Kick-Ass Subject Lines and How to Write Them for Your Email Campaigns

December 07, 2011 | By Kara Trivunovic

Last month, I wrote an informative feature article for iMedia about how to write "kick-ass" subject lines. You can check out the article below or read it on iMedia. Let me know if you have any feedback in the comments. Can I have your attention please? Yes, you! As marketers, we shout out to customers through our email campaigns in an attempt to grab the readers attention and get them to engage with, buy from and talk about our brand. Cutting through the clutter is not an easy task and there are several components that have to be in place for your email message to work successfully. Getting your message delivered into the inbox is part of the equation. But the ability to get your message across all really starts with one simple thing your subject line. Subject lines are typically the determining factor of whether the recipient opens your message or not, so you better make it good. As basic as the concept is, this age-old conversation has continually confounded marketers when it comes to their email campaigns, particularly as mobile, social and other trends have shifted the way people attack their inboxes. And while subject lines are among the most widely tested component of an email message, what works for one company doesnt necessarily work for the next. Even more explicitly, what works today for you may not work tomorrow. Subject lines are very, wellsubjective for a particular individual, at a specific moment in time. So how do you write a subject line that is so kick-ass that your audience simply cant pass it up? Consistently coming up with good subject lines can be an art in and of itself, so here are a few tips to get you started. KISS Research suggests you have about 6 words to get your point across in the subject line. Therefore, Keep It Short and Simple. Clearly indicate the purpose of the email. Remember, you are competing with dozens of other email campaigns in the inbox and the reader is scanning to see what is intriguing or relevant to him at any given time. As demonstrated in our first example below, some of the most effective subject lines are straightforward and (dare I say) boring. Organization: Southwest Airlines Subject: All California destinations on sale Why it kicks ass: If someone recently searched for a trip to California on www.southwest.com or indicated California as one of his preferred destinations, this email campaign could motivate the reader to book immediately through Southwest. As a general rule of thumb, typically shorter subject lines 40 characters or less (including spaces) perform better. Of course what works for one group may not work for another. To that end, the reality is that most of the time, success has more to do with what you are saying as opposed to how many characters in which you say it. BACK THAT BACK UP or FRONT LOAD IMPORTANT CONTENT Subject line truncation is an important consideration in the email space as smartphone adoption steadily grows in the U.S. and abroad. eMarketer projects that the number of U.S. smartphone users will increase from 90.1 million in 2011 to 148.6 million in 2015, representing 46% of the total U.S. population.

We know that widespread mobile adoption is inevitable, so here are a few technological considerations we can use as a guide. Most email clients display only the first 50 characters in a snapshot view of the inbox. Many mobile devices clients show only 25 characters and Blackberry subject lines show only the first 15 characters. With that said, get in the habit of front-loading your important content. Putting whats important at the beginning of your email campaign's subject line ensures that crucial information doesnt get cut off in the inbox. PLAY PEEK-A-BOO Crafting a kick-ass subject line means speaking the language of your audience. Pay attention to the searches run on your website and the organic searches from search engines and consider using words from the most popular searches in your subject lines. Also, mind the subject lines of your closest competitors' email campaigns to get ideas for words and phrasings. Organization: HubSpot Subject: [New eBook] Top 5 Mobile Marketing Case Studies Why it kicks ass: Mobile marketing is a hot topic right now all over the digital marketing press. While I cant say for sure what search terms drive individuals to HubSpot, I can guess that mobile marketing case studies is a hotly searched phrase. GET UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL Theres nothing more effective in getting your customers attention than delivering a personalized message at just the right moment in time. The subject line of your email campaign is a perfect opportunity to flex your personalization prowess and instigate a spark in the recipients eye. How, you might ask? Youve got to do your homework. The easy part is populating the subject line with specific data elements, such as first name. But the practice has proven to become less effective over time. You need to take it a bit further. Show the customer how much you understand them by crafting subject lines for particular audience segments: younger athletes, mothers on the East Coast, students interested in video games, you name it! Find the common thread within a certain group geography, interests, age and jump on it. Many times this comes down to business history. Referencing a specific brand/product with which the customer has an affinity ($40 Crocs) as opposed to sending out an email campaign to everyone about the $40 shoe sale will increase your chances of getting the open that you want. Organization: Mountain Dew Subject: Rachel > Get Your Game Code for Double XP from DEW! Why it kicks ass: Its fun! People can purchase specially marked cans of Mountain Dew and Doritos that will boost Double XP codes for multiplayer time spent in the video game, Call of Duty. This email campaign is targeted to those who expressed interest in video gaming (presumably, as this information is collected in the preference center). The subject line incorporates:

