Mastering Email Subject Lines for Higher Open Rates

How to Write Killer Emails That Convert pt. 1

Writing email subject lines that grab attention takes creativity, strategy, and a sharp focus on your audience. In this blog, we break down the techniques that get emails opened and engaged with. Whether you're a pro or just starting out, these methods sharpen your campaigns and keep your readers clicking.

The Anatomy of a Marketing Email

There are four key components to a marketing email:

1. The subject line
2. The preview text
3. The body copy
4. The Call to Action (CTA)

In this blog, we are going to take a deep dive into your subject line and preview text! You can read about body copy and CTAs in our follow-up blog.

Pre-Copywriting Prep

Email copywriting is the art of crafting persuasive content that prompts readers to take specific actions. It works to engage, build trust, and connect with your audience to increase conversions, sales, leads, and brand awareness. While images matter in advertising, the words you choose are just as important. Thorough research matters, even for seemingly simple elements like subject lines.

The Competition

Start by identifying main competitors. Review their ads and unique selling propositions, and note gaps in their strategies. Understanding your competition will help you in creating copy that highlights your unique value proposition and appeals to your subscribers.

Try setting up a spreadsheet to organize information about your main competitors, such as their website, social media profiles, messaging, and unique selling propositions. Use this to compare and analyze their strategies and identify opportunities for differentiation.

Your Audience

It is also of course necessary to research your target audience. Understanding their pain points is key in email marketing because it helps you create messages that connect with their needs, challenges, and desires. There are three steps to follow when doing this:

1. Conduct customer interviews, surveys, and focus groups to research your subscribers’ pain points. This will help you gain insights into their problems, frustrations, and goals.
2. Monitor conversations on social media platforms and online forums to identify common themes related to your target audience's pain points.
3. Analyze data from your website and email campaigns to determine which topics and content perform well. This can provide valuable information about your audience's interests and preferences.

Subject Line

The email subject line is your first touch-point with a potential customer and often decides whether the recipient will open the email or not. Here are some tips and tricks to help you create compelling email subject lines that drive results:

1. Keep it short and snappy

Research shows that email subject lines between six and ten words have the best open rate. With people reading emails on their mobile devices, a shorter subject line is more likely to catch their attention.

2. Make a Clear Promise
   Make a promise to your subscribers and deliver on it in the email. This builds trust and encourages engagement.
3. Use Curiosity to Create a Hook
   Use a question or intriguing statement to pique your readers’ interest and entice them to open the email.
4. Get Personal
   Using real names in your email subject line and "to" and "from" fields can help increase open rates. People are more likely to engage with an email from a real person rather than a company.
5. Use Action Verbs and Create Urgency
   Use action verbs like "act now" or "don't miss out" in your subject line to create a sense of urgency and encourage people to take action.
6. Try out a Formula
   Formulas can help craft subject lines that deliver results. For example:
   a) The only way to [achieve desirable thing] without [doing undesirable thing]
   ie: The only way to revolutionize your wardrobe without breaking the bank
   
   b) [Do hard thing] in [Short period of time] even if [Shortcoming]
   ie: Run a marathon in record time even if you’ve never been an athlete
   
   c) [Achieve desirable thing] like [an expert] without [something expected]
   ie: Master the art of cooking like Gordon Ramsay without spending hours in the kitchen

Remember, a strong subject line can make all the difference in whether or not someone engages with your email. Keep it short, make a clear promise, use curiosity and personalization, and create urgency to encourage action.

Tool tip: Use the Headline Analyzer by Capitalize my Title to see how strong your subject is!

Preview Text

Preview text, often overlooked in email marketing, can entice a recipient to open and read your messages. This text appears after the sender and subject lines, and ensuring it is unique rather than extracting it from the email body, is recommended. Here are some tips on how to create effective email preview text:

1. Write a teaser that gets straight to your main point.
2. Expand on the subject of your email message
3. Use action words to convince your recipient of the importance of your message.
4. Be aware of characters and length as most inboxes only display between 35-90 characters of preview text.
5. A/B test your preview text to determine what works best for your audience.

Overall, effective email preview text can increase your open rate, making it a vital aspect of any email marketing campaign. By following these best practices, you can increase the chances that customers will open and read your emails.

In Conclusion

Writing strong subject lines and preview text is central to success in email marketing. By creating content that connects with your audience’s needs and interests, you can increase conversions. Research, stick to best practices, and deliver value in every word to make a real impact and build success for your brand. Put these tips into action and watch your email campaigns thrive!

When it comes to email marketing, compelling email copy is a must, but to really stand out and hook your prospects, marketers should also stay well-informed and on top of the latest trends. If you have any questions about improving your email marketing, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

Arctic Leaf is a digital agency with over 10 years of e-commerce experience serving clients of all industries. Our entire team is Baymard UX certified and our amazing developers can build everything from simple Shopify themes to fully custom headless experiences.