The email subject line is the first thing your readers see. It is an essential tool to grab your audience’s attention.
If your email inbox is like mine, it gets pretty full. With all those emails waiting to be read, how do you make sure your carefully crafted emails get opened?
If you have a catchy subject line, odds are they will click to read more. But, if your email subject line is bland or not crafted specifically for your audience, you might just get skipped over.
Tips for crafting a good email subject line
#1 Keep it short
You don’t have much visible space for an email subject line, so keep whittling down your subject line until it is around 50 characters or less.
#2 Make it about the reader – not about you
Focus on the benefits to the reader or how it will help them, not why you need them to do something. This is really important when it comes to sponsorship request emails. Don’t say, “We need you to sponsor this event,” instead, focus on why a business would want to sponsor your event.
#3 Create a sense of urgency
This tip makes use of the fear of missing out. If you’ve got an offer with a deadline, make sure to communicate that with your email subject line. This will encourage your readers to open your email now rather than saving them for later (and often forgetting about them).
#4 Make use of emojis
That little splash of color in your subject line can catch the eye of someone browsing through their email inbox and make your email stand out. So, test it out with your audience, but don’t go crazy with emojis. Use them sparingly.
#5 Do some A/B testing
If your email list is large enough, test out two different subject lines to see which works best. Then, resend your email to those that didn’t open the first email using the top producing email subject line.
#6 Personalize your email subject line
If you have collected first names from people who signed up for your list, you can improve open rates by 10-20% (Experian, 2014) by including their names in your email subject line. If you don’t have the first names of your email list, that’s OK too. Just speak directly to the reader when crafting your subject lines using “you” and informal language.
Sample Rewritten Email Subject Lines
Here are some examples of before and after subject lines that were rewritten from actual emails I have received.
ORIGINAL EMAIL SUBJECT LINE
- “Last chance for sponsorships – [Name of Event]”
- “Sponsorships available for [Name of Event]”
- “Promote your business at the [Name of Event].”
- “[Name of Event], do you want to sponsor?”
- “Sponsor our [Name of Event]”
- “[Name of University] Faculty Welcome Bags”
REWRITTEN EMAIL SUBJECT LINES
- “Get your business in front of thousands of potential customers”
- “Time is running out“ or “Today is the last day!” – for follow-ups to an offer or a sponsor request
- “Show your community support”
- “We need your help – join us in supporting [Name of Event]”
- “What an opportunity!”
- “Join top [Name of City] businesses in [doing something]”
- “Get in Front of this Year’s New [Name of University] Faculty”
Pro Tip for Increasing Email Open Rates
Don’t send your email just once and let it go at that. Send it out the first time and then resend it with a subject line “ICYMI – [New subject line here]” to those who didn’t open the first email. Or, better yet, try out a completely different subject line to see if that one catches their eyes.
Resending emails to those who didn’t open the first email can improve open rates and overall responses. Wait for a day or two after the first email was sent before you resend the email.
Segment Your Email List
The more specific and personalized your emails are to your readers’ interests and needs, the better chance you have that they will open your emails. By segmenting your audience into different groups, you can write emails and email subject lines that address the interests of each group, speak to the benefits for each group, and significantly improve your open rates.
This method takes more time, but the results can be worth it.
Keep Track of Open Rates for Different Subject Lines
Most importantly, keep a spreadsheet of the subject lines you have used and tested and the results for each.
Of course, the timing of the email delivery will make a difference, but this data will help you craft better and better email subject lines and improve your overall open rates.
Review your data regularly, test out new strategies, and learn from what you are doing.