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5 Tips for Writing Better Subject Lines
Most of us receive dozens of email messages on any given day. And rarely do we get through even half of them.
The subject line (in conjunction with the from address) may make all the difference in whether or not we open an email. Likewise, the subject line for an eSearch, open house email, or other admissions marketing piece may largely determine the campaign's success or failure.
Here are five tips for writing better subject lines:
- Keep it short.
Remember that the subject line length is limited (usually about 45-50 characters standard). Watch out for truncation by email providers.
- Tell it like it is.
Use a subject line that adequately reflects the content of the message. Don’t mislead the reader.
- Send it to yourself first.
Not sure about a subject line? Send it to yourself first. Is it inviting? Does it come through as a "must open immediately”, “delete” or “read later”?
- Test and test again.
What might work for one campaign, may fail for another. Make testing subject lines a part of your ongoing audience-learning process. If you mail to 10,000 or more recipients – test 2 different subject lines. Which garnered a higher open rate?
- Know what might get filtered out.
Beware of spam! The majority of email providers filter out “junk email,” automatically sending unauthorized messages to a separate folder rather than straight to the inbox. You don’t want your message to get trapped. Certain words trigger this process, such as free (as the first word), click here, casino, win, etc. Avoid “spammy words” whenever possible.
Additional Resources
For more information about writing effective subject lines, check out the following articles from our email partner, EmailLabs:
'Tis the Season for Standout Subject Lines
Email Subject Lines: 15 Rules to Write Them Right
How National Geographic Can Punch Up Your Subject Lines
15 Tips for Improved Subject Lines
Something to Think About
How many emails do you receive a day? How many do you open? How many do you send straight to the trash?
Did You Know
Which ISP blocks the most email?
ISP |
Block Rate |
Excite |
50.7% |
Adelphia |
35.5% |
Gmail |
34.3% |
Road Runner |
30.6% |
Hotmail |
22.7% |
MSN |
22.4% |
Verizon |
18.0% |
Yahoo |
15.2% |
AOL |
14.1% |
Compuserve |
11.8% |
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Questions?
Things you would like to see in Enrollment Marketing Best Practices
newsletters? Please email Kristin Carpenter, editor of Enrollment
Marketing Best Practices, at kcarpenter@studenthorizons.com.
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