Subject lines: Amazon's lessons on branding
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A review of 187 promotional emails from Amazon reveals many insights about subject line length and personalization. Now let's see what these emails teach us about subject line branding...[Please take the poll at the end of this post to decide if I should do more in this series.]
One important element driving reader attention and response is recognition. If the recipient doesn't quickly grasp the source and purpose of the email, she may simply gloss over or delete the message without much thought.
An obvious "from" header is key here, but many senders put their brand or business name in the subject line to reinforce this recognition. This post discusses the topic in detail.
For example, Amazon.com almost always puts their name at the front of the subject line. Amazon.co.uk, however, almost always puts it at the end. And Amazon.de sometimes puts it at the front, sometimes at the back, but mostly never mentions it at all:
Yikes.
Everything you put in a subject line has a benefit and a cost.
Each word (hopefully) influences the reader to pay closer attention. But each word carries an opportunity cost: it takes up space other words might use.
Faced by the numerous things we could put in the subject, we try and pick a combination of words that causes the best overall response.
The right combination depends not only on basic subject line common sense, but on context. Amazon's subject line branding looks like a classic example.
Branded subject lines are important in inboxes where attention is scarce, perhaps through email overload or large amounts of spam. Conversely, if someone gets email from Amazon and nobody else, branding the subject line would be pointless.
Equally, the stronger the brand, the more impact it likely has in grabbing attention and encouraging interest.
So try this theory...if we rank the US, UK and Germany in terms of Amazon's likely brand strength we get this:
And if we order their respective countries in terms of the likely total volume of marketing email received by typical email users (busiest inbox first):
Now the different subject line branding strategies make sense.
Amazon.com uses its strong name to stand out in cluttered US inboxes.
Amazon.co.uk has some benefits as a subject line element, but not enough to justify priority placing, so the name gets shunted to the back.
In Germany's less-cluttered inboxes, Amazon.de saves the space for shorter, cleaner subject line phrasing.
The importance of context is also clear in the exceptions to Amazon's broader subject line branding approach.
Amazon.co.uk, for example, uses the brand name at the beginning of a subject line when the email's attractiveness is relatively low.
Compare, for example, these two subject lines:
The first one is a relatively weak promotion. In this case, the power of the brand to attract inbox interest is probably bigger than the power of the promotional message itself. So the Amazon.co.uk gets placed first.
The second one has a strong appeal with its heavy discount. There is more benefit to be gained from putting the discount up front than through branding. So the Amazon.co.uk gets shunted to the back.
Makes sense, no?
Someone publishing the same kind of email on a regular basis can see subject line branding as a yes/no issue. But others, as the Amazon examples show, may choose to tackle the issue separately for each type of email they send.
Again, see this post for more ideas on subject line branding.
OK, I have more insights based on Amazon's emails, but three posts on their subject lines seems like a lot already so here's a quick poll to see if you want more:
(If the poll won't display in your reader, click here.)
If the answer is yes, I'll take a short break for something different anyway, and return to the topic later this month.
More on subject lines | Tags: email marketing, subject lines
Permalink | August 13, 2009 | 6 comment(s) - add yours!
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6 Comments:
Great breakdown, as I often have trouble using this with my own business newsletter. I found that a good idea is to start off your new subscribers with your company name in the front, and then once they get used to you, gradually move it to the back or take it away entirely!
By 
Nick, on
18 August, 2009
That's a good point Nick that reinforces the idea of context. Your recipient's view of your emails changes with time, so subject lines can change to reflect that. Thanks!
By , on
18 August, 2009
Great information here. Amazon has provided a great model to go by. Are there any other successful entities that you would recommend to emulate?
By Promotional Products, on
26 August, 2009
Check out the RetailEmail Blog for examples and evaluations of retailers and their emails. Lots of inspiration there.
By , on
27 August, 2009
There could be a technological reason why Amazon.de does not put the brand name to the beginning of their subject lines. German email clients use to show the sender in front of the subject. Thus the brand name would be repeated when shown as the sender and as the first word of the subject.
By Jens J. Korff, on
02 October, 2009
Thanks (again) Jens. That's something I'd never considered but which would obviously be important.
Mind you, a lot of US/intl webmail services do the same. My Gmail and Yahoo! Mail interfaces both put the sender first.
By , on
05 October, 2009
