According to research, we can tell if we are going to like someone within the first seven seconds of meeting them. And with your emails, this theory still applies but reduced right down to a minuscule 1-second window. No pressure.
Subject lines should be treated with the same respect and attention as you would to deciding what to wear for a job interview or a first date. First impressions in this day and age can be the difference between the next interview, or in this example, getting that desired click to your website.
We decided to explore the many variables of subject lines that are flooding our inboxes to see which ones are in fact reeling us in and which subject lines are making us hit that delete button before the precious impressionable second is up.
Emojis …👍📧👎
The B2C world has been using emojis in their subject lines for some time now and the likes of Phrasee insist B2B should be following suit, encouraging marketers to merge wit and puns with an emoji to grab our attention and leave us smiling.
There is no denying that the use of emoji’s in subject lines will make your email stand out from the crowd when it falls into an inbox, but that is not enough to get someone to open the email, have some fun with it and get real punny with your content too.
Personalisation
Never underestimate the power of singling out your audience. You are guaranteed to make someone double take when seeing their name or company’s name pop up. We did multiple split tests to see which of the two subject lines came out on top, and unsurprisingly, personalised subject lines triumphed with an increase of 9% open rate!
Personalisation doesn’t have to be defined to just applying someone’s first name in the subject line too, be as creative as your data allows you to be and get targeting.
The ‘super subject line’
This nifty little coding trick falls under different names; email preheader, Johnson Box and super subject line. This is quite simply the summary text that appears immediately after your subject line when its lands into an inbox. But its hidden secret superpower is the ability to create a call and response with your subject lines. Make your subject line a question that is relevant to the content of your email and provide a teaser answer in your preheader to entice the reader into wanting more information. Basic 101 marketing.
As with any new strategies being implemented into a marketing plan, I would encourage you to split test these minor yet powerful tricks to see if they have an impact on your open rates. We’d love to hear what worked for you and what didn’t!