I can’t stress enough how imperative the subject line is to the success of your email campaign. Similar to a first date, a subject line needs to make a first impression that will be strong enough to open the gateway of further communication. It is the factor that decides whether the recipient opens or disregards your message altogether. It must be compelling and interesting in order to prompt the viewer to want to know more.
Don’t fall for common clichés such as “free” or “first time offered” but instead trigger an emotional reaction. A subject line that reads “I have the solution” is infinitely better than “Bad credit?”; “Bring Eyeballs to Your Blog” appears to be more interesting than “Blog Tips”. Likewise, Chicken Soup for the Soul wouldn’t have sold as many copies had it been called Great Short Stories.
There’s a simple solution to identify whether you are obtaining that emotional reaction: you must test a variety of subject lines. Testing has always been the key to direct response success, and in email its significance is amplified. For example, which subject line had the highest response, “Fortunes being made with this new invention” or “Cashing in on fortune-making trend”? Only by testing would it be possible to confirm.
Crayola Crayons tested 17 email greetings, all of which had the goal of getting people to fill out their survey. Some individuals received generic subject lines such as, “Help us help you”, other subject lines revealed an incentive, such as the possibility of a gift certificate, and then there was the simplest of simple, the subject line, “Crayola Survey”. The results were shocking.
“Crayola Survey” had the highest response rate; it nearly tripled the email marketing industry average response rate of 10 – 15%. “Crayola Survey” was such a successful subject line because Crayola included their company name in the greeting, and they had already formed a high rapport with their recipients. However, no marketer can be certain that this factor would be more influential than an offer without first putting it to the test.
Verbs, nouns, adverbs or adjectives, which part of speech increases the likelihood that emails will be read? Verbs initiate actions and reflect importance. Verbs have a greater power than nouns. Some general marketing examples are: “visit your nearest store”, “drop in at your nearest store”, and “hurry to your nearest store”. Many options exist, so your verb choice is crucial for an effective subject line.
Does safety lie in plainness? Not for email. Telling the recipient what to do helps convince that person to read beyond the subject line. For instance: “Information you should have about internet hacking schemes.”; the subject line begins with a dull, neutral noun. Consider the same message when beginning with a power verb: “Beware of internet hacking schemes”. The message doesn’t suffer with the word information missing, as beware is much more motivational.
Concentrating on verbs is usually a sound marketing decision, but even though well-chosen verbs have strength, other parts of speech are valuable as well. The typical, “How to…” catch phrase can be effective, but only if “How to…” is followed by a power verb such as win, beat or grab. Following “How to…” with be or go, can’t compete with a power-verb as a first word that demands attention.
So in closing, make a statement with your subject line that can’t be avoided and make it a priority to test them out, as you’ll never know what you might discover.
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