Internet Marketing

5 Quick Tips for Creating Effective Email Subject Lines

Posted on 21. Sep, 2009 by Dennis in Email Marketing

Using subject lines the right way can greatly improve the number of people who actually open and read your emails. Unless your subscribers open the email they can’t read and act upon all the goodies inside, right? What do your subject lines say to your readers? Are they drab and make your subscribers head for the delete button or do they POP and make them want to read further?

If you’re struggling to get your emails opened, there’s no better time than now to give your prospects what they signed up for. These five quick tips will give you actionable steps you can utilize to craft email subject lines that get noticed and have your readers begging for more.

Quick Tip #1: Maintain Relevance

Make certain your subject line is appropriate for the subject of your list. A reader who signs up for your list expecting one thing, but receiving something completely out of line with what they signed up to receive will not be in the buying mood.

For instance, if you have a list about gardening – don’t send your readers an email with the subject line:

“The #1 Way to Lose Weight Fast”

No one on your gardening list wants to learn about losing weight. Granted some might be interested in weight loss, but not from the gardening expert. Remember, one goal of having a targeted list is to build expertise and trust with your readers. Sending them off topic information will accomplish the complete opposite.

Quick Tip #2: Make it Short and Sweet

Let’s be honest, people get so many messages in their inbox these days it’s hard to sift through the noise. If your subject line is mediocre or dull and boring the chances of your email getting opened is slim to none. A good subject line should be short and sweet. Get to the point without drawing it out.

There are many ways of accomplishing this. The one that works for your list will depend on the subject matter. For instance, some people are drawn to a shocking headline, while others prefer humor and still others just want to know exactly what they are getting. Here are just a few examples of short and sweet subject lines to help get the gears turning.

“Man Loses 17 Pounds in 5 Days”

“It’s All Yours – Come & Get It”No matter which method you use to concoct your subject line, keep it short and sweet to make it stand out from the thousands of other emails your list members receive.

Quick Tip #3: Be Informative, yet Incomplete

One sure fire way to get your readers attention and make them click their open button is to leave them wanting more. You probably already know this trick when it comes to the content within the body of your email, but did you know it works just as well with your subject line?

Get your readers’ attention then peak their inner curiosity. Yes, everyone is born with at least a bit of nosiness in their blood. Give them just enough to peak their interest without telling them too much. They’ll follow your lead to learn the rest. It’s the old bait and hook method – works great at the lake and even better with a mailing list.

Quick Tip #4: Test & Tweak

If you want to make sure your subject lines are doing their job to the fullest, you’ll need to test and teak them a bit to get the results you’re after. Most list management systems (such as Aweber) allow you to break up your list and send out one version of an email to one part of your list. The other half of the list will receive a second version. This is an excellent way to track which one actually gets open and has the greatest impact on your readers.

After completing a few tests, take the results and learn from them. Make the necessary changes to get the best response from your subscribers. Remember, this works for follow up and future broadcast messages also. Your open rates will increase dramatically once you determine what makes your readers tick.

Quick Tip #5: Learn from the Pros

Jimmy D. Brown has put together an amazing resource about crafting effective subject lines.

It comes with templates that you can use that have worked for him in the past. It’s an easy shortcut to help you start off with subject lines that are enticing and effective in grabbing your readers’ attention.

Using subject lines effectively is a matter of compiling something attention grabbing and provoking. Don’t just throw a subject in the box and hope it works. Take the time to think it through, test it and make adjustments to future mailings. It might seem time consuming, but the payback will be more than worth your effort. Once you see the difference these small, but extremely important tweaks will make you’ll be glad you made the investment.

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Tags: Email Marketing