Subject lines are the basis for any email marketing campaign. If you don’t have a good subject line, you don’t have a good email marketing campaign. If you don’t have a good email marketing campaign, you don’t have a profitable list.
And if your list isn’t profitable, well then, it’s just costing you money for your autoresponder every month.
But it all goes back to your subject lines…
The following series is a complete lesson on subject lines. At the end of it, you’ll be able to create a compelling subject line for just about anything.
The first part of this 3 step series scratches the surface of subject lines – some facts on effective subject lines and what makes a good performing subject line.
The second part goes into detail about how to create your own compelling subject lines for any message.
The third and last part will be how to test out all of your new found knowledge on subject lines.
Some Facts on Subject Lines
You already know that an effective message starts with the subject line. Here are some facts and figures on just how big of a difference a subject line makes.
According to a recent study by Mailchimp, the best subject line performers see anywhere from a 60% -87% open rate. Whereas the lowest performers showed a dismal 1% -14% open rate. These numbers are grossly disproportionate, but even more than that, the difference in reaching your audience is even more shocking.
Let’s say you have a list of 1,000 people. Using a lower performing subject line would yield you anywhere from 10 people to 140 people actually opening your message. Now, let’s flip over to the numbers with a higher preforming subject line…
Incredibly, the number of people opening your message would be in the range of a whopping 600 – 870 people!
So you can see why it pays to use a higher converting subject line.
Longer Subject Lines Lead to Higher or Lower Click-throughs?
What do you think? Would a longer subject line lead to a higher or lower clickthrough rate?
On the one hand, a shorter subject line gets right to the point and enables readers to scan quickly. On the other hand, the longer subject lines also stand out because of the length.
Another study done by Adestra released in August 2012, specifically tested this idea of longer vs. shorter subject lines. The results proved that the old idea of keeping your subject line between 50 and 70 characters is changing.
In a study of 932 million emails across 6 sectors over a 6 month time frame, subject lines of 150 characters in length outperformed those in the 50 – 60 character range by a staggering percentage.
This breakdown of open rates shows that subject lines below 60 characters actually falls below average.
It gradually creeps up with the increase in character length, all the way up to 94.9% for 150 characters.
So, the longer character length is an obvious winner. What about the actual word count in the subject line?
Word count differs pretty drastically across the six different sectors:
- For the e-commerce emails, a one-word subject line had the highest open rate. But 4 word lines had the best clickthrough rate.
- The events emails delivered the best open rates at 2 -5 words, but longer word counts (19 words!) had the best open and clickthrough rates.
- For the publishing sector, the results were very clear cut. Longer word count delivered the highest open and clickthrough rates. Aside from a spike at 2 words.
- Charity sector emails performed better with shorter subject lines. The worst clickthrough rates were at 14 words and up.
- In the B2C and B2B sectors, longer word counts generally were the best performers for open and clickthrough rates. Although, 2 word subject lines performed best overall in the B2B sector.
Some Helpful Hints on Subject Lines
Do you have an upcoming webinar or teleseminar or other event you’re promoting? Using currency or the $ sign, using first names, or the words “thousands” or “millions” can give you an increase in these metrics.
If you’re in the publishing sector (bloggers, product creators), the words “video” and “exclusive” perform above average, whereas the words “newsletter”, “research”, “report”, “forecast”, and “intelligence” all preform below average.
For charities, avoid the words “appeal” and “donate”, but the word “give” shows above average results.
In the B2B sector, the words “profit”, “revenue”, “turnover” and “referral” perform with above average results. But using the term “B2B” in your subject line is a no-no – it showed a very poor response rate.
Do you sell B2C and want to see a boost in open and clickthrough rates? The words “sale”, “% off”, “new”, “exclusive” and “video” performed the best. In contrast, “half-price”, “free” and currency symbols were low performing.
Final Thoughts
Did you notice a pattern within the best performing subject lines?
It’s tough, but there is one.
The pattern is, the best performing subject lines are detailed, intriguing with a little bit of spice all wrapped up into 150 characters.
That’s it.
Does it seem like a lot of data?
Well, I agree it is. And it may seem a bit mind-boggling right now, but the next parts of this series will help this make much more sense (with actual examples too), so stay tuned for more subject line mastery.
