Still just as powerful today as it was ten years ago, email marketing remains a formidable medium through which businesses, brands and other entities maintain a steady line of communication with customers and subscribers. While there are plenty of other ways out there that can be used to reach individuals, email is still the most effective form of marketing when it comes to time and return on investment. More people check their email daily than use social media or search engines, so it only makes sense to have a strategy that incorporates this approach. One of the biggest downfalls of email marketing wannabes, however, is the lack of proper email subject lines. If you do not excel in this area, then fewer people will open your emails. Below, we’ll chat about what makes great email subject lines and what to avoid.

Be Clear, Not Crafty

The biggest thing any brand has going for it is how developed its brand recognition is to customers and audiences. Many people try to be creative when it comes to their subject lines, in the hopes that they will be able to lure readers into opening their emails. While in some cases this can be effective, the vast majority of these attempts result in muddying the water to the point that people don’t pay much attention to your emails. When you have something to convey to the reader, be sure to be upfront about the premise and use the email header as an opportunity to pique their interests. When pinging users with emails, your subject line is the first thing they see – and maybe the only thing if you try to be too crafty.

Sound Urgent

In order to further pique the interests of your subscribers, you should try to use words and phrases in your subject line that imply a sense of urgency. While we do not recommend that you use a specific day or month in the email subject line, you can create variations such as “Act Today to Save 20% on All Purchases” or “Just a few hours left to make your voice heard”. These tell the reader exactly what they need to know and will motivate them to engage if they have the predisposition to do so at the moment. Since our brains have become accustomed to filtering through a lot of the emails we get and only paying attention to those that capture our attention, urgent-sounding emails will take priority subconsciously.

Optimize Your Length

What is an acceptable email subject line to be pinging users with, in terms of length? Research tells us that your subject line could be considered spam or ignored by readers if it has a double digit number of words in it. Many who are experts at pinging users suggest that the total number of characters should never exceed fifty. While this may seem like an inconvenience, it does help keep you within the confines that we mentioned above: it is much easier to be brief when you are clear and convey a sense of urgency.