Effective subject lines for e-mail promotions

October 10, 11:54 PME-mail Marketing ExaminerBarbara Roman

Firstly, in order to be compliant with the Can-Spam act, the subject line must accurately represent the content of the e-mail. This is also beneficial to you as honest advertising endears your readers to you rather than angering or disappointing them by being misleading.

So, where do you go from there? How do you inspire your subscribers to open your email? Make your subject line compelling. If you have the solution to your reader’s problem, that would be compelling. And that also happens to be the first rule of marketing – know your audience.

If you state your topic in a humorous or intriguing way, that too is compelling. For example, a client and I bantered back and forth and came up with, “Paint with us and lose your mind” as a subject line for her Process Painting classes where the focus is on letting go of judgment and listening to intuition.

Keep subject lines short. Longer subject lines aren’t visible in the preview and the point may not be conveyed.

Do not use special characters such as “$”, “!” or “%” as these may throw your e-mail into the Spam folder.

Do not use sales words like “percent off” or “sale” because these too may send your e-mail into the Spam folder.

The subject line is where you introduce yourself. You’ve got a couple of seconds to make a good impression and encourage your recipient to open your e-mail. Impress them, promise (and deliver) something that will help them, and you’ll turn your e-mail recipient into a loyal reader.