The Secret to Effective Email Subject Lines
by: Karen Scharf, Small Business Marketing Consultant
ShareEmail marketing has become so competitive lately! As marketers try to push their own emails to the top of the “notice me pile” we’re seeing more and more really aggressive subject lines. But do these hard-hitters actually work?
Believe it or not, current studies show that boring subject lines definitely net better results.
Over 40 million email messages were recently analyzed, and those with the most straightforward subject lines boasted open rates between 60% and 87%. As far as industry averages go, 60%-87% is a phenomenal open rate. Several of the most successful subjects were:
- [Your Company] Sales & Marketing Newsletter
- Upcoming Events at [Your Company]
- Invitation from [Your Business]
It appears as if open rates increase when the company’s name is placed in the subject line. Your readers know you and trust you, and a straightforward subject line is less likely to be recognized as spam. When they see your name in the subject line, they know they are already interested in what you have to say (assuming your emails are always full of valuable content!).
The bottom line: skip the hype and go for a clear-cut subject line.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Is this still accurate? I’ve heard you say before that we should not waste space with our business name in the subject line.
March 31st, 2010 at 2:31 pm
I’ve been reading the infroamtion on your site for quite some time now, just wanted to do a quick post and say thank you for all of the useful information you have been providing your readers all this time.