Report after report and study after study suggests that email is the most effective digital marketing tool.
So if you’re not seeing much of a benefit from your email marketing program, you’ve gotta wonder why.
Maybe the reason people aren’t responding to your emails is because they aren’t even opening them in the first place. Obviously, that’s a problem. A low open rate means your email marketing strategy is dead in the water.
Your open rate is even more significant than your total subscriber number. Think about it this way: Having 1,000 subscribers who all open your emails means much more exposure for your brand than having 6,000 subscribers but only a 2 percent open rate.
No question: You’ve got to get your emails opened. And the best way to do that is to tweak your subject lines—but how?
Tip #1: Make your subject lines longer.
Both the conventional wisdom and the natural instinct is to make your subject lines short and snappy. We’ve offered that very advice in the past. But one new study suggests that maybe longer—like, 60-70 characters, if not more—is the way to go.
Perhaps the rationale is simply this: When you’re working with just a couple of words, it’s hard to offer more than salesy platitudes and generalities. But if you give yourself more space, you can actually convey value and specificity to your readers.
So maybe it’s worth trying long subject lines for a while, just to see how they work.
Tip #2: Write in all lower case letters.
All caps screams of desperation, and can be pretty annoying. Mixing upper and lower case—you know, like you would in normal, everyday writing—is fine. But consider: a lot of the emails you get from your friends and family members probably come with all lower case subject lines.
Writing an all lower case subject line can convey intimacy and familiarity, then—and that’s not such a bad thing for your brand!
Tip #3: Provide value—but don’t give everything away.
As for the actual content of your subject lines, something we recommend is focusing on the value you offer—the benefits your email will provide—without getting into the specifics.
Show your readers what’s in it for them to open your email, but not necessarily how they’ll get it.
Example: Try a subject line that promises something like this: “Drive traffic to your website… and turn it into paying customers!”
You’re showing your readers exactly what they stand to gain from reading the email—but to learn how they’re going to gain it…through SEO, email marketing, or whatever else…they’ve got to open the email and read it.
Try some of these tips in your own email marketing—and see how your open rates improve.
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