Imagine if you received an email with this title as the subject line. Odds on you’d open that email. Pretty quickly. Because you’d be intrigued. And even if the content of the email was disappointing, the subject line would have done its job - it would have secured that open click.
Every week, we send countless work emails. And many of those will have completely innocuous subject lines, especially if they’re sent to colleagues, such as ‘Monthly sales figures’, ‘Revised schedule’ or ‘Is it time for lunch yet?’.
But marketing emails are a whole different ball game.
How often have you spent hours agonising over the content of your email, trying different approaches to sell your product or service? And finally, when you think it’s pitch perfect, you’ve added a subject line, crossed your fingers, and pressed send.
And that last bit is where all your hard work is undone.
Because the subject line is arguably the most important line in your email. And you barely took a cursory glance at it.
It’s the subject line which will determine whether anyone will bother opening the email in the first place. Thus, it deserves just as much thought and effort as the rest of your marketing copy.
And just to demonstrate the power of the subject line, a brilliant example landed in our inbox last week. An email from one of our favourite brands of all time, Sweaty Betty. And the subject line was simply, ‘Comfiest. Trousers. Ever.’
Now, Belle Copy has enough gym trousers to last a lifetime. And we definitely shouldn’t be spending a penny more on them. But how could we possibly resist opening that email immediately? Because if Sweaty Betty had created even comfier leggings than we already owned, we HAD to know about it.
So, how can YOU ensure your email subscribers are compelled to learn more about YOUR offering? Read on to discover how to write a subject line which will seal the deal…
1. Keep it short and focused so the entire caption shows up on your feed (under 50 characters if you want it to fully show on a mobile device). The last thing you want is for the essence of your message to end up below that all important ‘…more’.
2. Use lines which evoke intrigue e.g. ‘I hate to break it to you…’ or ‘Something BIG is coming…’ Lead the reader down the path of curiosity so they feel bound to read on.
3. Create a sense of urgency and compel the reader to open your email from fear of missing out e.g. ‘Limited space…’ or ‘24 hours left to…’ This is a tactic to be used strategically though. Applied too often, it will leave your recipients wary of your brand.
4. Employ ‘Call to Actions’ e.g. ‘Discover…’ or ‘Subscribe …’ Subject lines which begin with action verbs motivate the reader and make your offer and intention clear from the outset.
5. Pose a question which will benefit the recipient to read further e.g. ‘How can you drive traffic to your website?’ or ‘Are you making these mistakes?’ It’s a natural human trait to want to know the answer to a question so use it to your advantage.
6. Add a touch of personalisation. Statistics show that emails which include the recipient’s first name secure a higher click-through rate than those that don’t. And even better if you can segment your email subscribers so that you know that your subject line will be relevant and valuable.
7. Make recipients feel special e.g. ‘A gift for our loyal customers’ or ‘You’re invited to…’ Not only does it give an air of exclusivity, it also helps people feel allegiance and a sense of belonging to your brand.
8. And lastly, just before you send your email…double check it. After all that careful thought and prep, the last thing you want to do is send an email with a spelling error in the subject line. Because that’s the quickest way to kiss goodbye to that open click.
So, now you’ve convinced readers to open your email, how are you going to convert them into customers? Discover more of Belle Copy’s powerful marketing tips here.
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