If you’ve ever sent an email campaign filled with optimism and confidence – only to feel a sense of disappointment when you look at your open rate metrics, this post is for you.
If it’s any consolation – you’re not on your own.
With modern business owners and consumers regularly feeling overwhelmed and the average person receiving more than 100 emails every day – a lot of emails simply go unopened and unread.
You obviously can’t control how busy people are, or the number of emails they receive from other businesses.
But what you can control is the quality of your email subject line, which is often the deciding factor on whether your email gets opened or overlooked.
Creating an effective email subject line is crucial for improving your email open rates, driving engagement with your group email lists, and converting your email subscribers into customers.
So, in this article, we’re going to run through a series of 8 actionable tips to help you make your email subject lines more compelling, so you don’t sit unopened in the inbox.
But before we do this, we first need to talk about the importance of testing and segmentation.
The importance of testing
Every business and email subscriber list is unique, and as much as we’d like to say, “Do this and you’ll see a 20% improvement” – this simply isn’t reality.
The tips we’ll discuss in this article are best practices, but it’s important for you to take a thorough approach to testing, to find out which are best for your business and your specific objectives.
A/B testing your subject lines is one of the best approaches to determining which lines work best for your audience.
Explained simply, A/B testing involves creating two versions of a subject line and sending each to an equal proportion of your audience.
By measuring the open rates of each email, you’re able to gain valuable insights into what resonates most with your audience, and make informed decisions to improve your subject lines over time.
It’s important to remember that the goal of A/B testing is to continuously refine and improve.
So, it’s best to see your subject line testing as an ongoing process rather than a one-time thing.
Embrace the power of segmentation
It’s highly likely that different groups of subscribers in your email list are going to have different needs.
For example, if you run a small e-commerce fashion store that stocks men’s, women’s, and children’s clothes, sending an email subject line “Kids Clothing Sale—Ends Tomorrow” will naturally fail to resonate with anyone on your list who doesn’t have younger children.
To help you get the most out of your subject lines, and give you the best possible chance of getting your emails opened in a busy inbox – it’s important to segment your email list and practice email customization.
Email list segmentation involves breaking up your email list into smaller groups based on shared characteristics such as age, gender, interests, behavior, or purchase history.
It’s important not to go too granular with your segmentation, to a point where setting up and A/B testing your campaigns becomes unmanageable.
But at Simplelists, you have the freedom to set up as many email list segments as you want to achieve your targeting objectives.
1. Use action-oriented language
Using action-oriented language in your email subject lines can help them capture attention and encourage users to open and read more.
Let us illustrate with an example:
- Initial Subject Line: “New Winter Clothing Just In”
- With action-oriented language: “Grab Your Winter Clothing Essentials Now!”
This second version is the best email subject line, as it creates more urgency and invites the user to take action. It is definitely worth trialing in an A/B test.
It’s also worth testing how language like “Act now”, “Don’t miss out”, and “Get yours today” influences the open rate of your emails.
Each of these phrases is likely to trigger the subscriber’s fear of missing out (FOMO), which can be influential in improving open rates.
2. Personalize your subject lines
This may sound quite simple, but the act of including subscriber names in your subject lines can significantly boost the open rate of your emails.
The impact of personalized email subject lines may surprise you. One study found that they can actually improve open rates by as much as 23%!
So next time you’re thinking about writing a general “Your Exclusive Offer Awaits!” email subject line, run an A/B test to see how changing it to “Andy, Your Exclusive Offer Awaits!” might improve your results.
If you’re concerned about how to bring through each subscriber’s name, you don’t need to worry. Most modern email platforms make this process easy, as long as you have the data readily available.
At Simplelists, we can personalize your subject line with first name, surname, email address and other custom variables.
3. Create a sense of urgency
Building on the importance of using action-oriented language, using time-sensitive wording in your email subject lines can also encourage your subscribers to act quickly.
For example, subject lines that include the following type of wording are likely to trigger subscriber’s fear of missing out:
- “Andy, Only 24 Hours Left to Save!”
- “Melanie, Our Flash Sale Ends Tonight!”
- “Craig, Don’t Miss Out – Limited Stock Available”
- “Tamara, We Only Have a Few Items Left!”
