How Email Subject Lines can Boost Your Email Open Rates

The ultimate goal of every brand and business is to get the word spread out about their services/products and added values, and there are currently several tools you can rely on to do just that. One of the popular ones is email marketing. Mail makes up for one of the biggest databases in the world.

Creating a whole email marketing strategy is a challenge, but there’s no point in working on a beautiful layout if nobody wants to open it. The first step of email marketing is making your potential audience open your newsletters, so pay close attention to the subject line. The invitation for people to get to know your brand, the subject line is probably the most important part of the email. While it seems writing it is a no-brainer, there are actually several practices you should keep in mind before you send out your newsletter. If you want to know just how important subject lines are just check out these numbers:

According to Experian Marketing Services, personalized and short subject lines boost your email open rates up to 26%. This means that, by simply doing a clear segmentation work and finding a concise way to say what you expect from your customers, you can make an impressive amount of people to want to read the whole content of your email. Now, since 49% of people actually open their emails based on the subject line, you can see the importance of creating short and attractive catchy titles!

1. The Right Length of an Email Subject Line

This is one of the most important parts when writing a perfect subject line for your email. Even though email subject lines allow for a practically unlimited amount of words/characters (the length allowed ranges from 350 to 998, depending on the mail provider), you should be very careful with your title length. A desktop or tablet inbox reveals about 60 characters, but a mobile view shows between 25 and 30 characters in the subject line. Since almost 77% of all emails are read in mobile devices, it’s almost mandatory to sum up your intentions in 6 words at most. A long and unreadable subject line can make your email open rates drop significantly.

2. Get to the Point

Since the space provided to write your email’s subject is extra short, you should be able to state your purpose from the very beginning. Be clear and straight, use short words and make sure to ask for just one specific action from your recipient. If you’re sending a product sale mail, make sure to explain it upfront, if your email needs an answer, state it before anything else. Leave useless or “filler” words out of your subject, remember it’s your only shot to get someone’s attention.

3. Make it Personal with the Recipient’s Name

You can’t deny you feel more intrigued when you see your name on an email. If your mailing program is able to register names and birth dates along with users’ addresses, take advantage of it! As much personalization as possible is best to grab attention in the first scroll through a person’s inbox. Custom details may also include birthday mails, offers with items your customer might like according to their searches in your website, add their location to the subject for events held near your customers and more.

4. Types of Subject Lines Everyone will Want to Open

Now that you understand the importance of writing short, clear and personalized email subject lines for your email campaigns, there are hundreds of ideas you can try. The thing to keep in mind is that, by using psychology and marketing tactics, there’s a way to make your audience actually wait to receive your emails and open them to find out what’s inside. Check out some of the most attractive examples of subject lines.

To Spark Curiosity

One of the most characteristic traits of human beings is their need to fill gaps and answer questions. A successful way to write a subject line is to use your audience’s curiosity. Some examples of this tactic are:

This email contains a gift FOR YOU
The 5 best kept secrets of the world’s richest man
Don’t read this email
[recipients name], only you can read this
Is this the kitchen product of the future?

Funny Ones

Humor has been one of the best tools in publicity and marketing ever since it was first invented. If you “open with a joke” and make your audience laugh upfront, it’ll get them in the perfect mood to want to open your email and keep reading. Some examples of funny subject lines are:

Welcome! Please don’t leave us!
Hooray! Thank you for being a shopaholic
The secret to make people leave you alone

Solve a Problem or Need

Since the main point of marketing is to find a way to answer your audience’s questions, going straight to the point always works. Stating what you’ll solve for your potential customers right from the subject line can improve your email open rates. Here are some good examples:

The jeans that shape your body have arrived
Get the skin you always wanted in 5 minutes
Organize your kitchen with our 10 steps

To Create a Sense of Urgency

Another way to tackle human psychology is by reaching to your audience’s fear of missing out. Even when someone doesn’t really “need” something, the moment you let them know they might not get “x”, they want it desperately. Some good examples of urgent subject lines are:

Don’t let your subscription expire
[URGENT] Last minute items in our catalog
24 hour flash sale!
You’re missing on the biggest discounts of the year!

Don’t forget to use appropriate language at all times, stay clear of capital letters but most of all think of your audience when writing the subject lines of your newsletters. Having a full knowledge of what your potential clients and followers like and want to talk about will make it easier for you to bring up compelling topics and offers. So next time you’re planning your email marketing calendar, start by thinking of a subject line you’d like to read and click!