12 Tips for Email Subject Lines That Get Results

The subject line is an essential element to the success of any email marketing campaign. Unfortunately, after spending a lot of time getting the email body copy perfect, many marketers put minimal effort into the subject. Without a great subject line, your wonderful copy may never be read…

As one of the lowest-cost / highest-return ways to market to your customers, the right subject line will make a significant difference to the success of your next email campaign. Here are 12 tips to help you get better results:

1. Short is Sweet

The rule of thumb is to keep the length less than 50 characters, and ideally between 20 and 40. You want your subject line to be long enough to clearly get your point across, but short enough not to risk being chopped off by email software. Although short is better than long, don’t favour length over sense! Your copy should always be easy to understand, and that includes your subject line.

2. Ask a Question

Asking a question as the subject line can increase open rates by peaking customer’s curiosity. Try a question you know your customer will answer yes to. For example: Want to be the first to preview the new range?

3. Offer Help

Taking an information approach, versus using ‘sales speak’, can work very well. Of course, you must follow up the promise with information of actual value to your customer. For example: How to attract more website traffic in three steps

4. Latest News

We all like to keep up with the latest happenings. Use your subject line to announce something new that’s of interest to your customers. For example: New store location just announced

5. Get to The Point

If your email is about vital or time-sensitive information, get straight to the point in the subject line to create urgency. For example: Two days left to book your airfare at half price

6. Make it Relevant

Try using the customer’s profession to show your email speaks to their needs. For example: Employers: Put an end to hiring bad staff

7. Add Value

If you give something of real value with every email, your customers will start to look forward to receiving future communication from you. It may be a freight free offer for online orders, ‘how to’ tips, or a voucher to print and use in-store. What you offer depends on your business and customers.

8. Learn From Spam

We’re so used to receiving spam emails, that a subject line that even hints at being spam might make it through an email’s spam filter, but not a ‘human spam filter’.

Spam subject lines tend to SHOUT, use excessive punctuation …!!! and symbols $%#. It is also worth avoiding overly ‘salesy’ words like free, money and offer. Check out your junk folder right now, reading spam is often the best way to learn how to avoid being mistaken for it. Professional email marketing software often includes a spam checker which is well worth utilising.

10. First Name Basis

You already know the power of using your customer’s name. Don’t just start the email by greeting your customer by their first name, include their name in the subject line as well.

11. Include Your Name Too

Including your own company name in the subject line has been shown to increase open rates. If your customer has signed up to receive emails from you, and an email arrives with your company name in the subject line, it’s a no-brainer to them that it isn’t spam. Remember, your customers want to hear from you, otherwise they wouldn’t have signed up in the first place.

12. Test and Measure

As with everything in business, don’t forget to test!

Use these tips as guidelines rather than rules, combine different techniques and test what gets you the best response. By using professional email marketing software, you can check out how different subject lines affect your open, click-through and conversion rates.

1 to 2 days before each campaign (if you have a large enough database of customers), choose 2 to 4 different subject lines, then send them out to a small portion of your database. An ideal test size is 100 customers per subject line to get meaningful results. Check your reports. Once you’ve identified the most effective subject line, you can confidently send it out to the whole database to maximise your returns from your next campaign.

Email marketing is one of the most measurable forms of marketing, online or offline. Got any tips of your own to add about what’s working well for you? Add your tips below.