Email marketing is all the rage these days. It’s the cheapest and fastest way to get information to your customers and prospects. Say you have a birthday party and 20 children come that haven’t taken a class at your facility before. Since they came to the party, you have their email address and can send them an email about your classes. Maybe they sign up, maybe they don’t. But…are they even getting your email? More importantly, are your current customers getting your emails?
Everybody sends emails. And consumers are getting an information overload. Think about your Inbox  – how many emails do you get a day? What makes you open one up? Either the sender’s name or the subject will grab your attention and you’ll click to read the rest of the email.
The subject line is huge. What you put in your subject line could prevent email providers from even sending your email. Yep. There are filters everywhere. Here are a few things from Mailchimp on what to avoid when you are writing a subject line.
- Using phrases like “Click here!” or “Once in a lifetime opportunity!”
- Excessive use of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!
- USING ALL CAPS, WHICH IS LIKE SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS VIA EMAIL (especially in the subject line).
- Using bright red or green colored fonts.
- Using bad content. This one’s broad, but important. Email delivery expert Laura Atkins details content-based filtering in this article.
- Coding sloppy HTML, usually from converting a Microsoft Word file to HTML.
- Creating an HTML email that’s nothing but one big image, with little or no text. Spam filters can’t read images, so they assume you’re a spammer trying to trick them.
Take a poll with your customers – check and see if they’re getting your emails. Writing subject lines can really help the deliverability of your emails!
Your subject line should have no more than 5-8 words or 40 characters.
Here’s a quick list of spam words to avoid in your subject line:
- Free
- Help
- Percent Off
- Reminder
- Sale
- Save $
- Offer
- Now
- #1
- Congratulatioins
Do you have tips to share on subject lines? Share with us what has worked and what hasn’t.