The only point of caution on this approach, is that you need to use it sparingly.
If every email you send has urgency in the subject line, you’re likely to find that they soon lose their impact.
But when you have a genuine sale or a time limited promotion, this technique is worth A/B testing to help you try and find the best email subject line.
4. Keep it short and sweet
We all know that mobile devices are becoming more and more popular for accessing content and emails.
But it might surprise you to know that as many as 81% of all emails are currently accessed on a mobile device.
With this in mind, it’s easy to understand how the best email subject lines will be short enough to be read fully on mobiles, without being truncated or cut off.
The slightly frustrating thing is that all mobile devices and clients are a little different. The default mail application on Apple devices allows up to 78 characters, the default apps on Android phones allow up to 70 characters, and Outlook only allows up to 50.
How restrictive you choose to be with your subject line length is a decision only you can make, but we’d generally recommend keeping them less than 70 characters.
5. Use emojis carefully
Emojis can add personality and make your subject lines more eye-catching in a crowded inbox.
Compare the two subject lines below for example, and consider which is the best email subject line for capturing attention:
- “Andy, Don’t Miss Out on Our Summer Sale ☀️”
- “Andy, Don’t Miss Out on Our Summer Sale”
It’s important to understand your audience before deciding on whether the inclusion of emojis is right for you.
The approach is likely to be better received by younger subscribers, and it may not be suitable for all demographics. So, it may be something you test only on specific email list segments. And if you’re operating in the B2B space, you may decide that emojis aren’t right for you to include at all.
If you do decide to test the inclusion of emojis in your subject line, it’s important to test how they display correctly across a range of devices—as different mobile handsets and email clients may interpret them differently.
And, as a final word of warning, try to avoid using too many emojis in your email subject lines if you want to prevent your emails from being marked as spam.
6. Incorporate numbers in your subject line
Another quick and easy tip that you can use to A/B test your email subject lines is to include numbers.
Some statistics suggest that email subject lines that include numbers can improve open rates by up to 17%. So, it’s worth trialing.
When you include numbers in your subject line, it can make your email subject line more scannable and deliver a clear promise about what to expect.
Compare these pairs of subject lines for example:
- “Top Tips For Better Sleep”
- “5 Tips For Better Sleep”
- “The Best Reasons To Visit Paris”
- “10 Reasons To Visit Paris”
The best email subject lines for capturing attention and encouraging users to open and read more are the examples with the numbers.
7. Include questions
Another technique to consider including in your email subject lines is the use of questions.
Posing a question in your subject line can spark curiosity and make your subscribers want to click through for the answer.
In some circumstances, the use of questions has improved open rates by as much as 50%.
When you’re putting together your A/B tests, you might consider pairing the use of questions with email personalization to see which subject lines deliver the best results:
- “Are You Ready To Boost Your Productivity?”
- “Are You Ready To Boost Your Productivity, Andy?”
- “Andy, Are You Ready To Boost Your Productivity?”
8. Avoid the overuse of spam words
Spam detection has become more sophisticated over the last decade or so and is currently far more based around your deliverability and sender reputation than anything else.
So be wary of any advice that suggests that including certain words like ‘free’ or ‘buy now’ in your subject line is a one-way ticket to the spam folder. That perspective is a little dated.
However, it’s still email marketing subject line best practice to avoid the overuse of words that might make your emails come across as pushy or untrustworthy to users.
It’s all about striking the balance between being persuasive and aiming to capture attention in the inbox, at the same time as being relevant and respectful.
Simplelists: Your solution for easy email marketing
With inboxes being busier than ever before, taking the time to craft, test, and optimize your email subject lines is important if your emails are going to stand out, and get opened.
The tips in this article should hopefully give you some ideas and inspiration to use in your A/B testing strategy, so you can tailor your subject lines to better resonate with your audience.
When you take the right approach to email list management and email optimization, achieving success doesn’t need to be complicated.
Simplelists provides an intuitive, easy-to-use platform that makes managing your email marketing campaigns easier than ever.
With support for email personalization, email customization and advanced segmentation, Simplelists has all the features and functionality you need to help improve your subject lines and boost your open rate.
Ready to see the difference Simplelists can make for your email marketing? Start your one-month free trial today.