Company Blog
On the Subject of Subjects
by Ryan Joy — June 17, 2010
If you’re like most of us, you read less than half of what shows up in your inbox, and only decided to open this email after considering (1) the sender and (2) the subject line. In their book Successful Email Marketing Strategies, Hughes and Sweetser deem subject lines “the single most important element in a promotional email.”
1. Use Straightforward Language. Keep it simple and name the email something that lets recipients know what they’re getting. Look for words that clearly convey the benefit you’re offering (the word “coupon” performs well) without being pushy. 
If it comes across as a sales pitch, it will be deleted immediately. It often makes sense to put the title of the publication at the beginning, as we do with “Idea of the Week”. We’ve also found that descriptive language increases open rates—subjects with words like “sweet” and “local” perform better than those without.
2. Avoid Words Typically Rejected By Spam Filters. Words and phrases like “special,” “offer expires,” and even “all natural” often trigger Spam filters and keep your message from ever reaching a customer’s inbox. Other factors include words in all caps, exclamation marks, and the placement of certain words at the beginning or end of the phrase. For instance, the word “free” is so effective that we often use it in subject lines, but it’s best to keep it in the middle of the subject line, and never in all caps.
3. Track Subject Line Success by the Open Rate. The open rate is the percentage of recipients who click to open the email. You can learn a lot about your customers by testing two different subject lines for each eblast and then contrasting the results.
Feel like sharing?
What trends have you noticed with email subjects?
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