Subject lines seem pretty innocuous to most people who work with email everyday but the fact is that these simple lines of text can make or a break a sale for online marketers looking to make a sale. An online marketer literally has the five seconds that it takes to read a subject line to make an impression on the potential buyer about the nature of the product, how it could impact the buyer's life, and how this is the best deal. This is the colloquial foot in the door and if this one line can lead to a prospect actually opening a mail, a minor battle would be won. This is because the prospect would have added to the email open rates of that mailing exercise. This is a simple metric that measures how many people have actually opened the individual mails of a bulk email marketing exercise. Subject lines can also potentially ruin a sale as well. Therefore, whenever you are looking to improve email open rates, first focus on the subject line.
The first thing to remember in framing a subject line is to not make it sound like a used car salesman. This basically means that the sales spiel has to go right out of the window if you are serious about selling on the net. This might seem antagonistic in approach but the logic is simple. There are more people allergic to sales material in emails than they are of newsletters. This means that if you are offering information, you could increases email open rates. Use subject lines that have a tone of a newsreel instead of shouting out words like discount, click here, and the like.
Improving email open rates requires that you start being more honest in your subject lines. Many spammers use misleading subject lines like "you owe me money" and other irritating, unimaginative lines. This is done with the express objective of getting someone to click the mail open. One can imagine the reaction of a potential client towards a mail like this. The rule here is that if you are selling something, admit it and be clear about that as well in your subject line. This doesn't mean that you flash the words "sale" in your subject line but that you mention subtly that you have a product to offer.
Email open rates can take a real tumble if you use spam keywords in your subject line. This is because a spam filter would be quick to catch it and send your bulk email to the spam folder. Remember that some spam actually costs the sender money and every mail of yours in a spam folder, will be billable. To improve email open rates, make sure that you take some time to understand how spam filters work and what kind of key words are possible triggers. The final rule that you should follow is to adhere to CAN-SPAM guidelines regarding delivery.
Email Open Rate Tips: Using Subject Lines to Your Advantage
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About the Author:
Karrie Beth is a best practices activist and advocate for Benchmark Email ( http://www.benchmarkemail.com ), a leading Web and permission-based email marketing service.
Author: Karrie Beth
