usually recommended to keep it under 50 characters. Besides, try to use at least two keywords related to your email. Avoid using phrases such as “Your weekly newsletter”. People tend to look over something that sounds like a series of same offers.
Also, think about shortening the line by using numbers. Numbers can both help you make the subject shorter, but also to give your customers a sense of urgency. For example, these can be a sale reminder emails such as “Only 5 more days left…”. Or, try a catchy headline taken from your newsletter such as “Check our 10 best selling products in 2018”.
Don’t be afraid to get personal (and emotional)
Personalization is one of the key marketing tactics. The email subject line is just a perfect place to employ it. Emails with a customer’s name or location in the subject line has higher open rates. It also has higher click-through rates, according to research.
Along with this, experienced marketers are often using the subject lines to offer various solutions to their customers. These solutions are based on their subscriber’s potential feelings and ‘pain points’. Depending on your business and industry, these can be different words and phrases. Try “Affordable”, “Life-changing”, “Stop wasting your time and money” and more.
Ask a question
Here’s another great way to tackle your customer’s curiosity and increase your email open rates. Try and design a compelling subject line in a form of a question. Combine the question with your customer’s first name and there is your winning formula for this one!
For example, a line saying “John, have you seen our really great deal for a…” will sound much more interesting than a simple “Check our great deal”.
“Fear of missing out” subject line
The so so-called fear of missing out” is one of the best marketing tactics for email subject lines. It revolves around adding elements of scarcity and urgency to your subject line. That way, you are automatically increasing your email open rates and click-through rates. These are usually lines such as ‘John, you’re missing out on our best weekly deal’. Or “John, get this now before it’s gone…”
Add a symbol or emoji 🙂
To connect and engage with the subscribers more easily, marketers nowadays use another great trick to stand out in – emojis and symbols. They are used instead of or to complement words and people love it! People use emoji and symbols to express their feelings on a daily basis and are familiar with their meanings.
Still, these should be used carefully as too many symbols can send your email to spam. The same thing can happen when using Caps Lock in your subject line. Don’t forget – algorithms now have more advanced, stringent filters.
Wrap Up
Email marketing is still one of the best and most affordable ways to convert more subscribers into customers. Also, to keep the existing ones and increase their loyalty to your brand. In order to design and execute a truly delightful email marketing campaign, you need to pay a close attention to every element of it. This especially goes for your email subject line which can, literally, make or break your campaign.
In order to create a great subject line, you need to get creative and follow our advice:
- Keep your line short and simple
- Get personal and use the “pain point” keywords
- Ask a question instead of making a statement
- Play the ‘fear of missing out’ card
- Use symbols and emojis
