Introduction:
An email subject line is the most important part of an email. So, how to write email subject lines which make sure that the mails are received by the recipients and not delivered straight to the spam folder. Yes, it is more important than the body of the email though the message body contains more details about the mail. Now why do you think the subject line is the most important part? That’s because the subject line is an important parameter that determines whether the mail will be delivered to the Inbox or the spam folder of the recipient’s mailbox. If any bad word or spam word is used in the subject line, the mail will get blocked by the spam filter of the Email Service Provider (ESP) or the mail will be delivered to the spam folder of the recipient instead of the inbox.
The open rate of any marketing mail also depends a great deal on the subject line. Once a new mail lands in the recipient’s mailbox, the recipient gets to see only the subject of the email. So, the subject line needs to be a eye catching and interesting one which will compel the recipient to open the mail, read it and take appropriate action.
You can simply follow the ABC rule to generate killer subject lines. Here, A stands for – Attention, B – Benefits and C – Curiosity.
Think it in this way – You are an email marketer and suppose you have received an email related to an email marketing campaign. You read the subject line of it but it failed to grab your attention or you didnt find it to be interesting or helpful at all. Would you still go ahead and open it? No, right?
So it is very important for the subject line to catchy and interesting.
Attention
As stated earlier, your subject line should grab the attention of the recipients. If the subject is able to do so, then there is a high chance that the mail will get opened. In order to grab the attention you will have to generate a eye-catching subject line. The best way to grab attention is to put in a question as the subject line. Make sure the question is related to one of the most common problems in the same niche as the email marketing campaign.
Benefits
Clearly mention the benefits that the recipients will receive from you and it should be in the subject line. Basically it is the biggest take away from the email for the readers. Make sure your mail add values or solves at least one niche related problem.
Curiosity
Ignite the curiosity within the minds of the readers so that they want to read the detailed email as soon as they receive it.
Lets take an example: How to write email subject lines
Here is the result of the subject line that I tested on the sendcheckit.com. The subject line is for an email that I am going to send to my email list of digital marketers and it says – “what are the 3 super simple rules to boost your email campaign?”
Now let’s focus on the subject line.
The entire subject line is a question. So, it will grab their attention and they will be able to relate to the question and start .
This will also make them curious about the “3 super simple rules”. They would start wondering which those rules are!
Boosting is the prime objective of any email campaign. So it’s the biggest benefit that this email subject line is offering to its readers.
I hope I explained the ABC rule in a very simple manner. Now let’s move on.
How to write email subject lines: Urgent Subject lines
If you are offering any discount on your product or service or providing any freebies for a limited period of time, you should choose words for the email subject line very carefully. If you use bad and spammy word like “Hurry” or “buy now” your mail will reach the spam folder. Hence do not forget to check your email subject before sending out the marketing emails.
In the above screenshot the subject line could only get a “C” (not good). This happened due to the use of spammy and bad words like – “Hurry” and “Buy now”. See below –
How to write email subject lines: 9 super easy ways to improve your subject lines
- Purpose of the mail
- Try out multiple email subject line
- A/B Test the subject line
- Refine your email list (know your recipients)
- Keep it short and the language simple
- Make them curious
- Set the expectation right
- Personalize
- Follow the spam filter parameters
- Purpose of the email – So, what is the purpose of sending out the email? Is it about some new product or service that you are going to launch? Do you want to make your readers aware of it? Or is it some cool, high quality content that you have delivered and you can’t wait to send it out? Whatever may be the reason, you need to be 100% sure about the purpose of the mail.
- Try out multiple email subject lines – Do not write only 1 subject line and finalize it. You need to try out multiple subject lines. Describe the subject from different angles and then find out the one that fits best as. Do some research and try to find out related templates from the internet and get inspired by those templates to produce killer subject lines.
- A/B Test the subject line – You should always A/B test your subject lines before finalizing one. Once you have drafted a subject do some testing. You will be surprised to see how much you need to change the draft as per the test results.
- Refine your email list – Check and recheck your email list before sending out your email campaign mails to that list. Make sure your email list contents only “targeted audience”. This means, your email list should contain audience with interest in the same niche or sub niche as that of the email campaign. This will make sure that your email reaches the right people who would take an interest on your mail and it will thus increase the open rate of the mail.
- Keep it short and the language simple – Your subject should be short (not more than 8-10 words and 50-60 characters) and catchy. Also, try to use simple and easily understandable language. Avoid using jargons. The subject line is not the place to show off your knowledge and expertise.
- Make them curious –As mentioned earlier, have your readers curious on the subject line itself. Write in such a way that they should want to know more about the content of the email.
- Set the expectation right – By reading the subject line the reader should clearly under what to expect from the mail. If you are promising a high quality content, then you will have to deliver it in the body of the email or as an attachment. Do not forget to attach the content or do not just send out promotional contents or junks. In this case there is a high chance that the readers will unfollow you or worst, report your mail as spam.
- Personalize – Instead of using terms like “dear”, “Hello” or “hi” try using the First name (if the recipient is an individual) or the company name (if the recipient is an organization) in the subject line. It sends out the message to the recipient that you care. It gives a sense of personalization. It seems to the reader that the sender really cares about his reply or the action he is going to take after reading the mail.
- Follow the spam filter parameters –In order to deliver the marketing mail to the inbox of the recipient your email marketing campaign would have to follow a set of rules in order to pass through the spam filters of the Email Service Providers (ESP).
How to improve your email subject lines: Things not to be included in subject line:
- Do not use bad or spammy words in the subject line – Using spam or bad words will alert the spam filters of the recipient mail server and the mail will be promptly thrown in the Spam folder.
- Do not use ALL CAPS characters and repetitive punctuations like – !!!!!!!!!!. – Spam filters are suspicious towards ALL CAPS characters and repetitive punctuations. These types of characters are treated as spam or malicious mails.
- Do not use fake Fwd: and Re: in the subject – Some email marketers put in RE: or FWD: at the starting of the subject so that it appears to the recipient as if your marketing mail is the reply of their any previous mail. This trick used to increase the open rate of your mails but today’s smart, AI spam filters easily find out these tricks and labels the mail as spam.
- Do not over-promise, lie or make fake claims – If you do these then the recipients will understand that you are nothing but a fraud and your emails are spams (no need of any spam filter to figure that out).
Conclusion:
So the email subject line is the first and foremost thing that you need to take care of if you want a successful email marketing system structure. Use the ABC rule as the pillar of each and every subject for your mails and do not forget A/B test. Also do not try to fool the spam filters. Instead, play by their rules.