Author:  Melita Valcich

Did that catch your attention? Did you know the average “open rate” for marketing related e-mails is around 20%? The percentage varies somewhat based on industry but on average a staggering 80% of your e-mails likely aren’t getting opened! The number one question on everyone’s mind? “How do I get my e-mails read?”

E-mail marketing is about engagement and the first point of engagement is the subject line. This is what your customer sees and largely determines whether or not they will open it. Studies show that nearly 35% of all e-mails are opened based on the subject line alone which means you need to fill that space with powerful, open-worthy copy.

Successful e-mail headlines will generally fall into four categories:

Urgency: i.e. “Don’t miss out! Today only! Limited time offer!
” Playing on the “fear of missing out.”
Teasing: i.e. “The store is on fire…” …. with HOT savings. Playing on curiosity.
Benefit driven: i.e. “Save 25% on everything this weekend!”
Answering the customer question “what’s in it for me” before they ask.
Credibility driven: “Man lost 30 pounds doing what??”
This combines a few of the other types but is a specific tactic used to offer credibility to the contents within. If this subject interests you then you want to find out what the man did.
A few common (yet effective!) subject lines are:

Only 24 hours left! – Sense of urgency.
6 Spots remain! – The number #6 is used in e-mail marketing for a few reasons: It’s more impressive than “1” and sticks out more than “10.” These numbers have been so widely used that people don’t pay as much attention to “the top 10” or “the number 1.” A number like six is more noticeable and gives the appearance of being a “real” number rather than a made up marketing number.
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There are a lot of options out there and you may have to keep at it and find what works best for you! Email remains one of the most effective and powerful communication tools you have in your marketing arsenal so use that contact list wisely and happy marketing!