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Good Subject Lines for Emails

Updated: Nov 8, 2023

It can make or break your newsletter. It can make or break your marketing campaign. The subject line of your email is so important because it solely determines whether your email will end up in the dreaded SPAM folder or gazed upon by the eyes of the intended.  You must have good subject lines for emails that you want to be opened.

If your email ends up in the spam folder, and your recipient uses any virtual assistant to read and help with emails, you are toast. The recipient is not even going to read your email. It winds up in the trash bin, recycled with all the others. 

57 % of emails get opened because the subject line contains an emoji. If you are sending an email newsletter without using an emoji in the subject line, you miss the point of this blog to increase your open rate and encourage your readers to click through. 

SUBJECT LINE EXAMPLES: 

Your subject lines have the power to make or break your email marketing campaign, so you should spend some time crafting them. Higher email open rates craft subject lines that their subscribers cannot resist. Here are a few examples of areas where you can focus your subject lines. 

How to’s:  

How to’s write a good subject line. It ensures that your readers are about to learn something. 

Example: “How to reach your competitors’ customers.”

Quick and easy fixes: 

Write how long it will take your readers to read your newsletter and learn something new. Be sure that you offer your readers a solution.

Example: “In just three minutes, learn about bears.”

Share news:  

Your readers want to be in the know. When you are about to tell them something that is news, they will open the email to find out what it is. 

Example: “We’ve added a new color eyeshadow you might enjoy.”

Timeliness: 

Use the word urgent. Let your reader know they are going to run out of something or they are going to miss out on a good deal. If they do not check out an email for the timeliness, see the fear of missing out below. Let them know something is ending soon, or these are the last chance to enter to win something. 

Example: “You’ve got One Day to watch this…”

Questions: 

Ask a question in your subject line because Readers engage with questions. 

Example: “Where do all these toys go?”

One-time deals: 

This is just like scarcity, but it is more exclusive when you say one time. People like to feel special even in their inboxes when they are in on something special as a one-time promotional email; they jump to open it. 

Example: “Normally, your package has a setup fee, sign on today and we will eat the fee”

Proof:  

If you have a case study or something you are proving, you should say so in your subject line. This is a technique or strategy that often offers a step-by-step reproductive process that readers can use to achieve the same results. 

Example: “Our customers are getting 200% ROI using PPC Marketing.”

Fear of missing out: 

This can go right along with timeliness, and that if they don’t click today, they could miss out on something tomorrow.  

Example: “I’m deleting your Alera account.”

Finally, comparison and curiosity help open emails. Readers always want to see how they measure up than something else; curiosity drives us to act. Use curiosity responsibility and sparingly; it will produce powerful results. 

Example: “Comparing Yahoo and Bing.” and “Surprising remedies for under eye dark spots.”

The biggest take away from these subject lines is that your email must include value. You will train your readers to look for the value and open your emails when you craft subject lines with care. If you spend some time thinking about what you would want to know about the newsletter or campaign you are promoting, you will find the perfect subject line. The ideal subject line is one that your readers will click to open!

Other Tidbits regarding Good Subject Lines for Emails:

Use a familiar sending name:

Be as human as possible. If you have already met the email recipient, send them an email from your own name and not a company name such as info@yourcompany.com. The best impression you can make with someone you are thinking of doing business with is to on an individual basis, not the entire business.

Avoid the ‘no-reply’ sender name

Your chance of getting your email to go to spam is if you send from a noreply@yourcompany.com. It’s impersonal and it stops people from adding you to their address book.

Consider how your email looks on mobile:

Over half of your subscribers are viewing their emails on a mobile device. The email shows up differently than it does on a laptop or desktop. Be sure to view it on both versions. Also remember the subject lines cut off on iPhones after 35 characters, however, they give you 140 characters for the preheader.

Don’t be tempted to use clickbait to get high open rates.

You want your information to be readily available.  Do not bury your lead.  Make what you are advertising easy to find.  People get very disappointed when they have to click through to several stops before finding the information you promised.  More information about clickbait can be found here:  https://platformmagazine.org/2018/11/20/clickbait-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

If you find yourself wanting to partner with someone who knows all about writing good subject lines for emails, give us a call.  We are happy to be of assistance and Shelley’s Social Media has an email marketing package designed for every budget.

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