How to write a good email subject line

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How to write a good email subject line
Glenn Carstens-Peters / Unsplash

The first thing subscribers see in their mailbox is the subject line. Therefore, your subject line must stand out from the dozens and hundreds of inbox neighbors so that the recipient will want to open your email. The success of the entire email campaign depends on it.

When mailboxes are completely overloaded, there’s a high probability that no one will pay attention to your mailings. As a result, all your efforts to prepare promotions may be in vain. If no one opens your letter, you won’t sell anything. Thus, the subject line of your email directly affects the level of your income.

In any case, you must remember that creatives, like clickbait, aren’t always appropriate. Emails with dubious subject lines are sent to spam.

Well, if you want to write a good email subject line, here’s what you should know.

What subject lines are catching the attention of people

The purpose of the subject line is to catch the recipient’s attention and convince him or her that there’s something interesting or useful in the letter. Only in this case he or she will want to open and read your message.

Here are tips to catch the attention of the recipient:

  • Simple informative subject lines:
    • Sometimes the most effective way to get your message across is to write concisely and to the point. This approach is most appropriate for technical emails.
    • For example, for notifications about user activity, order status, updates, payment reminders, etc.
    • Such emails have a specific purpose, so their subjects should also be specific.
      • “[Support] Technical maintenance. Access to the service will be limited!”
  • Controversial or shocking subject lines:
    • This strategy requires careful attention. You have to feel a line you can’t cross.
    • It’s a bit risky, but it leads to a dramatic increase in engagement. In any area of business, you can find statements that are highly controversial.
    • Alternatively, you can write some blatant but intriguing nonsense.
    • If you’re not sure your audience will accept this style of communication, test it on a small segment of them.
      • “[Support] Since January 11, your account will be blocked if you don’t…”
  • Use humor:
    • A good joke in the subject line is the best way to get your subscriber’s attention and interest in your brand.
    • Joke topics really stand out among a long list of dry and dull emails.
    • It’s appropriate for any type of activity. Unless, of course, your job involves sad events in people’s lives.
      • “You are surrounded by discounts. Opposition is futile!”
  • Ask questions:
    • You engage readers in a dialogue by doing this.
    • This increases the likelihood that your emails will be opened.
      • “Why do subscribers hate your feed?”
  • The “How to” guides:
    • The reader immediately sees that the newsletter will tell him how to solve one of his or her problems.
      • “How to promote a blog? Step-by-step instructions”.

How to create the perfect subject line for an email

If you want to create the perfect subject line for an email, you should be guided by the following criteria:

  • Choose from several subject lines:
    • Think of at least 7-10 topics.
    • This makes it easier to choose the most appropriate one for your email campaign and audience.
  • Don’t exceed 50 characters:
    • About 70% of users check email on their smartphones.
    • Long subject lines can be truncated.
    • As a result, the effect you expect to have on subscribers will be lost.
  • Don’t use spammer tricks:
    • Don’t shout at people in caps, they don’t like it. If the topic itself isn’t interesting, capital letters won’t help.
    • It’s more likely to attract the attention of spam filters than the recipients.
    • However, sometimes it’s appropriate to capitalize one important word in the subject line.
    • Also, try to avoid stop words, choose synonyms.
    • Although the reputation of the sender plays a bigger role in this case, frequent use of stop words will add points to the spam score of your emails.
  • Analyze your audience:
    • Writing a catchy subject line is much easier if you know your target audience well and understand what they want.
    • In this case it will be easier for you to fit into a limited number of characters a text that will interest the subscriber.
  • Use a call to action:
    • Your newsletters have a better chance of being read if there’s a clear instruction in the subject line about what the recipient must do.
  • Use interesting techniques:
    • For example, insert emoji, unusual punctuation, brackets, use a non-standard font or alliteration.
    • This attracts attention and is memorable.

The most important thing when creating email campaigns is to be creative and test what works best for your business goals.

Spending a little more time on the subject line can help increase open rates, avoid getting into your spam folder, and get the message across to your target audience.

Try to make the subject line of your email visually stand out from your inbox neighbors. How you do that is up to you.