With the holidays upon us, to say consumers will receive an excessive amount of emails is an understatement. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas our inboxes are going to be blasted with countless offers, blog content and more. The million dollar question is: to open or not to open such email and ignore it?
You will have to add this question to your marketing strategy. Not a tough one, but at times rather annoying. Why? Because, the average consumer receives 88 emails per day (Source: textrequest.com), Just look at your inbox and take inventory.
If you are a marketer selling any product or service through email, please put major thought into your subject line. It is the door opener to your offer/content. Here are our top 7 tips for a subject line/email worth an open:
1. Keep it short: There is very little need to elaborate here, do not use long sentences. Use 50 characters or less. Keep in mind those using a mobile device to view their emails.
2. Segment your list: This is about getting the right content/offer to the right audience. Only send relevant content to your audience to prevent frustration. For instance, if you are a brick and mortar business, don’t send your offer to out of towners. Geo segmentation is a way to target your list, but you could also do so by: age, persona, past purchases, browsing history and so much more. Be sure to translate this into your subject line.
3. Don’t deliver the goods: Don’t tell them what’s inside. Remember, you want them to open the email and interact with your content. If you are sending a coupon code, say: “Your coupon code inside”, or “Your offer awaits”.
4. The right content at the right time: This may not be related to subject lines but hear us out. When you hit that send button, the deployment time could make or break the chance of your email getting opened. For example, I have a full time job, a wife, and three kids. I look forward to offers via email. However, I don’t have time to go through them until the kids are in bed. So, if companies targeting my ‘persona’ deliver their email to me during the night hours, they have a guarantee open from me.
5. Don’t scream at them: For the love of your customers, DO NOT SCREAM at them. By screaming we mean leave all caps alone. Enough said.
6. Ask questions: I personally love this method. When you ask a question, people like to engage and find the answer. It’s like reverse psychology. As an example, questions like: “Can you afford ____?”, “Have you looked into ____?”, “Did you see what I sent you Yesterday?” These are all good examples of subject lines that may peak your recipients interest.
7. Test, test, and test: Subject lines are like going “all in” without any guarantees, therefore, test your subject lines. Keep a journal to record what you’ve used in the past and make comparisons. Track every move you make and use the data to make smarter decisions going forward.
If you need more email marketing expertise we would be happy to help! Call nSightful 866-249-1977and get your show on the road.
