There is no doubt that how you label your email to donors and supporters can make or break your communication. Want that email to be opened? Then pay most attention to the subject line.
We checked out advice from two experts in the field and came up with these tips.
John Arnold, author of E-Mail Marketing for Dummies, suggests that:
- Email subject lines should be short. Arnold says that readers are so time crunched that your subject line has to grab them with the first couple of words. For instance, Arnold transforms "10 places to play golf," to "Golf: 10 best places to play." The subject, golf, is the first word.
- Email subject lines should spell out an immediate benefit. Encourage the reader to open that email right then by including a time element. For instance, the subject line about golf could become, "Golf: this weekend's 10 best places to play."
- Email subject lines should provide a specific value proposition. What benefit will the reader get by opening your email? Arnold suggests that "Tee shots 20 yards longer - guaranteed" works better than "New titanium drivers on sale." Emphasize the benefit of your offer over the offer itself.
Sending a Newsletter? Get That Subject Line Right
Elizabeth Nielsen, Senior Interactive Consultant at Convio provides tips for subject lines for a nonprofit newsletter:
- The subject line should tell us what's inside, Nielsen says. Don't get cute but rather pick your most compelling and valuable content for the subject line to capture the reader's interest in reading more.
- The subject line should be consistent. Use a subject line that includes a consistent element so that the reader knows who this message is from. The element could be the newsletter's name, but then vary the rest of the subject line from issue to issue so that the reader will not get bored.
- Keep the subject line short. Nielsen reminds us that different email platforms display subject lines differently and that we may have only 50-60 characters to work with. Take time to make those characters work.
- Forget the issue/version numbers in the subject line. These are irrelevant and take up valuable space.
- If your organization's name is in the "From" line, there is no reason to repeat it in your subject line. Likewise, don't bother with date references.
- Test. Use A/B tests to figure out what works and what doesn't.
More Email Subject Line Tips
EmailLabs found that subject lines that included numbers, and the word "tips" or something similar pulled the most opens. For instance, their "22 Tips for Email Marketing Success" was one of their top pulling subject lines.
MailChimp suggests that you avoid anything that smacks of a commercial headline. We all get so much spam, that people are understandably skeptical of anything that sounds like a come-on. Research showed that often the slightly boring subject line won out over the emotionally super-charged.
Interestingly, for nonprofit purposes, MailChimp found that the subject line, "Don't Let 2006 Slip Away Without a Tax Deductible Donation To the Children & Families of Omire," did not work, probably because it was too long and used the word, "donation."
Bryan Eisenberg of ClickZ cautions that although in the body of your email it is important to use the pronoun "you" to engage the reader, that pronoun is a killer in the subject line. This is because it shows up in spam email. Make your subject line as close to ordinary email as possible to get past our highly honed spam noses.
One thing all the experts agree on is to avoid words such as "limited time," "free," "opportunity," and "only." These too are spam words and, if not deleted by spam filters, will surely turn off your potential readers.
Writing that subject line turns out to be way too important to ignore or to dash off in just a moment. Take your time, try out various possibilities, follow the advice of the experts, and you may see your open rates go up.
