Subject line survival training
Before blithely writing that next email subject line, think of the gauntlet of obstacles it will run between leaving your server and entering your reader’s consciousness.
At Inbox we routinely test email subject lines and know that good ones can easily double a campaign’s performance. But what is ‘good’? It used to be that if you followed standard direct marketing copywriting guidelines you were in good shape. Increasingly, however, email marketing is acquiring its own dialect. Instead of merely grabbing attention and enticing a reader, the email subject line now has two distinct responsibilities:
Job #1: Survive the journey to the reader’s computer: The big obstacles here are rules-based spam filters maintained by all the ISPs. They scan all messages and chuck any that look suspicious into a folder that never sees the light of day. The trick is to know the rules and what words and punctuation will trigger the filters. These change constantly, which is why at Inbox we subscribe to services that allow us to pre-test all of our campaign messages against updated spam triggers. Some basic rules are:
- Never use the "F" word – Avoid the word "Free" or phrases of similar meaning such as "At no charge".
- Avoid punctuation - Particularly exclamation points and question marks and the trick of disguising words by replacing letters with punctuation marks.
- Do not use imperative verbs – Tone down the call-to-action and avoid verbs that direct or command i.e Buy, Save, Open, Download…
- Benefits, not features - Concentrate on the benefits that matter to them, not the features that matter to you. They are more likely to open your message if doing so will help them solve a business problem, save time or money, make their life easier, etc.
- Keep it short – Keep it to 38 characters max.
- Build curiosity – You’ll gain more respect (and interest) if you avoid going for the sales jugular in the subject line. Instead, you might intrigue with a question that addresses their problem.
