10 Tips To Write Effective Subject Lines For Email Marketing Guest Author Photo by Christina Morillo Email marketing is one of the very few marketing trends that has been around for several years but still hasn’t lost its charm. Despite being one of the oldest, email marketing is among the most effective marketing strategies in 2022. Studies have proven that emails can get you an astonishing 42% higher ROI than other prevalent marketing channels. Indeed, this channel is impeccable for gaining maximal ROI with a minimal budget. But, what good is the power of email marketing if your emails never really reach your targeted consumers? This incredible channel can quickly turn into a loss-making marketing landscape if not utilized correctly. Hence, a well-structured layout is paramount for your email marketing to succeed. In this article, we will talk about optimizing one of the most important aspects of email marketing strategies, i.e. subject lines. Do you want to make sure that your email is clicked and read? Compelling email subject lines are the key to making that happen! Read along to understand how important email subject lines are and what are some practical ways to make them more powerful. Let us dive right in! Email Subject Lines- Why are they important? To begin with, the “email subject line” is the only thing that your recipients will see when they receive the email. Therefore, if this line is not catchy or essential enough, they will not bother opening the mail. Powerful email subject lines impact the readers and motivate them to open the mail. They play a colossal role in determining whether or not your email marketing efforts will pay off. Think about your inbox. Which emails do you prefer to open, and which ones are in the trash? By doing so, you’ll get to know that subconsciously the majority of the readers judge the mail by subject line. Research suggests that nearly 47% of the recipients open emails solely based on subject lines. That is almost half of your email list. Therefore, it is crucial to craft your subject lines mindfully to prevent your emails from ending up unread or, worse, in the spam folder. There are a plethora of practices to make your subject lines better and to ensure that your mail is opened. Let’s have a look at some of the most effective ones. 10 Actionable Tips To Craft Better Subject Lines For Email Marketing Stay Away From Spam Words Aggressive promotion and overtly sales-y subject lines can send you straight to the spam folders. One of the most common hazards of email marketing is using spamming subject matter like all caps alphabets, multiple exclamation marks, and over the top sales words like ‘buy now’ or ‘free free free. Try and focus on sharing valuable content with your target audience. You can share valuable information with them, make them aware of your products/services and offers and engage with them to build brand loyalty. Create A Sense Of Urgency The most effective way to draw someone’s immediate attention is to create a sense of urgency. If your email is regarding an offer or sale, try and mention the window of time in your subject line. This will motivate the readers to read the detailed description and take prompt action if they are interested in your products/services. This practice can also be beneficial when promoting an offer/ sale with a series of emails. However, it’s essential not to flood your readers’ inboxes with subject lines creating a false state of emergency. This will increase your chances of ending up in the spam folder. Experiment With Teaser Subject Lines Have you ever noticed that most people love movie trailers but not AD commercials? Audiences often find previews intriguing, and they create a sense of curiosity amongst them. Now apply the same concept to email subject lines. Craft teaser subject lines to spark the interest of your readers rather than giving away the punchline right at the beginning. However, you still need to ensure that your subject is not vague and doesn’t leave your readers confused. For, e.g. ‘destination weddings … read what the hype is all about. This subject line does both; it hooks the readers and informs what the email is about. However, not all individuals respond well to preview. Some prefer specific subjects, and here’s where the next tip comes into play. Be Direct As mentioned above, some individuals respond best to direct and precise subject lines. If you want your audience to take a specific action like purchasing a product or enrolling on an event with your email marketing campaign, don’t hesitate to mention that in your subject line. These straightforward subjects not only motivate readers to open the email but also inspire them to take action, pushing them forward on your sales methodology. Include numbers & Figures The majority of the businesses send an email with vague statements as their subject lines. In this scenario, you can stand apart from the crowd by using data and numbers in your subject lines. Using numbers in your subject line, like in your blog title, is an excellent email marketing best practice. You may use numbers to announce specific discounts, the numerical advantage of a resource you’re giving, or the purchase price of a product Some great examples of subject lines with numbers are as follows – “Join over 750 people at this event!” , “25% on this clothing brand”, “Buy your favorite pair of jeans now at $20”, etc. Leverage The Power Of Personalization Personalization is a powerful tool. It excites your readers and creates a sense of belonging in their minds. Data suggests that using particulars like location and name in the subject lines will increase your click-through rates significantly and helps create a rapport between your business and targeted consumers. However, it can be pretty challenging to personalize emails for a long email list. We recommend considering email marketing CRMs to make the job easier for you. Make Announcements If your company has something new coming up, channel that enthusiasm and let it reflect in your subject line. Let your readers know what your business is up to; it makes them feel like they are among the first people to know about the special offers. When you can’t utilize personalization, special announcement emails are an excellent alternative for you to build a sense of belonging and improve brand loyalty. Begin With Action-Oriented Words By adding an inspiring action verb at the beginning of your subject line, you can make your emails enticing and drastically improve your click-through rate. Practicing this approach will serve two purposes mentioned above, i.e. creating urgency and sparking enthusiasm with a teaser. E.g. using a subject line like ‘ Dine 50 meters above ground level at Sky Dining, Dubai’ rather than using generic words like ‘bringing a sky dining experience to you’. The word ‘dine’ helps users envision a dining experience and inspires them to take the necessary action. Highlight Multimedia In Your Subject Line We all know that videos are a great tool to engage with your audience. Adding a presentation, video or podcast can make your content more engaging and keep your audience hooked up with the brand. However, It is a lesser-known fact that the mere mention of words like ‘video’ or other multimedia in the email subject line can increase your click-through rate by 50%. So, if you have included media in your email, do not forget to mention that in your subject line. Analyze Your Results The tips mentioned above have proven effective for several businesses; however, not all companies are the same, nor are their email marketing plans. Therefore, every business needs to analyze which subject lines are working best for their specific audience by measuring click-through rates, responses, conversion rates etc. Try out different strategies and analyze the specifics to determine what works best for you. Some of the most important factors to consider are – Long or short subject line. Including a number or not including numbers Catchy lines or direct subject lines. Numbers or questions Signing Off With the tips mentioned above, you are all set to optimize your subject lines and bring in more business with email marketing. Crafting email subject lines by following the points in this article will help your emails get the traction they deserve and ensure that you get the most out of your money, time and resources invested in email marketing. Apart from that, we recommend putting yourself in your readers’ shoes and trying to understand which subject lines will inspire them to open the email. If you cannot get desired outcomes from your email marketing practices even after optimizing your subject line, you can invest in a professional email marketing CRM that helps you create qualified subject lines, run campaigns efficiently, measure email marketing stats and a lot more. ____________________________________________________________________________ Shraddha Patel Shraddha Patel is an ardent writer at SaaS Brothers who generates best-in-class posts on a wide range of SaaS tools & techniques. She also produces well-researched and factual posts on strategic solutions for SaaS.