* first name personalization * enticing call to action get your game code * what value you get from it Call of Duty double experience points and other sweepstakes prizes * current event Dew sweepstakes and promotion that leverages Call of Duty game launch this fall KEEP IT REAL, MAN When considering subject lines, talking about real life, current events, hot topics and the like can be a real attention-grabber. I have seen many marketers attempt to display key words from each newsletter article or brand item on sale within the subject line but that is not always a good approach, especially given the fact that most email campaign subject lines over 40 characters will be truncated. Instead, sum up the message content with the emails most compelling feature, top story or primary promotion to entice the reader to open it. Organization: Conservative News Alerts Subject: Video: Justice Clarence Thomas Speaks Out On Obama's Birth Certificate Why it kicks ass: Tapping into a major news topic and the endless speculation on where Obama was born grabs attention for those who are subscribed to this newsletter, getting them to open and potentially read more articles. In fact, in the spirit of personalization, try referencing a different top story for different audience segments depending on their past readership habits! GET CREATIVE A kick-ass subject line does not always have to be daring, but indeed there are times when a little creativity helps. Go outside the box and experiment with actionable and informative subject lines to determine the best one for each email campaign that you send. Organization: J&R Subject: Free Shipping DAY? People Puhleeze, We Have Free Shipping All Holiday Season!? Why it kicks ass: J&R pokes a little fun at other retailers while announcing their holiday shipping promotion. Its playful and communicates the entire message right there in the subject line. Organization: Eddie Bauer Subject: 90 Years in Seattle - We Know Rain! Why it kicks ass: Eddie Bauer humorously promotes wet weather gear during the rainy season and uses their heritage to demonstrate expertise of the product line. Just a word of caution you may want to do a little pre-campaign testing on highly creative subject lines to ensure your entire audience does not get a message that bombs. GIVE EM THE GOODS Sometimes you have to spell it out. Describe the benefits of what youre offering and include value statements that your audience associates with your brand. Highlight a particular topic of interest, belief or attitude and dont assume that your entire audience feels the same way. Be sure to change the subject line depending on differing values of your unique email campaign audience segments. Organization: The Nature Conservancy Subject: Eat Local and Support the Planet Why it kicks ass: Earth Day action item to eat food grown close to your home and the importance of eating local and seasonal ingredients. Focuses on TNC constituents interest in the environment and uses motivating words that demonstrate how someone can participate right where they are This subject line could be even stronger if the local region was referenced in the subject line (e.g., Eat Illinois-grown food and Support the planet)! A LITTLE FLATTERY NEVER HURTS Go on and do it you know you should! Make your email campaign recipients feel like you value them and want to offer nice rewards or elite status because they are such a valued customer.

Organization: Goldstar Subject: You're Now Eligible for Red Velvet Member Status Why it kicks ass: Goldstar's new invitation-only service for our members who go out the most. Makes the customer feel like she is part of a new, exclusive, vibrant and fun group. Where do I sign up? TEST YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS You knew it was coming. Testing is a crucial part of email marketing success and most marketers embrace subject line testing as an easy, effective strategy for optimizing campaign performance. In fact, Marketing Sherpa reports that 72% of marketers test subject lines and 35% find it to be a very effective strategy. Subject line testing is typically an easy feat, which is a good thing. But keep in mind that deriving a long-term methodology out of a single subject line test is a dangerous course of action. Are you forever going to include your company name at the front of your subject lines? It may work for the time being, but the effectiveness may diminish over time. Rather than taking your learnings and automatically applying them to all of your email campaign subject lines, the most effective strategy is to test in real-time to determine what the right subject line is for one specific message at any given moment. Take Travelocity for example. They had a relatively mature email list with a significant percentage of users who had not had any email or website engagement in the past 12 months. They could have just launched a winback email but instead decided to do a little bit of testing in order to optimize it first. Subject Line A: Save an additional 10% for a limited time only. Subject Line B: Winner As our valued customer, get an extra 10% off for a limited time only. Customers responded to the youre a valued customer message over the generic one by about 10%. Not only did the pre-campaign testing help improve results for the rest of the email campaigns that went out, Travelocity also learned the point discussed above that a little flattery can go a long way. So what can we learn from all of this? Writing subject lines is a skilled craft and there are a number of ways to attack it. Using relevant, personalized information is the start, but testing is the key to figuring out what resonates with your audience at any given time. A good subject line stands out in the crowd but a kick-ass subject line is like a diamond in the rough getting you that open and one step closer to an active, engaged reader. Interested in reading more about email marketing best practices? Try giving one of our other blogs a look.