The make or break Line for an email is a subject line. It is what makes your email stand out among the other 100-plus emails in an average inbox every day. It is what motivates recipients to open the email.
If you’re like most professionals, you’re probably writing dozens of emails a day but barely thinking about the subject line. It’s an afterthought you add just before you hit send.
If so, then you are making a big mistake. The subject line concludes whether an email is opened and how the grantee responds.
Your subject line is your first (and probably your last) impression on consumers. In many ways, your email subject line is more important than the body of your email. After all, an awesome newsletter is useless if it never sees the light of day.
What Is the Subject In An Email?
An email subject line is a single line of text that people see when they receive your email. This same line of text can often determine whether an email is opened or sent straight to the trash, so make sure it’s optimized for your audience.
What Is An Email Preheader?
An email preheader is the part of your email that a subscriber will see in their email inbox. It is the text that follows the email subject and previews the content of your email.
The preheader is the line that says, “Get a discount on delicious pizza’s when you enroll before July 31st.”
Now you can predict how an email preheader is different from a subject line. Both two work together to convince a recipient of your email actually to open.
Why Is The Email Subject Line So Important?
First, your email subject line and introduction are the only things email recipients can see when they receive your email in their inbox. Because an email inbox is filled with hundreds, perhaps thousands of emails a day, engaging and catchy email subject lines are currently more important than ever. This same line of text can often determine whether an email is opened or sent straight to trash (or worse, to spam).
Good email subject lines can have a powerful impact on your readers. The words you prefer for your email subject lines can significantly impact whether the hard work you put into your email will pay off. No matter how sophisticated or efficient your email campaigns are, they are useless if your target audience doesn’t open emails.
Spending a little more time on your email subject line will help you increase your email open rates, prevent emails from going into spam folders, and get your message in front of the right people.
4 Tips to Create Good Email Subject Lines
1. Spark the Recipient’s Memory for An Even Better Shot At Getting Your Email Opened
If you’ve met with the recipient, exchanged emails before, or received a phone call, mention this in your subject line.
In your follow-up email subject lines, make sure you reference your previous meeting or conversation. It helps your receptionist remember who you are and what steps you expected to take next.
2. Don’t Go Crazy With the Length
The science of writing a subject line reveals that getting the best results implies keeping it short. Since most desktop inboxes display up to 60 characters, the target length should be six to eight words. However, more and more journalists use mobile phones in their day-to-day (field) work, where only 25-30 characters are visible.
Taking these numbers into account, industry researchers reiterate that subject lines of less than fifty characters have significantly much better open and click rates than longer ones. To create a concise subject line, try to be laser-accurate, remove extra words, often adjectives and adverbs, limit punctuation, and throw out pieces that could be included at the beginning of the email body, such as Hi. By the way, there is no need to add “RE:” to every reply.
3. Use Urgent Language Wisely
Psychologically, in the informative era, we face FOMO syndrome, the fear of missing out. When setting up media with press releases, use urgency language strategically, i.e., only in cases that really need immediate action. You can also set a deadline in the subject line as – Reply by Monday.
Remember that the media is constantly fighting for good content on its own and to be the first with an online publication, so there is no need to intensify everything without practical reason. Also, never let the subject line become too clickbaity just because you’re fighting for attention.
4. Personalization is The Key
No two email subscribers are exactly alike – and, sometimes, that means the emails you send shouldn’t be either. At this time, marketers never had more ways to learn about their customers’ preferences, jobs, or general preferences. So when you send them content, occasionally make sure it meets the individual.
It may be impossible to implement all of these tips at once, but constantly adapt them to the context of the press release and the messages you write. Segmenting the recipients and customizing the content in individual emails for each group will also help you increase your open rates.
Speak to recipients in their language, as some phrases may work, and some trigger no response at all. Finally, test, experiment, and measure the success of all activities to make progress significantly over time.