When it comes to email marketing, an eye-catching subject line is essential. Everyone’s inboxes are overflowing with promotional emails, so it’s important that your email stands out.The best part? It doesn’t take a content guru or tech genius to maximize your results. You can make a big impact on your open rates with relatively simple tips that anyone can apply. To start, we’ve compiled a list of simple changes you can make to start seeing big improvements with your email marketing campaigns—today.
Here are our “5 Top Tips” for click-worthy subject lines:
- Personalize. This sounds easy, but large mailing lists can get complicated when it comes to using someone’s first name in the subject line. Autofill options can work wonders, but there are always setbacks, like if people use false names or nicknames when they originally fill out your forms. Plus, you need alternatives for those who don’t already exist in your system. You can, however, at least kick off your email with words like “You” and “Your” or “Hello” to give it that extra personal feel without relying on name-populating fields in the subject line.
- Ask a question. People are more likely to open emails that begin with a question they want to know the answer to. Curiosity is a powerful tool! However, don’t lead with a “yes or no” question. If you ask, “Do you like warm winter socks?” your readers will have the chance to immediately think “no” and never touch your email. Try something like: “What is your wardrobe missing this winter season?”
- Lead with an offer. In the example above, you might catch people’s attention with a question about winter socks in general. But if you’re about to describe a sale on winter socks, that’s information that you should provide up-front—not a surprise to hide inside the email itself. If there’s a coupon, sale, invitation, or other offer, make sure it’s stated right in the subject line.
- Consider your missing audience. You might know that emails about winter accessories get a lot of attention. However, if you consistently lead every email with an offer about winter accessories, you’re always going to be appeasing the same segment of your audience. Let’s say that’s 70%—a great number! But what about your subscribers who don’t care about winter accessories? How can you engage that other 30% without leaving them out in the cold? Try some testing to determine what those missing readers are really looking for and be sure to send out emails that address their needs every once in a while, too.
- Make sure your subject line agrees with your content. Although open rates are important, you also want to make sure people are actually engaging with the content inside your emails. For example, instead of saying, “Save big bucks now!” (which might get you a lot of curious opens) you should be more specific and say: “Save big bucks now on warm winter socks!” That’s because the people who are captivated by this subject line will be happier to see information about your socks inside than the people who clicked without knowing what you were about to offer—and perhaps don’t even need any new socks. They will have a bad experience with irrelevant content coming from your brand.
Want more user-friendly email marketing tips to kick off your newsletter or your next nurturing campaign? Contact Mad 4 Marketing. We’re happy to assess your current approach and offer custom advice.