Email marketing continues to be one of the most effective means for reaching potential customers, upselling current customers, and increasing overall sales 鈥� in most cases for very little investment.
People who buy products marketed through email spend 138% more than people that do not receive email offers, according to research compiled from marketing agency . Additionally, 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase last year based on a promotional email.
Are your emails being opened or are they getting stuck in the spam filter? Your subject line may be the problem. Consider these findings:
- 69% of email recipients report email as spam based solely on the subject line.
- 35% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone
Email marketing is one of the most cost effective means for reaching customers, if you can get your email opened. A subject line is like the cover of a book 鈥� yes, your customers are judging you by it, and yes, if they don鈥檛 like the subject line, your email won鈥檛 be opened, or worse, sent to the spam folder.
Here are some email best practices to consider:
#1: Give recipients a clear reason to open the email
A subject line is no place to beat around the bush. The classic 鈥淩eason Why鈥� email subject line is listed by MeQuoda as one of the . These emails are straight forward and simple: 鈥�3 Reasons Why Email Improves ROI鈥�; 鈥�5 Reasons Why Email is Cost Effective鈥�; etc. Benefit email subject lines are equally important; they take a simple statement and convey why opening the email will be so life-changing for the recipient. For example, MeQuoda reports that changing the subject line 鈥�20 Country Slow Cooker Recipes鈥� into a benefit-oriented subject line, 鈥淭op 10 Lazy Skillet Meals鈥� increased open rates from 18.2% to 19.6%.
#2: Optimize for mobile
35% of business professionals check email on a mobile device, which automatically truncates long subject lines to a maximum length (in some cases) of 60 characters. Keep your subject line concise, simple and straightforward with a clear benefit.
#3: Ask a question
This simple linguistic structure invites the recipient to question what he or she may previously have considered to be a commonly believed fact. starting a subject line with a question like 鈥淲ho Else Wants鈥︹��, saying this format is 鈥渁 classic social proof strategy that implies an already existing consensus desire.鈥� Our winning favorite from the good folks at MeQuoda is 鈥淒o You Think You Can Retire at 65? Think Again!鈥�
#4: Watch out for spam trigger words
While the context may be perfectly appropriate, words like 鈥渇ree,鈥� 鈥渁ct now,鈥� 鈥渆xtra income,鈥� 鈥渙nline marketing,鈥� 鈥渂onus cash,鈥� 鈥渋ncrease sales,鈥� 鈥渋ncrease traffic,鈥� and 鈥渋nfo you requested鈥� are top triggers for the spam filter, according to MeQuoda鈥檚 comprehensive 2014 .
Once you have addressed the four tips above, I also recommend that you use聽A/B testing to determine what subject lines are performing best for you.
