The Whitelist

The other day we saw an article that dismissed the use of numbers as the basis for an article. We’ve all seen these types of articles: 100 Ways to Optimize Your Web Site; 10 Tips for Better Email Subject Lines; 43 Things You Should Know About Email Marketing. And so on.

The author’s point was, be careful about these types of headlines because they often lead you to articles that lack substance. The articles are usually just recycled information, he claimed.
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Email subject lines: Now there’s a topic email marketers can debate at a cocktail party! Problem is, for all the attention the topic gets, the subject line isn’t necessarily the first thing your recipients look at when deciding whether or not to open your email.

The “From” line might be.
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It seems we’re all after the subject line Holy Grail. Everyone wants to know the ideal subject line length for maximizing open rates. But based on what I’ve been reading lately, it’s not cut and dry. It depends on what you really want to maximize: your open rates or your click throughs.

Studies are showing that although shorter subject lines (often it’s less 35 characters or seven words) work best for increasing your open rates. But guess what? Longer subject lines are better for increasing your click through rates! And possibly your conversions.

What happens is this: A longer subject line can be more specific and therefore more relevant to a smaller segment of your audience. As a result, fewer people open the email, but those that do are more interested in your offer, and therefore more likely to convert.

I doubt we’ll ever have a guaranteed email subject line length but there’s one thing I can guarantee: The way to know what works is to test, test, test, test. Remember, email marketers, in your world, testing is much more doable than in the print marketer’s world. Take advantage of that ability to boost your email marketing ROI.

For more on how to write an email subject line, see the useful guide from Lyris: “Email Subject Lines: 15 Rules to Write Them Right.” It’s available on the ClickMail Web site at http://www.clickmailmarketing.com/pdfs/Lyris_15Rules_for_Subject_Lines.pdf.

We all know, or should know, that writing subject lines is hard work. Just a few little words can make or break the success of your email marketing campaign. And not just by impacting your open rates. What goes in that little box can affect your deliverability too.

Even if you’re diligent about avoiding words like Viagra in your subject line, you can trigger spam filters with little things you probably didn’t even think of, like punctuation.

What’s a smart email marketer to do? Have no fear, here’s a great little tool that any email marketer can use to check an email subject line for spamminess: http://www.localnews.biz/subjectline/validatesubjectline.asp.

Just type in your subject line and the tool will check for word usage, capitalization, punctuation, numbers, length and more. It only takes a minute and might save you a bundle in lost revenue from your next email marketing campaign by making sure you don’t negatively impact your deliverability!