Subject lines

By Mark Brownlow |

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The subject line is one of the most underrated and difficult elements in the publisher's toolbox.

Difficult because it can serve numerous (sometimes conflicting) purposes:

There are different opinions regarding the "ideal" subject line, but my preference is one which features the newsletter's name at the beginning, then an indication of the issue's contents, e.g.

[Keeping the Key] Why subscriber feedback is so important...

I also prefer to put the newsletter name in brackets, to ensure a clear distinction between title and contents.

This approach clearly identifies the email as the Keeping the Key newsletter. Readers can also use this identifier to filter incoming mail into a "Keeping the Key" or "newsletters" folder.

The description of the contents encourages the recipient to open and read the issue, and is also a reference if the reader wants to scan past issues to find a particular subject.

A newsletter's name may be too long to allow both name and contents to be featured in the subject line. One possibility here is to use a short form of the title, or an abbreviation, e.g.

KTK: Why subscriber feedback is so important...

A promising alternative is to use the "from" header as the newsletter identifier and filter, leaving the subject line entirely for describing the contents and stimulating action, e.g.

From: Keeping the Key
Subject: Why subscriber feedback is so important...

Some newsletter owners like to label their subject line with an issue number and/or date. This seems a waste of valuable space, since most software can sort mail by date anyway, and the issue number can be referenced in the newsletter itself, if it's important.

If the subject line is simply the name of the newsletter, then it's a huge missed opportunity.

Discussion list digests are in a slightly different position, as contributors need to refer to previous digests in ongoing discussions. In such cases, a newsletter identifier plus date or issue number may make a more sensible subject line.

A more critical argument concerns how you actually describe your contents in your subject line. A common approach is to simply state the facts, but many people use advertising principles in designing subject lines to stimulate interest or curiosity, much as they would for an email promotion. After all, you want people to open your email.

The danger with advertising-style subject lines is exactly that - they may come across as advertising or resemble a spam message. As such, a careless reader may simply hit the delete button. That's why it's important to have a clear reference to your newsletter name in at least one of the "to", "from" or "subject" headers.

You need to find a balance between "selling" your contents and saying anything that might trigger an adverse "anti-spam" reaction.

My own view is that a newsletter subject line should be relatively neutral in tone, hype-free and use the topic area itself to pique interest. After all, your subscribers have already expressed a specific and fundamental interest in getting your publication. And you need to clearly differentiate your newsletter from email promotions and advertising per se.

You may be worried that revealing the contents of your newsletter in your subject line may actually discourage readers from opening the email. Perhaps your newsletter offers a lot of different content, or you're unsure what your readers really want.

In such cases, you can still use the space for a more non-committal description or stimulus, e.g. "more great ideas on keeping fit...".

For more detailed advice on the whole topic of the subject header, visit the section on subject lines here at Email Marketing Reports.

After discussing all these headers in isolation from each other, let's not forget that the image and information they project depend also on the interaction between them.

Now that you know how each can be used for different purposes, manipulate the combination of headers to maximum effect. For example, reinforce the idea of a one-on-one communication using both the "to" and "from" fields appropriately.

Equally, don't waste precious header space by duplicating effort. For example, if you've used the subject line to clearly identify the newsletter, you don't need to use the "from" field for the same purpose.

I don't want to overestimate the importance of the headers. You've undoubtedly noticed already that there are numerous factors contributing to the impact and influence of your newsletter. Headers are just one of those factors, but if you're in any doubt about their relevance, consider your likely impression of the following newsletter as it sits in your inbox:

From: Mark Brownlow
Subject: [Keeping The Key] New ways to build your list...
To: Dave Jones

Now, what about if it appeared like this:

From: mailer@mailserverthree.com
Subject: Keepingthekey #24
To: List members

Case closed!

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