When you look at your email reports, one of the first things you probably look at are your open rates. Are they increasing? Decreasing? How do they compare to others in the association industry?
The subject line is one of the most important factors in getting your email opened, and open rates are the key metric that affects others, like click-thru rates and conversion rates. If you’re not already spending 50% of your email creation process on the subject line alone, you might want to revisit your tactics. It’s worth investing your time in creating the perfect subject line if it will increase your open rates, click-thru rates, and in turn, your conversion rates!
Here are our top three tips to help you make your subject lines the best that they can be:
1. Short and sweet.
Depending on a person’s email program, they could only be seeing a small amount of subject line characters. As a general rule, keep it to less than 50 characters and if designing specifically for mobile devices, less than 30 characters. Don’t let anything get cut off!
2. Personalize it!
Creating relevant content should not be done for just the body of your email message. The subject line is the first thing your readers see and is the main driving factor if they open up the email. Make sure the subject line relates to the reader and the body content.
3. Test, test, test.
Don’t assume what you chose as a subject line is working; you need to test it out throughout the year. Split your group randomly and see if a new subject line works better than what you have been using. Try using hot topics or numbers to catch the readers eyes. There is no sure-fire subject line tactic that works for everyone, so try combining some of the different techniques listed here and find the right recipe that garners you the best results with your audience.
For more information on creating successful subject lines, click here. Short on time? Watch our Take 5 On Demand Webcast!