Because ultimately, your message doesn’t matter one bit – even if you are giving away the secret to wealth, happiness and success – it’s a wasted effort if the subject line is a flop and nobody clicks to open it.
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Ever Wonder Why Some Subject Lines Get High Open Rates and Others Flop?
How to Create Subject Lines that Entice Your Readers to CLICK! answers those questions and more... and it's FREE for all my blog readers!
- Find out if the word "free" is really effective any more
- What are the "secret symbols" to generate a response
- See a list of industry specific trigger words for subject lines
- Why a subject line with a high open may not be "the winner"
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Intrigue, spice and detail in 150 characters… no problem, just let me finish this hike I’m taking up Mt. Everest!
These were some really interesting stats. Funny how the super short (1-2 word) subject lines worked. I bet it was because people were just wondering what the heck it was about. Not a bad strategy! You can definitely create some intrigue that way.
Subject lines are so important but so hard to do right. It really takes some effort and testing. There should be a whole job description somewhere devoted to people who do nothing but write subject lines!
Loved these stats. They’re definitely worth knowing and pulling out for future reference.
Carol Lynn recently posted..Using The Power Of Online Community For Small Businesses
Hi Carol Lynn,
Haha! Thanks!
Subject lines really are a whole area of focus on their own – that’s why I didn’t do this all in one post
Glad you enjoyed it!
~Christine
Interesting post, and one I wish I had seen a while back. When I first started business, the big deal was to use free in your headlines. Then spam filters starting tagging those, so people used fr.ee or f.ree. Now filters are picking those up, plus people just don’t like them.
It’s amazing how quickly things change and how you keep having to adjust your marketing and words. I rarely even talk about my newsletter anymore as so many people think that means “spam” or “junk mail.” Now I refer to an ezine. And on it goes…
Michelle Mahoney recently posted..Feel Your Radiance
Hi Michelle,
You’re right – it does keep changing!
Really, the Internet moves faster than our businesses can keep up with!
And now it seems the word free is ok to use again –
I know, never ending!
~Christine
Nice post! I love playing with subject lines.
My favourite is to use a question, with me next favourite probably being a definitive statement, even if the statement isn’t necessarily true, and that’s something you can draw on in your first paragraph!
Cheers,
Gordon
The Great Gordino recently posted..London Olympic Inspiration – What Happens Next?
Hi Gordon,
Glad you enjoyed it!
I love subject lines too – Test, test, test!
Thanks!
~Christine
Interesting food, or rather characters, for thought. Surprised at the longer lines opening better but interested to try it as we juts started our email campaign. thanks for some great stats and info.
Hi Shivie,
You are very welcome!
And there’s more to come too – working on the next one in this series for more actual examples.
Thanks for your comments!
~Christine
Great post, Christine. If your email doesn’t get opened – then you haven’t achieved your goal and the higher the open rate the better. Your post tells people what they are doing wrong and gives some great suggestions of doing it better. I have included your post in Best of the Web, http://bit.ly/j3bestweb and Facebook http://ow.ly/cMCDn. Thank you.
Hi Yoav,
Thanks so much – So glad you enjoyed it!
And I appreciate the share!
Let me know how I can help you!
~Christine
Thanks, Christine! Very interesting, and useful, too, I hope. Nice how you reached a conclusion from that jumble of numbers.
Up to now, I’ve been sticking close to just the bare facts in subject lines. Now I’ll introduce a bit more provocative spice and be more mindful of the word count. Let’s see how the response rate changes.
Robbie Schlosser recently posted..What Alan Jaffe Taught Me About Wedding and Party Music
Hi Robbie,
It is a lot of numbers, huh?
Being a numbers person, I love it, but I realize that not everyone does so hopefully that made it easier to understand.
The next post should be a less in-depth read!
Thanks!
~Christine
That’s really interesting and always good to learn something new about email marketing. But the subject line itself is so important because no matter how good the content is it will not be seen if you don’t entice people to open it….
i.e. the Subject line is Key to your email marketing campaigns.
Thanks for the tips Christine, I’m gonna put them into action
- Noel.
Hi Noel,
Glad you enjoyed it!
