Email marketing is still effective. True, since the dawn of the internet, many new digital marketing channels have emerged, such as social media. However, research consistently shows that email marketing continues to deliver a strong return on investment.
This actually makes sense. Quite simply, many internet users have email addresses. Thus, email marketing campaigns give you the opportunity to reach a large audience.
That said, it’s also important to keep in mind that a marketing email can only boost your business if people actually read it. That’s why you need to keep these email marketing subject line tips in mind:
Email Marketing Subject Lines: Key Tips You Need to Know
Make it Personal
Sometimes writing a strong subject line is much simpler than you might realize. For instance, study after study indicates that people are more likely to open emails when the subject lines feature their names. Email marketing programs can help by automatically inserting the name of a recipient into the subject line of any email you send (when it makes sense to do so).
Front Load Important Words
Consider how your audience is likely to check their email inboxes. According to recent consumer studies and surveys, it’s becoming more and more common for people to check their emails on smartphones.
That’s an important point for the simple fact that when email subject lines are displayed on small smartphone screens, readers often won’t see as much text as they would if they were checking their emails on desktop computers. Thus, you need to make sure you’re including important words towards the front of your email marketing subject lines, as that is the only part of the subject line you can be confident your audience will see in their inbox.
Don’t Use Too Much Punctuation
Some new email marketers make the mistake of believing they can excite an audience by including a lot of punctuation in a subject line. An example would be “Winter SALE!! These deals are incredible!!!”
However, research from Mailchimp shows that you shouldn’t include more than three punctuation marks in a given email subject line (and even that many might be pushing it in various circumstances).
Why not? Because excessive punctuation makes an email look like spam.
Test
As with other types of marketing content, including social media ads and calls to action, you need to A/B test different email subject lines to get a better sense of which strategies do and do not work. Don’t merely assume you’ve written the strongest subject line you can. Test a different version of it with half your audience to confirm you’ve chosen the strongest option.
Give Them a Reason to Open Your Email
People are busy. Very few members of your audience will open an email simply because they received it. They need a clear reason to click on it. Your subject line has to tell them what they’ll find if they open the email. Additionally, it has to honestly and accurately represent the content. Surveys show people dislike it when email marketers use misleading subject lines.
Whether you’re marketing a small product of your own or handling marketing for a fast-growing startup, remember to apply these email marketing subject line tips. They’ll help you boost open rates, which will in turn lead to more conversions.