The Sweet Spot for Subject Lines
A few words of text stand between you and a sale. This is the subject line on your marketing email that’s showing up in inboxes likely filled with tons of other messages. And this one line of text often determines whether your message gets opened, deleted or skipped till later.
To be clear, the subject line is not the only thing at work here. You also have your relationship with your customers and your image in your market. People open emails from people they know and trust. So building your relationships and image is a huge part of getting the open.
Speaking of relationships, you’ll want to send your email from a name, not a generic address (as in [email protected] vs. [email protected]). Wouldn’t you rather hear what your friend John has to say instead of some dude named Info?
From there, your subject line takes on the job of attracting interest. The framework for success is length – not too long, not too short. Forty characters, or around five to seven words, gives you enough space to get attention, even on a mobile device.
Also, avoid words that are typically flagged by spam filters, such as “free.” Plus, instead of trying to grab attention with all caps and exclamation points (which doesn’t work), generate interest by asking a question, offering a teaser or promoting urgent response. Numbers work well too, such as “Don’t get robbed by these 3 energy thieves.”