Subject lines really are worth the time to master it. As you said, they make all the difference in the world!
Thanks for stopping by!
~Christine
Hey Christine,
I’ll be honest with you, I’ve just studied what other successful people have done, used their headlines as swipe files and then inserted my own into them. I have a whole swipe file of headlines on Evernote that I use and it’s helped me learn how to get people’s attention. I admit not being that great at all of the rest of this so it’s a learning process as well.
Without a good headline though you’re dead in the water.
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..Are You Making These Social Media Mistakes
Hi Adrienne,
Yes, a swipe file is definitely a good thing to have – I used to do that as well, but I’ve found things change so rapidly that in 2 months, those same subject lines aren’t as effective any more.
I’m looking at a 50% open rate on an email I just sent out, using a subject line that I’ve never tried before – so it will probably creep up even more.
So another thing to test out!
Thanks for stopping by!
~Christine
As Christine,
As usual, you have delivered value. You have become my go to resource for all things list building!
Yeremi Akpan recently posted..5 Signs You Will Never Make Money Blogging
Hi Yeremi,
Thanks!
There’s lots more to come…
~Christine
This is interesting, Christine. You’ve presented some very detailed studies. The most startling for me was learning that the best subject line results run between 60% -87% open rate, and the lowest is between 1% -14% open rate. This fact alone clearly demonstrates the importance of having a good subject line.
Anthony Thompson recently posted..Self Management – 5 Things You Should Appreciate About Failure
Hi Anthony,
Yes! The numbers are interesting – big deviance between the worst and the best open rates!
Glad you stopped by!
Have a great day!
~Christine
Hey Christine,
I got the idea of using subject lines and I also got it’s importance from this post. As I’m new in email marketing, this types of posts and these types of series is must read for me.
Thanks.
Ehsan Ullah recently posted..Build Online Stores In Minutes Using IzzoNet
Hi Ehsan,
So glad you found it helpful!
Subject lines are a crucial part of email marketing!
Thanks for stopping by!
~Christine
Hi Christine,
I’m back after my holidays and I see a lot of great stuff to read on your blog
Concerning subject lines – It’s very strange for me that emails with very long subjects have the best performing and opening rate… Personally I don’t like such emails. But I see that I must change my habits
Thanks for sharing,
Chris
Chris recently posted..How to Use #Triberr – Best #Social Network for #Bloggers?
Hi Chris,
Welcome back!
It is interesting – I have some in-depth data just for publishers that I’ll be releasing soon.
It’s definitely something to test out!
~Christine
Great article. Your summary advice sounds very similar to what I tell clients about constructing compelling and effective Tweets (except I try to keep them to 120 characters whenever possible). My newsletter has a pretty good open rate, but your article gave me some ideas for how to tweak it to make it better. Thanks, Christine!.
Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn
P.S.: Hope you’ll connect with me here:
http://twitter.com/LynnSerafinn
http://twitter.com/SpiritAuthors
http://twitter.com/7GracesMarketng
Lynn Serafinn recently posted..7 Graces as a Barometer for Choosing Ideal Business Partners
Hi Lynn,
Glad you enjoyed it!
Let me know how it goes with your newsletter!
Will connect with you
~Christine
Enjoyed this article as I’m constantly trying to improve my open rate on my emails. I also study all the subject lines on emails I receive trying to pick up hints. I look forward to part 2 & 3 of this post!
Hi Georgia,
Thanks! I hope you enjoyed them – they were the next posts after this first one.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Have a great day!
~Christine
Loved the info backed up with the stats and detail. Plus you helped me win an ongoing argument with my twin sister who keeps telling me to shorten our subject lines/ titles when I try to get them a wee bit longer with more detail. So knowing to aim for the 150 characters is helpful. THANKS! Oops, I also learned not to use the word “intelligence” which is in an email blast I sent out today about our latest radio interview. Live and learn to listen!
KymberlyFunFit recently posted..Want to Be Enchanting?: 4 Tips, Part 1
Hi Kymberly,
Glad you won
It’s interesting that the longer subject lines really do work – and for the reason you just mentioned – details! The more compelling you can make them, the better.
Thanks and glad you enjoyed it!
~Christine