Subject lines: 10 points to watch

For those left glassy eyed by 6-part series and scrabble analogies and the thousands of column inches of advice on the topic of subject lines, here's a quick 10-point "better practice" checklist...

1. Say what is necessary to encourage subscribers to take a closer look

2. Do this in as few words as possible

[In other words, keep your subject lines as short as possible. But don't sacrifice on important words that can boost response just for the sake of keeping below an arbitrary number of characters in your subject line.]

3. Put your most important words (the top response drivers) at the beginning of the subject line

4. Analyse your campaign reports and test as much as you can to discover the hot "response" words, phrases and copywriting approaches for your emails and audience.

5. In particular, consider the value of adding the name of the recipient, sender, newsletter, brand or business in the subject line (see personalization and branding)

6. Include a clear, concise, specific description of the email's contents OR

7. Use a question, add a deadline, appeal to the emotions...any of the copywriting techniques that you know encourage your audience to explore the email further

8. Ensure your subject line style reflects your brand and audience

9. Find out what local anti-spam laws require of subject lines and comply with the requirements

10. If your subject line looks like something a spammer might write, then rewrite it

Anything I missed?

[For all the details, examples and research studies, see the posts and articles listed here.]

Tags: email marketing, subject lines

 feed | email | Follow me on Twitter

The main website for everything email marketing
Email marketing search engine | Introduction
Email advertising basics | Service listings | Sources of statistics
Advice on email design, delivery issues and list building

Top email marketing info sources for 2009
Outlook 2007 and HTML design
42 HTML email design resources

follow me on Twitter