There are over 9.7 billion emails sent everyday in the United States and if you're like me, you swear they all made their way to your inbox. With the heavy email traffic, the stakes for failing to stand out have never been higher. You might know you stuffed your latest email to the brim with value, but how does your target audience know that?
It all starts with the subject line. Dedicate the time to craft eye-catching, curiosity piquing subject lines and customers will open, click through, and even purchase. Fail to hook them, and your email runs the risk of going unread, getting marked as spam, or the worst case scenario—being the final straw before an unsubscribe.
Before you launch your latest marketing campaign, take the time to learn about how central subject lines are to the campaign. And, learn what you can do to ensure every email has an impactful subject line that doesn't just motivate customers to read but primes a purchasing intent. We've got all that and more on deck in this blog, so read on to become a subject line expert.
Why Email Marketing Subject Lines Matter
The first hurdle your email campaign needs to clear is the dreaded spam filter. This is no small order because emails considered spam account for over 45% of global email traffic. Email providers, looking to provide an enjoyable user experience are becoming increasingly vigilant in swatting spam away from their user's inbox. One key factor these filters use: the subject line.
Assuming your email makes it past the provider's spam filter, there's still the ultimate arbiter of what gets read and what doesn't—the user. Almost a majority, 47% of users, rely on the subject line as the determining factor of whether they open the email or not. That means things like the number of emails, time of day, and sender aren't as important as an inviting subject line.
Five Email Subject Line Best Practices
Crafting alluring subject lines isn't a science, so there isn't a precise formula you can use every time. However, there are foundational pillars that successful subject lines are built off. If you can understand these best practices for email subject lines, you can begin driving your open rates up. Master these best practices and you can increase your conversion rates on email campaigns across the board. In our experience running successful email marketing campaigns, we've found five foundational email subject line best practices that work.
1. Make Opening Irresistible with Urgency
Ever had a coupon expire and discovered that critical fact while checking out at the register? Experience it once and you know you never want to experience that same feeling again. You can help customers avoid missing out on deals and offers they want to take advantage of through subject lines that tap into urgency.
But be careful when creating a sense of urgency. If all your email subject lines start with "Urgent…" chances are customers will start to feel that isn't the case. Spam filters may also be weary of letting an email marked urgent from business slide through to the inbox.
You can create urgency without using the word urgent when you include the deadline to an offer in the subject line. Stating that an offer will only be good for two weeks in the subject line immediately puts the recipient on notice they should act fast. Re-sending the email with a new subject line that indicates how little time is left can increase that urgency if the recipient wasn't moved to action by the first email.
2. Use Scarcity to Increase Openings
As a social species, we aren't huge fans of being left out. In mainstream terms, we call it FOMO, the fear of missing out. Like urgency, scarcity can conjure up FOMO and drive email recipients to open and email to avoid being on the outside looking in.
Also like urgency, the best email subject lines using scarcity are specific. If you're selling a product, you should call attention to how few you have left in stock right in the subject line. But what about if your offerings are services? There isn't exactly a warehouse to take an accounting of your stock.
Instead, you can create a sense of scarcity through exclusive discounts in exchange for taking a desired action like leaving a review. Or you can create a limited number of advance scheduling opportunities or block off space at the top of your calendar for a select number of customers. And of course, remember to be specific about these details in the subject line.
3. Simplicity Speaks Volumes
Simplicity is a golden rule in all forms of marketing, but especially so in an email subject line. There isn't an unlimited amount of real estate for a subject line. For one thing, most providers will cut off a subject line past a set number of characters, and others will only show the full subject line when a recipient opens the email.
The best email subject lines understand these limitations and seek to convey a simple, straightforward message in as little characters as possible. Aim for 50 characters or less in your subject lines to maximize the chance of recipients reading and understanding your message. Keeping subject lines simple includes being specific. You want to create curiosity and a sense of mystery, but that doesn't mean your subject lines should be confusing.
4. Personalization Goes Beyond a Name
Your email's subject line should speak directly to your customer. That requires intentional personalization of the email to establish that you had a specific reason for sending that email to that customer. That reason will, in turn, drive that recipient to open the email. Email personalization can boost your sales by up to 20% when done well.
Personalization certainly includes using the intended recipient's name, but it doesn't end there. The subject line should speak as directly to that target recipient as possible. That means using the same language that the customer uses, including slang or local terms. If you're a local business, reference local events to foster a tighter, more direct relationship.
When you create sufficiently personalized subject lines, it's more likely that the recipient will find the email relevant. For 54% of consumers, the relevancy of the email was the top reason why they'd likely open an email. Another 19% cited personalization beyond just using their name as the reason why they would open the email.
5. Honestly Describe The Value In Opening
All the previous email subject line best practices need to be approached with this final pillar in mind. It can be tempting to exaggerate to create a sense of urgency or scarcity. And on the other hand, we may become so obsessed with simplicity that our subject line says nothing at all.
Start with the email, its offerings, and its value first. How can you communicate what that value is simply, without going so over-the-top that recipients are disappointed when they do read your email? Finding the answer to this question will be at the heart of the best email subject lines for your business.
Examples of Best Sales Email Subject Lines
To help get your started on creating email subject lines that boost sales, we've compiled three of our favorites from past successful campaigns and why they worked.
You Liked This Deal Last Time đź‘€: In just 32 characters, this subject line is personal, urgent, and describes the value the recipient can expect when they open it. They know if they read this email they'll find an offer or discount that they took advantage of in the past and may want to utilize again.
Your Favorite [Product] Is About to Sell Out: Standing at 40 characters, this is another eye-catching subject line built on a personalized foundation. You can add the customer's name as further personalization but either way the personal value of opening is communicated. The customer should open the email or miss out on one of their favorite items.
[Name], Your Exclusive Discount Expires Tonight!: Scarcity, urgency, and personalization, all in under 50 characters. Like the one before, the recipient of this email will want to open this email ASAP to avoid missing out on a great deal.
Give Your Sales a Jolt with CMG's Best Email Subject Lines
Using the techniques above on your entire email list can help move the needle. But if you want to get serious about growing sales through email marketing, you'll need a team that's fluent in customer segmentation, A/B testing, and multivariable testing. You'll also need accurate data to drive these decisions.
You don't need to build a marketing department from scratch, though. Become a CMG customer today to harness the power of an experienced marketing team ready to drive your email ROI through the roof. We leverage our sophisticated data tools and owned channels to craft compelling subject lines that speak to all your customer segments while you sit back and watch conversion rates rise. Contact CMG Local Solutions today to get started.
