If you are like most professionals whose work cater around writing dozens of emails a day but hardly give any importance to the email subject, then I guess it is the time for you to start thinking about the same. You may believe that it is only your email marketing content that matters the most. Of course, it is of importance, but email subject line is more important as it is the first things that your readers will be eyeing. Therefore, your subject line needs to stand out in the eyes of your readers.
A very captivating subject line will have a huge impact on sales and email marketing tactics of a business organization. Without a good subject line, your readers will not even think of opening the email. This will be a significant blow on the face email marketers which will, in turn, have an adverse impact on sale activity. Therefore, keeping these points in mind I am listing down 9 myths that most of the business organizations have towards an email subject line.
#Myth 1: An email subject line can never be a summary of the actual content
This is the first thing that most of the email marketers think about an email subject line. However, it is not true. In fact, your email subject line should act as the summary to your main email content. It will give a bright idea to your readers about the email content that they will find inside. This triggers a sense of excitement in your readers that ultimately leads to opening of the email. Therefore, always provide a good subject line that will be the summary of the whole email content.
#Myth 2: Longer the subject line, the ‘Better.’
Nobody in today’s world has time to devout to a long and tedious email subject line. It will act like a complete turn off for your readers. Make sure that your email subject line is precise, crisp and engaging for your readers. This will compel your readers to open the email thereby your email marketing tactic a step closer to success.
#Myth 3: Email subject line has nothing to do with the recipient’s interest
In fact, a good email subject line always considers what kind of subject line will grab the attention of the readers instantly. Your email marketing campaign will ultimately fail if you do not find what your subscriber are looking for, as they are the deciding factor. Therefore, make sure that your email subject line is relevant to the recipient. They should find it interesting enough to open it and put some time out of their busy schedule of life.
#Myth 4: Every word in a subject line needs to be in capital letter
This is a very wrong concept that email marketers bear in their mind while creating an email. There is no hard and fast rule that every word in your email subject line has to be in capital letters. In fact, if you keep every word in the capital letter the chances are high that your readers might find it very disturbing while viewing it. Therefore keep the first letter in the capital with the use correct font and font size. In this way, your readers will find it to be soothing for their eyesight.
#Myth 5: No need to maintain any word limit for a subject line
Considering the word limit in your email subject line is crucial. It is advised to keep your email subject line within 50 words. It should not be too long as a long subject might fail to convey what the email is all about and in turn, might fail to attract the attention of the readers. Therefore, keep your subject line short, to the point and in connection with the email content inside. It will improve your email marketing open rate.
#Myth 6: An email subject line cannot determine the email marketing open rate
All the points mentioned and the points that I will be mentioning further will define the importance of an email subject line which ultimately improves the email open rate. Email subject line is directly connected to email open rate as it is the only thing that will make the viewers to open the email. Therefore, thinking that email subject line does not determine the email open rate is completely a wrong concept. Therefore, work hard in improving your email subject line if you are still sitting with this myth in your mind.
#Myth 7: An email subject line neglected by the readers
What is it that compels a recipient to open an email? Of course the email subject line. Studies say that 35% of emails are opened based on the email subject line. Therefore, do not even think in your dreams as an email marketer that your subscribers overlook the email subject line. In fact, if they find it interesting, only then they will open an email and not put it in the trash.
#Myth 8: Punctuations make a subject line look more attractive
Never ever incorporate too much punctuation in a subject line. Use of unnecessary punctuations in a subject line makes it look all the more clustered and the reader will not find it attractive at all, whatsoever. Therefore, use punctuations only if it is needed at all. Use of punctuation is not mandatory in a subject line.
#Myth 9: There are no success stories based email subject lines
This is the last myth in my list of myths related email subject line. If you are thinking that are no companies in the market who have climbed the success stair by creating an attractive subject line, then you are wrong. There are a number of companies who have seen the face of success by creating an interesting subject line.
- Groupon: “Best of Groupon: The Deals that Make Us Proud (Unlike Our Nephew, Steve)”
Being sarcastic in the field of marketing is tough. However, Groupon has nailed at this trick. The first part of the subject line is a common subject line. It is the second part that happens to grab the attention of the viewers. This one of the gem email subject line that Groupon came up with.
- Rent the Runaway: “Happy Birthday Lindsay— Surprise Inside!”
We are big fans of personalized emails in our inbox. It makes us feel very special. It can be incredibly effective—especially in email marketing. However, that is not where the subject line magic is ending. It also hints at an incentive on opening the email without giving away the surprise completely.
- Manicube: “*Don’t Open This Email*.”
We often tend to those things which we asked not to do. That is the exact trick that Manicube has used in their email subject line. It is one of the most effective ways to make people curious enough to open the email.
- DocuSign: “What are our customers saying?”
The email with this subject line was sent in the lead nurturing process. The body of the email contained a bunch of case studies that was directed to help the recipient to move closer to actual purchasing process of DocuSign.
Therefore, the examples as mentioned above clearly illustrate the importance of email subject line in improving the email open rate.
You put much effort to create marketing emails. Do not allow something as simple as a subject line to ruin the chances of your email being opened and read. Spend time in creating the captivating subject lines avoiding the myths that have been mentioned above and see the improvement taking place in your email marketing campaign with high open rates and click through rates.
Author: Ankit Prakash is the co-founder of EasySendy Pro – a Hybrid Email Marketing Solution provider for small and medium b2c businesses. Ankit is a passionate and determined entrepreneur; building internet product and services since 2006. You can follow him on Twitter for marketing optimization related tips.
