In many ways, the subject line acts as the make-or-break linchpin of an email marketing campaign.
Follow these 5 tips to create the perfect the email subject line in order to maximize click-through rates, increase engagement among recipients and bolster campaign ROI.
Personalization is key. Insert the recipient’s name into the subject line of an email to develop a more personal connection before he or she even opens the message.- In “Hamlet,” William Shakespeare wrote that brevity is the soul of wit. Although email subject lines weren’t around in Shakespeare’s day, it could be argued that the same advice still holds true. Long subject lines act as a turnoff and prevailing wisdom states that marketers should try to keep them to fewer than 40 characters when possible.
- Steer clear of using excessive capitalization or exclamation points, as this may result in promotional messages being marked as spam.
- Ask questions to pique consumers’ interest – they might just click on the email to find out the answer.
- Use hashtags to indicate that you’re running a cross-media campaign. This is a great way to spur engagement via social networking platforms as well as email, and recipients don’t even have to open the message to be aware of this fact.
Behold the preheader
Even with the importance of the subject line in email marketing performance, the email preheader is not to be overlooked.
A post on Envato Market’s Blog highlighted the importance of the text underneath the subject line that appears when an email is previewed on a mobile device (and certain desktop email clients), otherwise known as the preheader. As the source explained, the preheader text snippet gives marketers a few extra characters to use to connect with recipients. It can be a defining factor in whether or not your email gets opened.
Combined with the above tips, an effective preheader is sure to bolster response and conversions. Be sure to create different versions of your email campaigns for split-testing. Doing so will give you a clearer idea of which subject lines and preheaders are the most effective with your audience.
