"The inbox is a hostile place. With a squillion other emails jostling for your subscribers’ limited attention, it’s important that you make your subject line stand out – and get your email opened."
Your email's subject line strongly impacts how well it performs. It's the first thing subscribers see and since you're competing for their time and attention, you have to make it something worth opening. Higher open rates, leads to higher click rates, which leads to more traffic... making everyone happy! :)
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Email Marketing - Tips & Best Practice for Subject Lines - for Higher Open Rates
1 – Keep it short and sweet.
Email subject lines will get cut off if they’re too long, particularly on mobile devices. And with 40% of emails being opened on mobile first, we recommend using subject lines with fewer than 50 characters to make sure the people scanning your emails read the entire subject line.
2 - Self-Interest
These are your bread and butter subject lines – you should be using them most frequently.
They are usually direct and speak to a specific benefit your audience will gain by opening the email. Self-interest subject lines also help pre-qualify openers by giving them a clue about your email’s body content.
3 - Start with action-oriented verbs.
Subject lines are similar to call-to-actions, in that you want the language to inspire people to click. Subject lines that begin with action verbs tend to be a lot more enticing, and your emails could be drastically more clickable by adding a vibrant verb at the beginning.
Actionable subject lines will inspire people to click on your email by instilling urgency and excitement. For example, in an email inviting people to a hockey legend dinner, the email subject line might read, “Dine with Bruins legend Bobby Orr,” rather than a more generic (and less actionable) “Local Boston Sports Legend Meal." The former email uses “Dine” to help the reader envision themselves at a dinner table.
4 - Don't make false promises.
Your email subject line is making a promise to your reader about what you will deliver in your message. Make sure that you make good on that commitment -- and do not try to get your email opened by making false promises. This will irk your audience, and they'll learn not to trust your subject lines, resulting in a lower open rate and a higher unsubscribe rate
5 - Curiosity
If self-interest subject lines work because they communicate a direct benefit of opening the email, curiosity-based ones succeed for the exact opposite reason. These peak the interest of subscribers without giving away too much information, leading to higher opens. Be careful though, because curiosity-based subject lines can get old fast and are the most likely to miss their mark.
6 - Use numbers
A lot of businesses send emails with vague statements in their subject lines -- which is why using data and numbers is a great way to get your emails noticed, demonstrate a clear and straightforward message about your offer, and set the right expectations.
Just like with article titles and headlines, using numbers in your subject line is an effective email marketing best practice. You might use numbers to refer to the title of your listicle (7 Top Boston Taco Restaurants), a specific discount, or the numerical benefit of a particular resource you're providing -- like "Join more than 750 others at this event!" (Might work great for Concierge Event Invites)
7 - Pose a compelling question.
Asking a question in your subject line can also draw readers in -- especially if you're asking a question you know is relevant to your recipients' persona. For example, you might try the following: “Are you coming to Las Vegas this weekend?” or "Have you ever traveled solo? "
8 - Urgency/Scarcity
This is the most powerful type of subject line you have at your disposal. Subject lines that communicate urgency and scarcity tell readers they must act now. Too many of these can lead to list exhaustion so use sparingly and, of course, only when there is truly a deadline, limited quantity or limited availability.
9 - Humanity
Sometimes you just need to thank your subscribers or send them a holiday greeting. Don’t forget to remind your list about the person or people behind your products.
10 - Story
Telling a story, or at least teasing the beginning of one, in your subject line is a unique way to highlight a benefit and get the open rate you’re looking for.
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