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Ideas from Campaign 08: Keep your email subject lines more brief than this blog post title (is "more brief" good grammar anyway?) |
Many an online marketing expert has discussed the importance of the email subject line. I don’t need to belabor this point, but I will encourage you to take a page from Senator Obama's team and use brevity in your subjects. Here are just a few of his recent subject lines: "Something extraordinary", "A beginning", "You have to see this", "Results", "In his own words". Each of these catchy subjects is a teaser, encouraging me to open the email. Had the February 9th message subject been “We won all three stats today”, I probably would not have opened it. But “Results” piqued my interest.
Not only do brief subject lines tease your reader, they help to avoid the pitfalls of spam filters and the growing challenge of various email application readers. Here are a few fictitious examples to consider, you be the judge which subject would illicit a higher open rate.
| Long version | Short version |
| Polar bears in crisis | In crisis |
| Devastating Earthquake kills thousands | Total devastation |
| On the path to a cure for cancer | There is a cure |
| Our children are our future | Our future |
The right subject line for your message will depend on the timing, the issue and your desired outcomes, but the next time you’re struggling to pick the best phrase, consider an A/B test with one version no more than four words and analyze the results.
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URL: http://www.turnfront.com
When I'm writing subject lines for charities and campaigning groups, I would always choose the longer versions that you've provided over the shorter versions. Obama might be able to get away with these kind of subject lines, but most organisations can't. "There is a cure" and "In crisis" make your email look like spam. There's a reason for that, because you're using the same technique that spammers use to generate opens. But these opens are not likely to turn into click-throughs. Spammy techniques are only appropriate when you're emailing massive amounts of cold contacts, and this isn't something a lot of non-profits do.
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NTEN had a great post on this same subject: http://www.nten.org/blog/2008/07/07/quantity-counts-in-email-subject-lines-but-do-you-want-open-rates-or-click-throughs I tend to gravitate toward longer subject lines so people know what they're opening. I don't want it to be a teaser, I want to be transparent and clear with them. I try to think about what works best in real life... how annoying would it be if we started all of our conversations with short snippets, just so we could get your attention.
URL: http://www.preschoolcalifornia.org
I've always gone off of the convention wisdom that we should include something the (directly or indirectly) indicates our organization's issue so that they know it's something they're interested in - so "Take Action on ____" rather than just "Take Action." Do you think the superfluous?