In a day and age where people’s inboxes are overflowing with emails, most of it junk mail, how could your business possibly stand out? The key is creating an engaging subject line that will entice your readers to open up your company’s emails. Since email marketing has become an extremely popular way to market your products and services over the years, it’s important that you get your recipients to spot your emails amongst the clutter. After all, getting recipients to open your email is the first step to bringing in more business.
If you’re looking to boost your email open rates, it all starts with the subject line. Here are several ways to create engaging subject lines and further improve the likelihood that your emails will be picked out from a crowd.
Stay Short & Sweet
A long subject line will often cause your recipients to send your email straight to the trash, before they even open it. Who wants to read a ridiculous 40-word over-the-top subject line, anyway? Longer subject lines run the risk of being cut-off, and keeping it short and sweet is much more visually appealing. Also, short catchy subject lines entice the reader to open your email without giving away everything about the contents of your email. Recipients should have to open your emails to take advantage of your offers, which is why keeping it short works to your advantage.
Create a Sense of Urgency
It’s important that you make your recipients want to open your emails right away. Letting them know that they need to act fast in order to redeem your offers before they expire is a good call. The longer an email sits in someone’s inbox, the less likely they are to open it at all. If there’s no sense of urgency, there will be no reason for your recipients to open your emails any time soon. It helps to add a deadline or expiration date in your subject line in order to entice your recipients to act as quickly as possible. However, you also want to be aware of creating subject lines that read as spam. Avoid anything like “Buy Here Now”, “Free Offer Today Only”, or “You’re a Winner!” Not only will this annoy your recipients and cause them to unsubscribe, there’s also a huge chance you will end up in their spam filters.
Avoid Ambiguity
Ambiguous subject lines are not only annoying for recipients, they could also be illegal. In order to remain CAN-SPAM compliant, it’s important that your email subject lines are clear and you don’t attempt to mislead your recipients. Email recipients want to know what to expect when opening your emails, or else you run the risk of them unsubscribing. Stay away from confusing and misleading subject lines and you’ll see your open rate improve.
Get Creative
It’s completely possible to build a clear and informative subject line, while also remaining fun and creative. Coming up with a clever quip that represents both your company and the products and services you provide could do wonders for your email open rate. Being informative doesn’t mean you have to lose your sense of humor. Get those creative juices flowing!
Perhaps the best way to judge an email subject line is to think about what appeals most to you as an email recipient. Consider what subject lines would turn you away and what would get you clicking. What subject lines catch your attention? Do you like when they’re personalized? Do you tend to open emails when they look urgent? Let us know in the comments!