How to write compelling subject lines

Its always nice to have a guest blogger on board especially when they are willing to impart their knowledge and experise on a subject i am often asked about – email marketing. 

Lyz Cordon. MD Diligent Design

I asked Lyz Cordon of Diligent Design, my web provider, for her top tips so enjoy and send me your thoughts.

Approximately 31% of people use the subject line to determine whether to open your email. Your subject line gives them a hint of the content of your email so it’s important to get it right.

It follows then that the most effective subject lines are those that prompt the person to open your emails and look for information. However, coming up with consistently compelling headlines can be tough especially as you only have 30-50 characters to get your message across.

Here are a couple of techniques you can use:

1. Highlight an immediate benefit
Use your subject line to tell your audience why they should open your email immediately – what’s the benefit to them in doing so. This creates a sense of urgency and tells your audience your email is important.

Creating a sense of urgency can increase open rates but beware of using this technique too often as the effect will wear off quickly. It’ll wear off even quicker if your subject lines make urgent statements without a context. For example subject lines such as ‘only 10 days to go’ or ‘sale ends soon’ don’t communicate the main subject of your email.

Here are some examples of how you can create urgency and hint at the main idea of the message:

OK: What you need to know about lead generation
Better: What you need to know now about lead generation

OK: Clothing sale
Better: Clothing sale – early entry information

OK: Conference invitation
Better: Last chance to register for conference

2. Include value words
Value words are those that talk directly to your audience and are personally relevant to them. Value words tell your audience that your email contains information specific to them and their interests rather than general information.

Here are some examples of how you can create subject lines around value words:

• 10 ways email marketing can save you money
• Inside: new technique improves open rates by 100%
• Over £90 of savings inside this email

3. Use a theme
Using a theme over a series of email campaigns can build familiarity with your audience and help you come up with several good subject lines.

Here’s an example of a series of email subject lines that use colour as their theme:

• Why orange increases your sales
• Why blue makes your customers feel at ease
• Why wearing brown makes you approachable

You’ve probably guessed that writing compelling subject lines is no different from writing attention grabbing headlines – except with a few more constraints. You have to put yourself firmly in the mind of your target audience and ask yourself what would make you open the email you’re about to send?

Tip: You can test your subject lines by using the A/B Testing option to determine which will generate the most opens. If you have a list of 1,000 subscribers, send your email to 100 of them with one subject line and to another 100 with the alternative. Email software will track your open rates and then you can send the winner to the remaining list.

Remember: The current CAN-SPAM laws prohibit subject lines that are likely to mislead a recipient so make sure your subject lines clearly and honestly represent the content in your email.
Find out more about how email marketing software can help you keep in touch with your customers for pennies, contact lyz@kloog.co.uk