15 tips to writing good email subject lines

15 Tips To Write Good Email Subject Lines

1. Get ideas from newspapers and magazines. I read daily, often finding local news stories that either odd or interesting. Especially paying close attention to the headlines.
2. Don’t keep using a subject line that worked in the past. Be creative, work a new angle. Your reader doesn’t want to experience deja vu`.
3. Marketing is about testing; keep testing your subject lines until you find one that works. So test, test again, and test again.
4. Have a strong ‘from’ line; supporting it with your brand or newsletter name. This keeps your emails from ending up in a junk or spam folder.
5. Make the first 50 characters count in your subject line. All you have is 50 characters to make an impact in your subject line, don’t blow it.
6. Understand that your open rates don’t necessarily reflect the success of your subject line. You should focus on the end action; did that subject line result in sales? If so, this is a good measure of success using your analytics program.
7. If you’re not tracking your email campaign, this next tip may not make sense. Keep your subject lines personal based upon past reader preference and favorable response to content.
8. Definitely create a strong call to action. Set a deadline if you must. I always watch late night infomercials, they have some of the best calls to action in the business.
9. Invest in a content checker that will notify you of any spam-like words or phrases in your subject lines. Aweber has a pretty good spam checker.
10. The word ‘free’ is good, just don’t make it your first word. Some spam filters look for the word free and automatically send the email to the junk folder.
11. Above all remain honest, don’t mislead your readers by promising the moon and delivering cheese.
12. If you write your subject line first, it will set the tone for the email. So, avoid the temptation of writing your subject line last. Writing it last reflects a hurried, last minute idea that often has nothing to do with the content of the email.
13. The use of a good analytics program will provide insight into how well the email campaign and the email subject lines are doing. You will find yourself constantly checking, testing and retooling your subject lines. This is good, nothing wrong with improving.
14. Consider your subject line as a conversation starter. The subject line is the ice breaker, and the content of the email is a continuation of that conversation.
15. Create a subject line that creates an emotion in your reader. The most powerful subject lines makes the reader feel like they will miss out on the greatest thing since sliced bread if they don’t open it. Does your subject line have the “oooh-oooh” effect?

These are just a few tips on writing good email subject lines. If you’ve got more, feel free to share them in the form of a comment below.

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