Your subject line is essentially your first impression, and you can only do that once, there is no do over. Thanks to advancements in technology, we now have the opportunity to personalise our emails, and this should stretch to the inbox view as well. We are beyond just using “Dear John”, but need to think about including more personalised information, such as location, previous activity, or any other data held on your client list.

Gone are the days when simple grab words such as “discount” or “free” would be all the subject line needed to have people opening in their hoards. These days, such terms will more than likely send your email straight to the spam folder, if not, then the delete button. Just a few years back emojis were a great way to get opens, but in 2019, they are likely to look unprofessional and result in more non-openers.

So how do we achieve the perfect subject line? Look back over previous campaigns, and compare open rates and click rates to see which performed best. Split testing is also certainly key in the process, don't just decide on one and go with it, but test various, over a couple of hours, to a section of your database. Test over various emails, until you start to get a better idea of what gets your reader list opening emails. When split testing subject lines, make sure that you always keep the content exactly the same, so that there is not more than one factor affecting your metrics.

You must always be careful with your subject line length as well. A study showed that the most popular subject lines in 2018 were 7 words long, but 4 word titles had better engagement. Longer subject lines will be clipped on some email clients, and definitely on all mobile devices. Experts recommend aiming for between 35-50 characters to hit the sweet spot.

Always be honest in your titles. Nothing will have people reaching for the unsubscribe button faster than opening an email and finding it has absolutely nothing to do with the promised content in the subject line. Worse still, some people will hit the spam button, therefore damaging your IP address to boot.

A great place to start is your own inbox. Have a look over the last week, see which emails you ignored, try to think about why, and which emails you opened. Why did you choose to read some and not others. Glean ideas from your own behaviour, then start testing. You will soon find that your metrics are on the rise.

Here at BrotherMailer, we are committed to increasing the engagement metrics of all our clients, and your dedicated account manager will always be on hand with advice and tips. Give us a call today to find out more.