Subject lines: yet more insight

Blithely wandering the web before a short vacation (so no posts tomorrow), I came across yet more examples of subject line tests.

Mike Volpe posted up the results from his test on using words like "free" in a webinar invitation.

And Tony Wright describes his recent subject line experiences. (Read the comments, too, for insight from Friendster.)

Tony's post is also intriguing, because he suggests you might draw subject line inspiration from the titles of the articles and links that get the most attention at social media sites like Digg and Reddit.

Anyway, let me take the opportunity to play Mr.Miserable with three subject line reminders...

1. The subject line advice you read is important but not universally applicable. For every guideline out there, you can always find someone doing the opposite and making it work.

This is because audiences, lists and senders are different and unique. Which is why doing your own subject line tests is always a good idea. Take the general recommendations given by experts and use these as a base for your own tests.

2. Tests are important, but be sure they produce meaningful results. Comparing open rates between two emails, each sent to a different group of 50 subscribers tells you nothing.

If you don't have enough subscribers to do statistically-sound comparative tests, simply look over all your past emails and see if you can find helpful patterns.

Were there types of subject line (or subject line topics) that always produced better results?

Also...email habits, attitudes and perceptions change. Consider retesting your assumptions and results further down the road to make sure they still hold.

3. Subject lines are an important factor in getting people to read and interact with your email. But not the only factor. Don't forget the importance of the sender name, brand, past email experiences, time of day, day of week etc.

More on improving open rates | Tags: email marketing, email subject lines

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