How to create compelling subject lines

Email subject lines are arguably the most important component of your emails. After all, the subject line is what subscribers see in their inbox, and is what determines if they even open your email or not

So without good email subject lines, your email marketing efforts could go to waste! But don’t worry —?you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, I’ll help you understand what a subject line is and why it’s important. Then, we’ll dive into how to create the best email subject lines (that get people to actually open your emails!) and some great email subject line examples.

What is the subject in an email?

An email subject line is the first text recipients see after your sender name when an email reaches their inbox. It is important to keep an email subject line informative, catchy, and brief.?

Why the subject line of an email is so important

Email overload is a reality in today’s fast-paced business environment. From prospects to media contacts, nearly everyone’s inbox is bombarded with an abundance of email communications, all of which are competing for the recipient’s time and attention.

To filter out unnecessary or irrelevant messages, most people spend just a fraction of a second evaluating email subject fields. If the subject field doesn’t immediately capture their attention, they move on to the next message in their inboxes — even though the main body of the email may contain information that is valuable and useful to their business.

The importance of subject lines becomes even more clear when you consider that a short, one-line description of your email may be your first and only shot at connecting with a customer or business contact.

Your subject line is no different than the headline in a newspaper. Add interest so that people can’t help but open your email. It’s the most important line in your email because if you don’t get the subject line right, no one will read the masterpiece that follows.

There’s a reason?almost 50% of emails are deleted?without ever being opened. It’s because half of all email subject lines didn’t do their job.

So how do you craft the perfect subject line?

• Make it specifically relevant to the reader.?For example, let’s say that you know the reader is likely to be struggling with a certain problem. You could tailor your subject line to speak directly to that challenge. It could say something like, “7 Tips to Help with [challenging issue].”
• Evoke curiosity.?A subject line like “Quick question” is powerful because it creates a sense of curiosity in the reader. They want to know what your question is in case they can lend their expertise or opinion. They also know that because you used the word “quick,” your email will be short. (Make sure it is.)
• Congratulations.?If you know that your prospect has recently achieved something praiseworthy, acknowledge that in the subject line. People love to receive recognition for their achievements, and by doing so, you make it more likely that they’ll open your email.
• Acknowledgment of expertise.?This is a similar form of personal recognition with a slightly different flavor. If you know that your prospect is an expert in a particular area, highlight that expertise in the subject line. For example, you could say, “Your work [in X area] made me want to get in touch.”
• Pay attention to your first sentence.?Most email clients preview the first sentence of the email for the reader, in addition to the subject line. This means that your first sentence must be as compelling and interesting as your subject line, so use the same tactics to grab the prospect’s attention.
• Keep your most important information in the first 30 characters. Over 50% of emails are opened on mobile devices. Most email clients, like Gmail and Yahoo!, stop displaying an email subject line on mobile devices once it reaches between 33 and 43 characters. The exact number varies from one email client to another. If you have a strong offer, you shouldn’t be forced to limit your email marketing subject line length. To optimize it for mobile readers, put the most important information in the first 30 characters. This way, this message won’t get cut off in the inbox.
• Avoid any styles or phrases that sound like spam. Not only are they a turnoff for the recipient, they may cause automatic spam filters to toss out your email before it even lands in his inbox. Hopefully you already refrain from using bad language in your business emails; other things to avoid include word repetition, lots of capitalization, and multiple exclamation points.
• Test your subject lines - Every audience is different. Try short and long subject lines with your subscribers to see what works best for your unique audience. Set up an AB split test, sending 10% – 20% of the audience the test with the winning variation receiving the remaining 80% – 90%. This way you maximize your open rates by ensuring the strongest subject line gets sent to the majority of your audience.

To further enhance the reach of your email marketing campaigns, as with any marketing campaign, it’s important to study the data coming in from your own customers who opened your emails. What can you learn from them? This information, along with the “dos and don’ts” outlined above, can help transform your email campaigns from something that your subscribers instantly delete to a lead generating engine.?