Commentary

The Fine Art of Subject Lines

A panel of female consumers offering insight into their digital behavior were asked how much email subject lines affect their interest in opening a promotional message.

Some responses:

-A panelist says "it's very important," so long as it says something specific about an offer. She added if she is not familiar with the marketer sending the email, she is nervous about the threat of a virus that could result from opening it.

-"I would say the subject line is the most important thing," said another panelist.

-A third response: "It gives you an idea how pressing something is -- I think that line is very important."

-A fourth panelist says she doesn’t like when a subject line uses her name, such as "Hey Kiera."

1 comment about "The Fine Art of Subject Lines".
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  1. Christopher Payne-taylor from sAY-So, May 5, 2009 at 12:08 p.m.

    The subject line should neither say anything about a special offer (Get Something Free), or be flakily familiar (Hey, Person). It should frame the interior content.

    Several years ago, I developed an extremely successful campaign which was run for half a dozen companies called "SmartMail." The subject line was invariably headed, "Opportunity in ... (insert key word or words here). Some of the variants included, "Opportunity in Japan," "Opportunity in Design," "Opportunity in Charitable Giving." One of the companies for whom this was run achieved 28% open and over 10% conversion rates.

    Taking a page from Negotiation 101, it was focused more on setting the stage than selling. The objective was to control the agenda without frightening the prospect away from the table. I found that if you did that, 50% (or better) of your promotional work was already done.

    Christopher Payne-Taylor

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