1. Use ‘Urgency’ Words
| Urgency Word Examples | ||
|---|---|---|
| Now | Deadline | Don’t Miss Out |
| Limited Time | Final Close-Out | Offer Expires |
| Only | Going Out-Of-Business | Once In a Lifetime |
| Today | One Day Only | Prices Going Up |
| Hurry | Never Again | While Supplies Last |
| Act Now | Clearance | Now Or Never |
| Rush | Don’t Delay | Last Chance |
2. Make it Personal
Include words like ‘you’ and ‘yours’ and you can even take it up a level and use the recipient’s name (personalization). Another great way to personalize is adding a location – ‘Best Shoe selection in North Austin’.
3. Keep it Short
For many recipients, especially those reading your emails on mobile devices, shorter is often better. We recommend subject lines use 4 words or more but under 50 characters but, mobile subject lines we recommend 35 characters or less.
4. Keep your words short as well
Many people will skim right past words over 8 characters. Keep at a high school reading level.
5. Don’t look SPAMMY
a. Contains more than 2 special symbols or punctuation in a row i.e. @$TRUST$, Buy Today!!!!!!
b. Repeated Words, Repeated Words, Repeated Words
c. USING ALL CAPS – One word is fine but more than that and you seem like you are YELLING!
d. Using the ‘+” symbol. YOU + US = SAVINGS!!!!!
6. Use the word ‘Free”
But only if it’s true, Everyone likes deals and free offers.
7. Use an Emoji or Exclamation mark, but only once
They bring attention and stand out but more than one and it starts to look childish or like spam.
8. Capitalize the first letter
It just looks more professional.
9. Don’t use a symbol or punctuation (except $) as your first character
They will often get rejected by spam filters.
10. Use words like ‘First’, ’Recently invented’, and ‘New discovery’
Makes the reader curious, “What is this new thing?”
11. Include numbers
Who hasn’t opened a Top 10 list or a message on the 3 things you need to do to be successful.
12. The use of a comma should be avoided if possible.
Data shows that pause at a comma does cause some people to reconsider a lower open rate.
COVID-19 Update
- Avoid CoronaVirus terms. With all the spammers and phishing scams avoid using these words in your promotional emails: Coronavirus, COVID, Pandemic, Virus, Sanitizer, and Mask
- Don’t be afraid to acknowledge the situation. Mentioning the current state can drive open rates if the topic is on relevant interest. For Example, “Working from home? We can make your life easier”.
- Use trending words. Since March 10th, email subject lines with these following words have anywhere from 11% to 39% open increase; Virtual, Online, Home, Essential, WFH, Tips, You / Your, Insight, and Free.
- Be a little more subtle with Urgency. Normally these words help open rates but with consumers/clients lately seeing a decline: Urgent, Hurry, Critical, Serious, Alert, and Rush.
Hubspot and Mailchimp have openly admitted that there’s no secret to crafting subject lines that will guarantee you opens and clicks (I know, we were disappointed too). You can still create good ones and get better over time. Just apply simple rules, test variations, see what works, and in no time you will be improving your open rates.
