The Effect Of Subject Line On Newsletter Open Rate
I know your mail looks like this photo above; from promotion mails, spam, alerts from mobile apps, and of course, ignored emails from colleagues. Even if we try to go on a spree of decluttering unread messages, the new status will only last for a few minutes before it goes back to being the same.
Now, as a marketer, this hits different when you realize that your beautifully-crafted newsletter may be gracing the unopened mail list of your customers.
Unless you have a badass, creative, or catchy subject line on your newsletters, you are most likely to be on this list. As good as email marketing is, you only have a few seconds to convince your prospects to go through all you painstakingly wrote.
Hence, we can say newsletter open rates are dependent on how engaging or creative you make your subject line to be. This is because the subject line could be your first impression or last impression on the reader. No one wants to waste their time reading something that doesn’t sound promising from the start.
So let’s see what you’ve been doing wrong:
“These are some secret tips for selling. № 4 will shock you.”
First off, this screams click-bait, and just seeing this newsletter subject line, you already anticipate nothing good. Even if the content is actually life-changing and original, the open rate will be poor. Mails with a subject line of this semblance always end up unopened for a while, then find themselves in the trash during the mail spring clean season.
“Get a 15% discount on cash transactions when you visit any of our walk-in branches and a therapy session at no cost”
Looking at this header, you will probably be wondering if this is the start of the newsletter or the full body. If your subject lines look like this, then look no further for the cause of low open rate, as it already has spam written all over. Words like “cash” and “no-cost” are easy targets for the spam bot. Another downside of this subject line is the length. With how fast-paced the world is, not many people have the luxury of reading over nine words of subject line text. Besides, on a mobile phone, the amount of text that appears is limited. Thus, for an increased open rate, your subject line should fall within 6–10 words and 60 characters.
“STEAL THESE DESIGN IDEAS”
As impressive as this subject line sounds, there is just one little challenge: It is loud. We get, you are excited about the offer, and you want them to share in your excitement; but try to tone it down a bit. We promise you they can hear you even if you use a small font size. Do well to save your voice by reducing the volume.
So if you’re guilty of any of these, here are a few tips you could use on your next newsletter subject line:
Strike a funny bone
No matter how serious or straightfaced your brand appears to be, everyone appreciates a little humour here and there. So try replacing the suit and tie for a beach short and watch your newsletter read rate rise.
Be Controversial and Hit a Nerve
You can actually shock your readers without being too obvious or spelling it out on the subject line. Although this may be effective, you have to tread carefully to avoid being too out of line.
Be Original
We could use the base quote: “Be Original, Everyone else is taken,” but that is too cliche, and that is not what we are gunning for. Rather, we’ll say be more human and appeal to the persona of your subscribers. No, you don’t need to address them by their first names; it just makes it look like a target for a pass over.
These are only a few tips you could use; we can’t guarantee that you will get off the unread mail list, but you could use these tips as a guide to increase your newsletter open rate.
