WHY YOUR EMAIL SUBJECT LINE MATTERS SO MUCH AND HOW TO IMPROVE IT?

June 07, 2021 | Fox Tales

THE EMAIL OVERLOAD IS REAL! From your employees to your audiences , from your clients to your stakeholders, nearly everyone’s inbox is constantly flooded with emails, all of which are competing for their time and attention. Most people spend just a fraction of a second scanning through email subject lines. If the subject line does not immediately capture their attention, they move on the next message in their inbox, even though the email body may contain information that is valuable to them.

Heard of the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? That definitely does not apply in the case of email marketing. The subject line is the first (and more often than not, the only) opportunity you will have to grab someone’s attention and to get them to click through to read more. It is what decides the fate of your email. While that may sound intimidating, do not worry!  Here are some tips and tricks to improve your subject line:

1) Keep It Short and Simple: Always try to keep your subject line less than fifty characters and not more than five words. Research shows that most often emails are opened on mobile devices, which shows fewer characters. Therefore, it is important to reach out using short and punchy words which will make subscribers want to open it.

2) Personalize your Subject Lines: Personalizing your subject lines make the subscribers feel unique- like the subject line was written while keeping them in mind. Campaign Monitor has found that emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened, so consider adding a first name or other personalized details in the subject field.

3) Convey a Sense of Urgency or Exclusivity: The main aim of your email is to get people to open it and read it rather than ignore it. Encourage your subscribers to open your emails by using keywords like ‘hurry’ or ‘urgent’ to convey a sense of urgency, and ‘exclusive’ and ‘only for you’ to foster a sense of exclusivity in your subject lines. Keywords like ‘important’ and ‘alert’ also deliver a similar tone.

4) Announcement and Invitations: The words ‘announcement’ and ‘invitation’ have a huge impact on your open rates, as they make users curious to know more.  Use the invitation them to notify followers about upcoming events, launches, or updates. Sales, discounts, offers and promotions can call be ‘announced’ to pique reader interest. For example, ‘HUGE Announcement Out Toda!’ can be used as a subject line to capture consumer attention and build anticipation for the email body.

5) Clear Call to Action: Having a clear, concise call to action in the email subject line is a great way to encourage audiences to open your email.  Use interesting verbs in your subject line- they make your subject lines sound more active, and also have a clear ask from your subscribers. Be sure to use striking, actionable text to draw readers in. Try to avoid more passive words like ‘submit’, ‘enter’, and even ‘click here’ in favor of more compelling verbs like ‘get’, ‘read’, and ‘try’, then couple those with text relating to your specific offer.

Typically, the subject line is often left until the last minute and doesn’t have a lot of thought put into it. That has to change! Using an attention-grabbing subject line is one of the best ways to achieve high email engagement levels. So, use these tips, and let us know if they help you!