How Do You Get People to Read Your Messages? 10 Tips for Writing Outstanding Email Subject Lines

Many of my readers know I am a great fan of Ragan Communications newsletter, which provides great information on speaking and writing more effectively.  Email is often overlooked as an area in which we can demonstrate excellence in our business communications. I hope you find this as helpful as I do:

10 Tips for Writing Outstanding Subject Lines

by Teresa Dankowski

They’ll never read what they don’t open.

Brevity, clarity, and honesty are just three essentials for inducing your readers to actively receive the brilliance you’ve sent their way.

If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then subject lines are the path to successful email marketing.

Romantic, huh?

Writing a high-quality subject line takes practice and know-how.

1.) Make it brief.
Writing a subject line that is 50 characters or fewer is generally recommended, as some email clients might cut off longer subject lines. According to MailChimp, subject lines of 28–39 characters have the highest open rate. The exception is for highly targeted audiences.

2.) Say what’s in the email.
Don’t worry about being funny or catchy; being direct with your recipients is far more effective. One study found that a clear subject line gets 541 percent more clicks than one that’s clever.

3.) Appeal to your audience.
What does your mailing list have in common? What’s relevant to these recipients? It could be that these people all work in the same industry, have similar interests, or live in the same area. Work from the common thread. “Parks Department Newsletter—July 2013” might not entice your audience in the way that “Learn how to garden at Lincoln County’s 14 parks” will.

4.) Lay off the sales jargon.
You don’t want to try to sell something in the subject line. Instead, convey a story or a benefit to the reader. Your subject line shouldn’t bombard the recipient with products, deals, or flashy promises. Use the subject line to relate to the reader and gracefully funnel him or her to the rest of your content—and ultimately your call to action.

5.) Play the numbers game.
Lists are an effective way to grab someone’s attention. Signal’s blog recommends numbered lists because “they immediately communicate two ideas: the inherent value in the email that’s being sent, and how long it’s going to take to digest it.” I fall for these every time, whether it’s “5 Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings in Chicago” or “10 Easy Personal Finance Tips for Twenty-Somethings.”

6.) Don’t be shady.
Never trick someone into reading your email. Don’t use “Fwd:” in a subject line pretending it’s an email from a trusted sender. Don’t request help in the subject line—it’s a cry-wolf that triggers a scam-sense in people (it’s like Spidey-sense), as in, “Help this Nigerian prince” or “Help Bill Gates spend his fortune.” If someone feels betrayed by your subject line when they read the content of your email, the relationship won’t evolve.

7.) Avoid spam filter words.
Steer clear of words that may send your mailing to the depths of spam folder purgatory. “Free” is a one of the biggest offenders, as are “percent off,” “reminder,” and excessive punctuation. Check out this StartupNation post for more words to omit from subject lines.

8.) Check it twice.
You don’t want a spelling, grammatical, or factual error going out to 5,000 people at once and undermining your message. Have you been on the receiving end of a subject line such as, “Correction: Sale starts Friday, not today,” or, “Update to previous email: event information included”? Retractions and follow-up emails don’t look great for the brand, so proofread emails thoroughly before sending.

9.) Pay attention to open rates.
This is the biggest indication as to whether your subject lines are working the way you’d like. Glickman says it’s important to have realistic expectations for open rates, as benchmarks may be highly dependent on your industry. She recommends consulting research on campaign statistics, such as this email marketing benchmark list from MailChimp.

10.) Try something new.
Are your open rates not where they should be? Think your subject lines are scaring off readers or customers? Tweak them. Rewrite them. Change them until you find subject lines (and content to support them) that work. Keep in mind, high rates could decline, and you might need to freshen up your mailings and subsequent subject lines with a new feature or hook.

This was adapted from an article by Teresa Dankowski. A version of this article first appeared on Shelly Kramer’s V3 blog. Thank you Teresa!

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