Wednesday, May 20, 2009

5 Ways To Create Attention-Grabbing Subject Lines

If your e-marketing subject line doesn't grab attention, your customers and prospects will simply hit "delete" without even bothering to read what's inside. So how do you create subject lines that help ensure click-ins?

1. Keep it short and punchy: In its 2007 Email Benchmark Guide, MarketingSherpa concludes, "When it comes to subject lines, shorter is better." Our digital attention span is short and your "teaser" line should be, too.

2. Use the recipient's name: People are more inclined to open an email if you address them personally. For example: "Matthew, here is your affordable IT solution."

3. Avoid the spam monsters: Make sure your subject line doesn't trigger spam filters. Use SPAM content checker and send it to your own email address to test.

4. Make sure you're using the right words: Certain words trigger responses better than others. Check out Google Analytics to see which words are often searched; it's likely that those same words will motivate prospects.

5. Don't get sloppy: Take an extra couple of minutes to use spell checker, proofread yourself, and then ask someone else to proofread as well. The last thing you want is to appear unprofessional.

2 comments:

Lauren I. Ruiz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lauren I. Ruiz said...

This list is useful for most e-mail communications. As an editor, I'm specifically careful to employ the last one (proofread carefully).