Email Marketing Subject lines in 6 Steps

How many emails do you receive each day? And how many accounts? An American market research firm has found that 1.9 billion e-mails circulate around the world every day - with

spam mails excluded. Most people do not read every single email sent to them. What You about?

How people decide whether to open an e-mail and read or immediately press the trash can or junk mail icon hangs on the subject. This narrow line may be the smallest element in the volume of your email marketing strategy. But it is the guardian between the reader and your message. A very big task for such a manageable collection of letters.

E-Mail Subject Line: Small, but vital!

The subject line is therefore an extremely crucial aspect of your email. Therefore, devote an appropriate amount of time to creating it. However, you do not have to rush into hours of

pondering, I reveal the secret recipe of convincing e-mail subject lines. This will make you faster and faster in finding out what your audience has the most appetite for.

So the next time you email , have this recipe ready to get your message across.

The ingredients

• seriousness

• call to action

• personalization

• clarity

• shortness

• consistency

E-mail subject line: The preparation

Step 1: Maintain seriousness

There are two filters that you have to pass on your way to the reader: the actual spam filter and your reader. Readers turn on their "bullshit" tracking device when they open

their inbox.

Be sure it's as fine as the nose of a bloodhound ... so avoid overly spamming words like "free", "access now" or "for a limited time". Do not yell at your reader by writing everything in capital letters. For example "REMINDER". By the way, that's one more word that dreadfully smells of Junkmail, guaranteed to make your subject line inedible. Avoid overusing puncuation marks such as, for example, ten exclamation marks in a row at the end of the sentence.

Step 2: Integrate an action request

Ask yourself while writing: Does the reader know what he can do with what is in the e-mail? An e-mail subject line comes from the same clan as the call-to-action . Use words that convey tension and also a little urgency. For example, a fragrant and tasty subject line looks like this: Meet Alfons Schubeck at the Dallmayr Restaurant.

So the reader knows he'll have a chance to shake Schubeck's hand in the near future and that something in the email can help him on his way to a handshake and appetizer tasting. If you had written "Alfons Schubeck in the Restaurant Dallmayr", the yawning reader might have - erroneously - just noted that Schubeck had just dined in the Dallmayr.

Step 3: Personalize the subject line

The indispensable prerequisite for delivering real value and benefits to your readers by email is to know them. At least a tiny bit. And if you have segmented your email list, you already know something about your esteemed readers. Your subject line should therefore reflect that you 're sending something that readers really want.

For example, if a real estate broker sends random land, villa, townhouse, and mid-range housing offers to all recipients throughout the country, he will receive less response than

if he had segmented his lists according to actual housing needs and local desires. "Homely two-room apartment with a view of the countryside in Maxvorstadt" will therefore usually work better than "See the latest real estate from Hamburg to Munich".

Step 4: Create clarity

Of course you know in detail what the reader expects in the e-mail. But is that clear to the recipients too? If the subject line is too large and too long, it will dilute its taste. This often happens when marketers spasmodically try to conjure up witty subject lines.

If it is easy for you to write amusing sentences - please do! But not to the detriment of the clarity of your statement. You can also help the recipient find out what the email is about by putting succinct keywords that suit their interests at the beginning of the subject line.

Step 5: Watch for brevity

You could delight your recipients with a ballad or a haiku in the subject line. Fortunately, you should keep it, as already heard, rather short. A good rule of thumb is 50 characters or less.

Because on the one hand you want, of course, that as much relevant text as possible is visible in the e-mail window (and that's where it just becomes space-critical on mobile devices), and on the other hand, users skim over their inboxes with one eye and decide within nanoseconds what they read and what they erase. The shorter the subject line, the better the chances that you will really be in the focus and interest of the reader.

Step 6: Let the consistency work

The promise in the subject line should of course be fulfilled in the email content . How would you feel if the subject line promised you a 75 percent discount on summer clothes and then found out that it was just for light blue sneaker socks? Windy lock offers frustrate the reader. As a result, he will less frequently click on links in the email, no longer open the sender's email or newsletter or let him know of his wish to unsubscribe from the mailing list.

And now to the e-mail!

As it is with all recipes: Practice makes the professional chef! Experiment with what you find in the linguistic pantry and the grammatical spice rack. Shake the words up and down. Access synonyms. And tap into the tastes of your customers and readers with different subject lines.

You thought e-mails would have long gone out of fashion? No, for many it's still the # 1 communication tool and you should not give away that potential. That's why email

plays an important role in the inbound marketing mix.