Email Campaigns That Open

Deeper Thinking on Subject Lines

Email campaign subject lines can make or break open rates. With a quick search, you can find a lot of information about subject lines. From there, you have to sort out the over-recycled content that lists rote suggestions from real strategic insight that requires deeper thought work. Rather than create another oversimplified list, I wanted to provide reality-based guidance along with some thought-provoking questions.

No matter how hard you worked on the content, if the subject line falls flat, fewer people may open the email. Most of my clients are surprised when they learn that the average email open rate across all industries falls between 15% and 21%. If you have a 30% to 40% open rate, you are either rocking your emails or you have a very loyal customer base. The email subject line is one component in your email campaign strategy that can increase open rate. When writing email subject lines, following best practices is a good start; experimenting and A/B testing headlines, even better.

Join Me In This Experiment

While reading this story, notice how you feel as you read each headline. Imagine each headline as an email subject line. Did it intrigue you, did you gloss over it, was there a disconnect, or did it make you want to keep reading? You’re already reading this story, so if you care about improving open rates in email campaigns, you will probably keep reading whether the headlines grab you or not. An unopened email is not so forgiving.

1 of 6 Truths About Open Rates

Using numbers is a common tool that has been shown to increase engagement. Be aware that this strategy is frequently embedded into article headlines and email subject lines to encourage clicks through overly simplistic or empty content, aka “clickbait.” In other words, use numbers wisely, and make sure that your headline reflects the spirit of the content.

Email Subject Lines Are #Waaayy More Important Than Instagram Hashtags

Consider spending as much time, or more, in concept of your email subject lines as on Instagram hashtags. While Instagram touts 12.6% more engagement with hashtag usage, research from Mention.com reports that, in general, Twitter hashtags don’t engage at all unless you happened to be interested in a South Korean boy band in 2017. Another report finds that Instagram hashtags are super important AND they do not increase post engagement at all, which I am still trying to unpack. (Of course, hash tags can be useful at times, for example, during events, rallies, protests, or for special promotions, but this requires a tipping point of agreed upon engagement.) Your email subscribers, on the other hand, are already poised to engage. If you spend 3 minutes per day creating hash tags for 5 posts per week resulting in a smattering of engagement, consider how 15 minutes could be used instead to craft an email subject line that will engage your existing subscribers. Your subscribers already like your cause, products, services, and value what you have to share. There is an art to crafting email subject lines, and experimenting with this is a great way to learn how to best engage the people who are ready to participate or learn more.

What Do People Want?

It’s a commonly overused and under-researched technique to use non-specific subject lines that attempt to create intrigue. Mystery is a difficult technique to wield when recipients are already overloaded with things in the inbox. An important rule in user experience is that people hate to think. “Winter Newsletter” is another example of a subject line that doesn’t offer any indication to what’s inside, so recipients may perceive it as uninformative. And… click, delete.

Note: In an upcoming post on Long Reads & Rule Breaking, I will explore best-practices rebellion and breaking the rules for some of the guidelines provided here. My disclaimer is that most of the time generic subject lines and content-heavy email campaigns are not effective. There is a certain “je ne sais quoi” required to breaking the best-practices rules, which you can read about in that upcoming story.

If the winter newsletter is for a restaurant, for example, a more descriptive subject line might highlight the winter specialty soup, “It’s cold out there! Drop in for a bowl of Butternut Squash Pasole.” Other subject lines might appeal to a recipient’s sense of community, solve a problem for them, ask them to help you solve a problem, capture their curiosity, or create a product availability timeline: “Select origin Colombian: Available through Friday, January 7.”

Your Package Is On Its Way!

Different kinds of content require different subject lines. If the email is transactional, for example, alerting the recipient about a subscription or the arrival of a package, the subject needs to be acutely clear and informative, like: “You’re package is on its way“ or “Your package is about to arrive.”

The Cast of Characters (In the Email Subject Line)

Watch subject line length (41-50 characters or less is a good benchmark). Could there be a benefit to using fewer words? Emails are segmented into a Promotions tab in Gmail, so consider how you will (or won’t) stand out in the sea of newsletter campaigns sent to Gmail recipients. In this case, very short may be better.

It’s Like a Yoga Class for Your Brand

The above headline is an example of a subject line meant to spark curiosity. The other day, I was describing my brand refresh to a friend, to which she said, “It’s like a yoga class for your brand!” I thought this was clever and decided to use it here to illustrate a point. When using a catchy headline, It’s also important that your content supports it. If subject lines doesn’t pay off and the content doesn’t generate any value or fulfill a need, users may feel like they are being marketed to. Clever statements need to resonate with the content, especially if the subject line makes a promise or connects with users on an emotional level. Like any relationship, when your language is clear, transparent, honest, and represents who you really are, the more likely that relationship is to thrive. So, yes, experiment with how you capture your readers' attention, and be conscious of the line between being clever and being real.