Creating an Effective Email Subject Line

The subject line of your email is very important and so it pays to give it the necessary attention to get it right. A poorly constructed subject line could result in your emails being flagged as spam, not opened, or a person unsubscribing. Your email subject line should always be a call to action.

A call to action is the action you want a person to take. It’s more than just encouragement to open the email; it’s about doing something in the email. Let’s have a look at creating email subject lines with a strong call to action.

#1 Make Your Call to Action Compelling
Remember you have only a few seconds to grab your reader’s attention as they skim through their Inbox. Make sure you include any offer in the subject line so readers immediately see what the value of the email will be. If you create a sense of urgency with your compelling offer, you’ll increase the response. You can do this by using brackets in your subject line. For example, “Learn how to Use Email Marketing [Webinar in 5 Days].”

#2 Make Sure You Don’t Look Like Spam
You do not want your subject line picked up by spam filters or firewall filters, so you need to be cautious when you choose your words for your subject line. Careful using words like offer, free, or act now can be flagged by the spam filters. You should also not use caps or punctuation in the subject line.

#3 Make Your Call to Action Consistent 
Before a person opens their email, they see the subject line and a couple of sentences in the preview. Therefore, those first two sentences need to be related to your subject line. They should add to your compelling offer and they should also be action oriented. Create a link in the first couple of sentences, which will take the reader to the website page where you want them to ‘take action.’

#4 Keep Your Subject Line Short
You should try to keep your email subject lines short. Remember you have only 45 characters. If you go over that your reader may not see the entire subject line. You want the most compelling part of your message right at the front of the subject line. 

#5 Active Tone
The subject line should speak directly to your recipient and be written in an active tone using an action verb such as sign up, download, or learn how. This is the best way to get your email noticed. 

The best way to figure out if your email subject line is effective is to test. 
