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How to Write an Effective Subject Line

Guest post by: Terri Seymour

Article Overview: Email marketing can be very effective if your email actually gets read. Unfortunately because of spam many people will delete most of their email without ever reading it. This is where the subject line comes in.

How to Write an Effective Subject Line

Email marketing can be very effective if your email actually gets read. Unfortunately because of spam many people will delete most of their email without ever reading it. This is where the subject line comes in. Writing an effective and attention getting subject line will dramatically increase the chances of your email being opened and read and acted upon. You want to make your subject line as short and descriptive as possible while giving the person a reason to want to open and read the actual email.

Below are some tips on how you can write such a subject line:

1. Keep your subject line short. You want to try to keep it around or below 50 characters.

2. When possible, personalize your email. For example: Mary, do you need to increase your sales? This can increase the chance of the email being opened and read.

3. Make an announcement similar to a headline: New Company to Reveal Innovative Sales Strategy

4. Make the reader curious with your subject line: New Innovative Sales Strategy Revealed........

5. Just as when writing an ad, you need to stress the benefits the person will get from your email: Learn exciting new sales strategy!

6. Write a few test subject lines and read them from a customer's point of view. Would that subject line get you to open the email? Take note of what emails you open and why. What did the subject line say that got your attention?

7. Don't hype up your subject line with unbelievable offers. Be straightforward and let the reader know what the email is about: Immediate $10 Discount

8. Use the word "you". This will make the reader feel it is for them personally: You Get a Free $10 Coupon

9. Make the subject line a teaser so the reader will want to know more: Here's how you can save $25.00.......

10. As always, use correct grammar and spelling. Would you open this email:

i can save you muney......

11. Use new and fresh subject lines with every email. Do not use a standard subject line such as: Save Money with ABC Inc. People will get tired of the same old subject line and your openings will severely decline.

12. Use power words and action words such as reveal, secret, innovative, improve, save, success, etc. but without sounding like spam: Improve Your Spending Habits

13. Asking the reader a question is an effective way to pull a response: Do you need to cut your bills?

14. Instead of just naming one person you can name your entire target audience: Moms! Learn how to help your child sleep better.

15. "How to" ebooks and manuals sell very well so why not a "How to" subject line: How to Increase Your Sales

You can also mix these various tips to form an even more compelling subject line. The subject line is an extremely important part of your marketing campaign so do not take it lightly. Learn all you can about how to write a more effective subject and be sure to test them. Make the recipient want to open your email, not delete it!

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Article Tags: email, marketing, subject line, Terri Seymour



Related Forum Posts
Re: Quote of the Day - "Have the courage to follow your heart an - [quote="GT Bulmer":102twzd2]Hi, Evan: I haven't yet managed to capitalize on the longings of my heart as successfully as Jobs did[/quote:102twzd2] Hi GT - I woke up thinking about this post and I have a challenge for you for May if you're up to it. Here it is: Write the blog post / article you were born to write. Write something that you can pour your heart and all your passion into. Write something where you can change the life of the person reading it. Write something where if you look back in 10 years you'll be really proud of what you created. Can you do that? I'd love to read it (and I bet a lot of others will too!)
Creating unique forum post titles - Hi Evan, As one of the people who spends the most time in these forums, I don't really think it's a sustainable idea to ask users to create unique "Subject Titles" for every post. Even forum loyalists (including myself) are bound to forget on occasion, while the average user won't even care. Instead, would there be a way to leave the "Subject Titles" blank and only allow posts with manually created titles to be submitted? Most people would be too lazy to copy the original title and would therefore be forced to think of a new one (which would likely be unique).
Subject line Etiquette - Another email rant: Is there some place on the internet that outlines proper "Subject line" headings? There mus be a system out there that people use to be more efficient email senders. Not everything that comes into my mail box requires my immediate attention. I would love to educate myself and the people who send me emails on proper subject lines. Maybe something like: "Urgent Review: <<Title of document>>" "Decision Required: "<<Subject matter>>" just something for me to quickly scan the subject lines and decide which ones need my immediate attention. Anyone know of such email standards that exist out there?
Re: Subject line Etiquette - [quote="jvprosperity":btyoa0j1]Another email rant: Is there some place on the internet that outlines proper "Subject line" headings? There mus be a system out there that people use to be more efficient email senders. Not everything that comes into my mail box requires my immediate attention. I would love to educate myself and the people who send me emails on proper subject lines. Maybe something like: "Urgent Review: <<Title of document>>" "Decision Required: "<<Subject matter>>" just something for me to quickly scan the subject lines and decide which ones need my immediate attention. Anyone know of such email standards that exist out there?[/quote:btyoa0j1] Hi Andy, The only system I know of at the moment is the "Set Priority" feature on MS Outlook. It allows you to add an exclamation mark to flag the message as being of high, normal or low priority. However, I'd say that a "sender" is still better off using the phone rather than sending an email that's labeled "urgent".
Quality Member - Hi there, I just like compliment my previous post, where I ommitted the 'Subject' title. Check it out. An additional question: What do you think attracts the members to this Forum? Kindest Regards Beat


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