Sensational Email Marketing Subject Lines That Get More Emails Open

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5 Minutes Read

“Have no fear of perfection -- you’ll never reach it. Just get it done.” - Unknown

In business, while we can use a number of techniques to improve our overall marketing messages and promotional type activities, what we really need is to get it done.

We have to just get the stuff out there simply because perfection can only be attained through constant practice. We have to start doing something so we have something to improve. Our micro-skills can only be improved if we just get our tasks done.

Our marketing strategies can only be perfected if we get them done. This is where we can appreciate the beauty of technology and the internet as we can use statistical data to analyze for ways to improve our own skills after our initial efforts.

Same with curating email marketing subject lines. We can only attain better results if we lay them out there and send them to the right people.

Now, while email marketing seems to be an outdated strategy, it’s effectiveness in reaching out to potential customers and retaining the existing ones is undeniable. But here’s the catch - only if you crafted a good email subject line.

So today, we will learn how to write sensational email marketing subject lines that would get your emails opened and get the response it deserves.

But first, let us take a look at why email is really a powerful marketing medium.

What Makes Email Really Powerful?

Chart- email marketing sent and received per day worldwide

Well, in the overall statistics, there are roughly 306 billion e-mails sent and received each day in 2020. Now, that figure is expected to increase to over 361 billion daily messages in 2024.

What the statistics are effectively saying is that email is still the primary communication tool for business owners and marketers to reach out and communicate to overall prospects and customers.

But how do you write an effective email that would prompt your recipients to click and read your message?

Before we delve into how to write a powerful email, let us first check the differences between marketing and sale emails.

Marketing Emails vs Sales Emails

While sales email is closely associated with marketing email, they differ on the goals, and thus, they differ in content. Let's have a look at what makes marketing and sales email different.

Email marketing vs sales email checklist

Typically, marketing emails can be new content announcements when you publish a new blog article, a product update, a digital magazine or newsletter, an event invitation like a webinar or physical event.

Marketing emails can also be dedicated sends which are your transactional type emails and co-marketing emails with another company where you’re doing a joint marketing promotion.

We also have social media send, internal updates, confirmation emails, form submission thank-you emails, welcome emails and lead nurturing.

The sales team, on the other hand, tends to have similar requirements only that they should incline their sales email for one-to-one communication.

So the sales team should have emails that are focused on prospecting, following up, trigger events, break up emails, call summaries, closing, panning out post-sales check-in emails, upselling and cross-selling, and referral emails.

Tips For Sensational Email Subject Lines

While your email content is important to get your message across to your prospects and existing customers, the conversion really starts with your email headline.

Your email headline or subject line will determine whether or not someone will actually read your message. Your email will end up unopened or in the trash bin if your subject line does not catch the attention of your recipients.

It is always important to know how to write an email subject line that gets your email opened and read. As a marketer, you should ensure that your email stands out.

So, how do you write an excellent email marketing subject line that would prompt people to click your email? Here are some of the proven ways to have sensational email marketing subject lines.

Email subject lines tips and checklist

1. Keep it short and sweet

Let’s all admit it, we don’t like seeing a long string of email headlines on our inboxes. We tend to ignore them and not even read the subject line at all.

Also, email headlines usually get cut off especially if they are too long so it hinders your goal to inform the receiver what you really want them to know. We recommend having a subject line lesser than 50 characters.

2. Use personalized tokens

Add little personalized touches to show that you know your recipients more than just their email address. Add the recipient’s name or location on the subject to give a feeling of a close and harmonious relationship.

3. Segment your lists

While it’s okay to send a single message to all your contacts in your email list, it is still best if you segment your list based on the actions your leads and existing customers have taken.

By segmentation, you are able to provide the right information to the people who are needing it.

4. Do tell them what’s inside

One of the best ways to compel your email recipients to really read your message is to tell them firsthand through the subject line what is inside. Tell them immediately what you want to give or share with them.

5. Use concise language

Even with a pun, it is always recommended to use concise language on any marketing medium, much more in an email headline.

Present your headline clearly and briefly, yet, comprehensive enough to get clicked.

6. Make people feel special

Give your recipients a sense of belongingness by indicating exclusivity on your email marketing headline. Let them feel that the email is really intended for them and not for any random person.

7. Create a sense of importance

It’s undeniable that creating a sense of importance or urgency in any marketing medium is an effective tactic, so does in email headlines.

Compel your readers to click on your email by communicating a sense of urgency, that they should act now or else, the value will be gone.

8. Use numbers

Using data and real numbers to your subject lines will give a straightforward approach to your receivers, conditioning their mind on what to expect in the email.

9. Don’t use ALL CAPS or overuse exclamation points!!!

While ALL CAPS and exclamation points tend to catch a person’s attention, they don’t always look appealing to the eyes. When we don’t like what we see, we tend to immediately ignore them. And who likes to look into something that seems to be yelling at you anyway?

Email Subject Line Tools

A smart business owner and marketer know when to use tools to lessen their workloads. Even a single email subject line can eat up all your time just to curate an effective headline.

Good tools will not only lighten the burden of writing an email subject line but also of crafting a sensational subject line that would prompt people to click and read.

Here are 3 tools you can start with, in creating your own email marketing subject lines.

1. Email Subject Line Grader - Net Atlantic

Net Atlantic’s Email Subject Line Grader allows you to test your email subject line. It provides suggestions on what type your headline is and will tell you what to do.

Email Subject Line Grader will also tell you about the character and word count, and even the emotional words that could entice your recipient to click.

This is definitely a good place to sort of start and get a breakdown of potential ways you can use to improve your subject line as you move forward.

2. SubjectLine.com - Overall copy effectiveness

Subject Line is another effective subject line rating tool that could also give you a breakdown of how you write your headline and if it meets the industry’s standards or not.

3. Headline Analyzer - CoSchedule

Headline Analyzer is another favorite tool that we recommend to ensure you have top-notch email headlines.

This tool from CoSchedule will give you insights regarding the right word balance, headline type, character count, clarity, and the type of emotion your email subject line conveys.

What you do with these tools is really just to enter your email subject line into the textbox and it will give you a rating from 1 to 100.

Now, one of the things you should keep in mind about these email subject line analyzers is don’t aim for perfection. You’ll never get a rating of 100 all the time.

So as a general rule of thumb, always aim for an 80 and above rating. If you can get 80 above, you’re doing it just fine.

Conclusion

People tend to judge emails based on their subject lines. Crafting a good subject line is the key to make sure your message is clicked and viewed.

Fine-tune your skills to become more effective in the overall marketing and sales processes.

 

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David McMahon

Expert HubSpot Consultant | Helping Businesses Maximise HubSpot CRM, Workflows, and Integration for Revenue Growth

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