6 Tips For Crafting Subject Lines That Ensure Your Newsletter Is Opened

Did you know that 64% of consumers say they open an email because of its subject line? This is why having a great subject line for your email marketing campaign is crucial to it’s success. Below are tips to help ensure your newsletter is opened.

• Keep it short and simple
  Subject lines that are short, descriptive and encourage the reader to explore the message further, are best for your direct email marketing campaign.In fact, the general rule for email marketing is to keep your subject line to a maximum of 50 characters. The exception to this rule would be for highly targeted audiences, where additional information in the subject line would be appreciated.
• Avoid writing in all caps and/or using exclamation points
  Writing in all caps is similar to shouting at a person. There may be times when you need to use all caps for a word or two but do this only when really necessary and do so, sparingly.The same applies to the use of exclamation points.
• Do not sell your product at the subject line, but tell your recipient what’s inside
  You have to set the expectations of your subscriber during the opt-in process regarding the type of emails that they will receive. If your email is a newsletter, put the name and issue of your newsletter in the subject line. But if the email is about a sponsored event or a special promotion, say so, in the subject line. Do not advertise your product on the subject line.
• Use numbers whenever you can
  Writing subject lines such as “7 ways to get people to visit your store,” or “10 tips to help keep the excitement in your marriage,” will clearly tell readers what to expect in the email and will surely pique their interest enough to make them actually read it.
• Don’t try to trick your recipients
  A study conducted by Adestra, a British marketing firm, found that some email marketing specialists added in “FW:” or “RE:” to their subject line to give it the appearance of familiarity. However, the study also showed that recipients of the emails were too smart to be fooled. Respective click rates were 47.5% and 42.6% lower than average.
• Avoid using specific words and punctuation marks
  The same study conducted by Adestra found that the following words performed well in email campaigns that they analysed:
  • Free delivery (+50.7% higher open rate, +135.4% click rate)
  • Bulletin (+15.8% higher open rate, +12.7% click rate)
  • Daily (+27.8% higher open rate, +100.3% click rate)
  • Weekly (+27.1% higher open rate, +50.6% click rate)
  • Sale (+10.7% higher open rate, +26.7% click rate)
  • Alert
  • Breaking
  • Review
  • Update
  • Special
  • Video

  On the other hand, these words did not perform well:

  • Report (-23.7% average lower open rate, -54.8% click rate)
  • Learn (-35.5% average lower open rate, -60.8% click rate)
  • Book (-4.6% average lower open rate, -25.4% click rate)
  • Monthly (-26.6% average lower open rate, -37.0% rate)
  • Save (-4.4% average lower open rate, -27.4% click rate)
  • Buy (-19.3% average lower open rate, -59.1% click rate)
  • Cheap (-67.2% average lower open rate, -71.6% click rate)
  • Free (-23.7% average lower open rate, -34.8% click rate)
  • Forecasts
  • Intelligence

  The use of question marks also had a negative effect on B2C subject lines.

  A study conducted by MailChimp, involving over 200 million emails also found words that have a negative impact on an email campaign:

  • Help
  • Percent off
  • Reminder

You have to consider however, that no matter how good you are at email marketing online, if you sent the same email campaign repeatedly (e.g. reminders for an event), your open rates will decline.

Before embarking on your email campaign, put yourself in your recipients’ place. Almost all of us receive SPAM and we tend to ignore or delete email messages that we feel are not relevant. Also make sure you send your newsletter at the right time when your receiver is likely to open it.

If you want to get noticed, create a subject line that will catch the attention of your recipients and will make them want to open and read your email.

If you need assistance or advice on how to conduct your email marketing campaign, contact us at Complete Cloud today. We provide email marketing services as well as other online solutions for your business.

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