Email marketing is a must for any brick and mortar business operating today. It’s still uncomfortable, though, for many business owners. While writing those riveting, attention grabbing subject lines might read more like “Mission Impossible” for you today, once you’ve finished reading this, you’ll be ready to make ground breaking subject lines of your own for your next email marketing campaign.
Anatomy of a Killer Subject Line
In order to create subject lines that grab reader’s attention, you have to first think like a reader. Go through your email inbox and think about the headlines filtering through it on any given day. What does it take to make you click?
Chances are the subject lines did one of these things in order to make you want to click.
- Promised a solution to a problem.
- Conveyed a sense of urgency.
- Created a little controversy.
- Asked a question that piqued your interests.
- Was witty.
All of these things make great subject line ideas and can help you get your emails opened and read faster and by more members of your target audience. But why do they work?
- Obviously, people who have specific problems on your email lists are likely to open up if you’re promising a solution to their problems. That’s why it’s important to keep the email subject lines relevant to your audience.
- A sense of urgency often works because no one wants to feel as though they are missing out on the next big thing. This means they’ll open and click and just to make sure they’re not going to miss out on something that matters to them.
- Controversy sells! It’s as simple as that. While you don’t want to go so controversial that your turn your audience off, it never hurts to start a good conversation or debate as long as you are, once again, keeping it relevant. The goal of email marketing, after all, is to get people to buy what you have to sell.
- Piquing interests gets a little more difficult unless you know your audience very well. Chances are what one person finds interesting may not appeal to others on the same level. However, if you present it as a bit of a mystery, you might have them hooked.
- Witty is great. It gets attention and garners interest on its own. It also offers readers the hope this this will not be some dry boring sales pitch on your behalf.
At the end of the day, you’re left with a handful of possibilities and your own talents to attract readers and clicks. These ideas will help get your brain going, but the perfect subject line needs a little more to make it work. Try these tips for size.
- Be unique. Don’t follow the same trends others in your inbox have tried.
- Be specific. Don’t be so vague that your readers aren’t sure what you’re actually talking about.
- Be useful. Reward your audience with useful information that matters to them.
Finally, creating those riveting subject lines is only half the battle. You must follow through with the subject line promises or you risk breaking faith with your audience and losing subscribers.
