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| Increase your Email Open Rate by Improving your Subject Lines |
By:
Brad Yeager |
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Similar to a direct mail letter or postcard, the subject line of your email can make or break your campaign. If you don't come out of the gate with a compelling subject line, the chance of your email even getting read is slim. Real slim. Additionally, using the wrong words in your subject line can alert the SPAM filters and stop your message before it even arrives in your recipient's inbox.
According to a recent MarketingSherpa.com survey, 40% of email marketers said testing changes to just their subject line had a high impact on their return on investment (ROI). Furthermore, 45% said subject line changes accounted for a medium ROI and only 15% said that testing changes to their subject line results in a low ROI. But regardless, of all the email marketers surveyed, virtually all of them benefited from subject line testing.
Since the subject line is arguably the single most important part of your email campaign, today I'm going to share with you 7 tips that we recommend to increase the open rates of your email campaigns.
1. Test the subject line - Always. A good place to start is by examining email campaigns you've sent in the past, taking note of which subject lines performed best and gave you the highest open and / or conversion rates. You might unveil a particular topic, trend, or subject style that resulted in higher open rates. If you've never launched an email campaign before, consider A/B testing different subject lines until
2. DO NOT personalize the subject line - Unlike direct mail, where dropping a recipient's name into the headline can attract attention and trigger curiosity, this can be suicide in a direct email campaign, particularly if you are mailing to cold prospects instead of loyal customers. While this tactic was once popular back in the late 90's, SPAM filters today are particularly weary of this trick, so if you decide to try this option be sure to test deliverability before you take the leap into named subject lines.
3. Avoid common SPAM keywords - Email servers will automatically filter out any emails that contain spam keywords in their subject line. Words such as "free", "ebay", "password", "Viagra", etc all send up red flags to the SPAM filter gods, so be sure you keep them out of your subject lines.
4. Trigger the recipients' curiosity - A compelling headline that entices the recipient to open and read the contents of your email can do wonders for your conversion rate. Just be sure you don't make it too ambiguous.
5. Avoid hyped up marketing jargon and sales lingo - They will turn off your recipient and scream "THIS IS SPAM"! Remember: the best subject lines tell what's inside, and the worst subject lines sell what's inside.
6. Create an offer that reaches out and slaps the recipient in the face - We see it all the time: companies that spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on a prospecting campaign only to come out with a limp duck of an offer. If you're giving a deal to your recipient or subscriber then be upfront and include it as part of your subject line. Most people love to get a deal and welcome special offers, so let them know about it before anything else.
7. Exclaim nothing!! - Avoid using excessive punctuation at the end of your subject lines; it denotes a form of speech that can be easily misinterpreted by the recipient. Google actually bans punctuation from AdWords ad's for a reason: apparently too much hype can confuse and annoy the masses!so be sure to leave it out of your subject lines!
Compass Direct is a full service direct marketing agency founded with the mission to provide smarter marking solutions to the small business owners of today by marketing to the WHEN... individuals that have just experienced a significant life changing event and have the highest propensity to need certain products and services.
Specializing in direct mail, email, and search engine marketing, Compass Direct helps you reach prospects right when they are about to buy.
View more at www.compass-direct.com Or call 800.505.0057
About the author:
In 2008, I founded Compass Direct with the mission to provide smarter marking solutions to the small business owners of today by marketing to the WHEN... individuals that have just experienced a significant life changing event and have the highest propensity to need certain products and services. We are built on the belief that you shouldn't have to spend $5,000 a month to market & grow your business, and welcome companies of all sizes and from a |
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