Subject line’s purpose should reach far beyond a simple unique open. It should generate RIA: recognition, interest, action.
Each of those three issues has already been discussed in detail on many specialist corporate (and not only) blogs, including this one.
Today I’d like to focus on the third one: action. Email marketing basics will tell you that nothing inspires action better than a powerful call to action. Let’s analyze a handful of picks from my inbox to see if and how CTAs can improve the engagement metrics.
Source: www.questiontime.me/tag/alex/
Effective subject lines are created according to specific rules: you need to discuss branding, frontloading, trigger words, personalization, legal requirements etc. It’s worth the effort, though, as recipients do not read your subject lines in isolation. Each of your emails has to compete with dozens of others which have the same objectives. To win attention you need to sound unique and sensational. A handy CTA can help you here.
1. “For Your Information” (FYI) type subject lines are something to avoid at all costs. They are dull and likely to be overlooked, or ignored as another “same-old” category. They sound official, and impersonal, which doesn’t really inspire the feeling of being the special addressee of the email. See examples:
They all miss the important “What’s In It For Me” (WIIFM) information. So I shrug and say: so what? To really get your message through you need to do better than that.
2. We tend to ask headlines to do too much, or too little. In the context of generating action we either want them to lead straight to a sale…
…or we try to lure the recipient to open the email, but nothing beyond.
None of the approaches is particularly successful. The first one seems very pushy, but doesn’t raise much interest or inspire the sense of connectedness. The other one is inviting, but doesn’t contain any WIIFM type of information. A good subject line should create the sense of desire, curiosity and immediate advantage. For the reader they often mean something different than immediate sale. See examples:
All these subject lines imply what information can be found inside and how you can benefit from it, but with no pressure to make a purchase. They can lead not only to a sale, but far beyond: they help establish relationship with the customer and build strong and positive brand image.
3. When I said that we want too much of our headlines, I meant it literally. Simplicity and brevity are obligatory criterions. Too long and complex headlines (no matter how inviting) will deter people, plus they don’t shrink gracefully when displayed in some email clients. The examples below have great powerful CTAs, but they’re just too long, thus discouraging.
Being concise is difficult. It requires planning, calculating and putting a lot of constraints on what you want to say. At the same time as a recipient I’d like to see some creativity, play and imagination. That’s why I really value subject lines which can meet all these demands.
Bravo to all the above. They not only have good rhythm and sound great and amusing. They also give you a clue about what to expect which is an important prerequisite of an engaging subject line.
4. Concerning what I’ve just said above I can’t say much good about the next two subject lines.
They are confusing, stylistically difficult to understand, and don’t say much about the message content. A good subject line should raise expectations that the content can meet. The same imperative “see” is used below to create an engaging, personal and meaningful CTA.
5. Positive and active CTAs (“find out more”, “learn”, “visit”, “update”, “enjoy” etc.) work better than negative and passive ones. Thus, beware of negations as their effect can be opposite to what was expected.
There are many tricks that you can try out. Subject lines are quite easy to change, modify and test, so all sorts of experiments are welcome. You lack sources of inspiration?
Check out what calls to action drive the most clicks to your site.
Give up dull declarations and statements.
Appeal to emotions, desires, dreams, encourage your audience to discover what’s inside, make it irresistible.
Let your headline be a promise of an experience that reaches beyond a sale.
