Tips for Writing Effective Email Subject Lines

When it comes to email marketing, the email subject line is probably the most vital element. A well crafted subject line will grab the attention of your audience and compel them to read the content. However, a poor headline will cause your email to be ignored or even deleted. Therefore, the quality of your subject lines can make or break your email marketing campaign.

Here are some tips for writing email headlines which will enhance your open rates:

1. Ask a question

This is one of the best ways of writing a subject line since it gives your subscribers something to ponder over. Make sure the question is something most of your customers are asking themselves. They will therefore want to open your email to get the answers. You could even provide part of the answer in your subject line. Here are some examples of questions you could ask:

• Looking for a painless way of losing weight? We have a solution
• Need some cool fashion ideas for summer?
• Do you want to experience financial freedom? Read on

2. Write a list

Having a list headline gives customers and prospects an idea of what to expect from your email. In addition, most people love lists because they are easy to scan through. As a result, they are more likely to open an email which has a list headline. Besides offering tips and guidelines, you could also occasionally provide a list of your products or services. Here are some examples:

• 4 ways of saving money while shopping
• Top 7 time management tools for businesses
• 12 beauty tips you didn’t know about

3. Conduct A/B split testing

You cannot be sure about what subject lines work best if you don’t test them. Therefore, before submitting your emails, take time to carry out A/B testing on different headline alternatives. Most email marketing software comes with tools which allow you to test your subject lines to find out which ones get the most opens

4. Keep it short and sweet

Most email services have a limit on the number of characters that can appear in the subject line in one view. Therefore, you need to minimize your subject line length. Preferably, it shouldn’t be longer than 60 characters. This will enable your subscribers to see the whole headline without having to scroll. If for some reason your headline needs to be longer, make sure all the important text appears at the beginning.

5. Mention popular brand names or people

Inserting popular brand names or people in your subject line can be a very powerful way of getting the attention of your audience. This is especially the case when the names are relevant to your niche and target audience. Here are some examples:

• Mark Cuban: How to grow your business
• 6 productivity lessons from Steve Job’s life
• Branding insights from Nike.

6. Avoid cliché or sales words

Most email services have filters which are designed to detect spam emails. Therefore, avoid using spam trigger words such as ‘reminder’, ‘free!’, ‘buy now!’ or ‘percent off’. In addition, subscribers are likely to ignore or delete emails which have obvious promotional phrases or words in the subject line.

7. Add a sense of urgency

This is another great way of enhancing the effectiveness of your email subject lines. Inserting words such as ‘24 hours left’ or ‘Today only’ in your headlines will compel the subscribers to open the email immediately so as to take advantage of the offer.

8. Mention specific benefits

You need to make it clear to your subscribers how they will benefit from reading your email. Make sure the benefit is quantified for enhanced effectiveness. Therefore, ‘How to double your income in 6 months’ would be a better headline than ‘How to increase your income.’

Charles Mburugu is a professional blogger who writes for TechBlogKe. You can follow him on Twitter @techblogke