Blog Post

Email Subject Lines - Tips and Ideas

September 18, 2019
Author: Price Anderson

Did you know that 64% of all email recipients open your message based on the subject line? Or that the average office worker receives 121 daily emails? What about the fact that a study performed by Statista from 2014-2019, found there to be an estimated 5,594 million active email accounts worldwide? With numbers like that it's obvious as to why email is one of the most commonly used tactics in digital marketing.

Email marketing consists of several components but is ideal to use for both B2C and B2B because of the wide reach and cost effectiveness. When composing your email campaign there are a multitude of factors that should be taken into consideration for it to be a successful campaign.

These factors include regulations, subject lines, audiences, and even hygiene of lists. Other factors that arise that will have an impact on your campaign and should be taken into consideration include A/B testing, configuration, deliverability, and system requirements. Of these mentioned I would like to emphasize that subject lines are one of the most crucial pieces to an email campaign.

Subject Lines are the smallest component of an email but have one of the highest impacts. It is the first thing a reader will see, and ultimately what will make a consumer decide if your email is worth opening, or deleting. A single mistake in the subject line can cause a campaign to be unsuccessful.

Here are some things to consider when creating a subject line:

Keep it short: Your subject line should be less than 7 words and 41 characters.

Make sure it does not look like spam: Avoid all caps, multiple explanation marks, words like "Buy Now" or "Free".

Give a command: Using commands like "Your invited" or "Join Us" will give your email recipients specific instructions.

Ask a question: Asking a question in a subject line will create a sense of curiosity among your email recipients.

Include a deadline: Create a sense of urgency with a short deadline. Use timing like: 24 hours, 2 days, last day.

Use emojis: Emojis are being used more and more. In 2019 emails using emojis had a higher unique response rate. Using emojis can also make your email standout and help your subject line fit on mobile devices.

Segment your lists: Use different subject lines for different portions of your list. Baby boomers are most likely going to respond differently to an email subject line than Generation X.

Test your subject line: Test, test, test! A/B split tests are an effective way to see which subject lines work the best.

Use a subject line scoring program: Use a subject line program (a lot of platforms have this built in) to determine ways you can increase deliverability with your subject line.

Again, continued testing is critical in this quickly changing digital marketing world. Consumer behaviors, platform algorithms, device configuration and technological changes are constantly emerging.

If you want to learn more about Email Marketing and how we can help you, contact us at dmc@directmail.com or 301-855-1700.