How to Create Your Effective Subject Line
Ever unsure where to begin with your subject line? Here's our best practices that can help financial professionals to create effective email subject lines.
When you receive an email the subject line is the first preview of what to expect and is a large factor in if your audience will open the email. The subject line is just as important as your email content. As a financial professional, you are trying to engage your readers by sharing educational information or inviting them to an event. Regardless of the goal of the email, you should always start with the subject. By creating an effective subject, it can lead to more clicks and opens rather than being overlooked and fall into the black hole of someone's inbox.
1. The Approach
Writing the subject line can often be the most challenging part of your email. You can start by generating several subject lines without too much thought that can give you the inspiration you need. If you are still unsure how to begin, one of these five approaches can help engage your audience to open your email.
Educate: The subject line should be able to inform your audience of something
Question: Within your subject line you can ask a question that will make your audience think about the topic at hand
Announcement: A subject line with a new product
Solution: Your subject line can propose a solution to a common problem among your audience
Popular topic: Highlighting a popular topic can gain the audience's interest
2. Length of the Subject Line
We suggest using short subject lines that are between 30-50 characters long. This ensures your subject line will be seen entirely no matter what platform you may view the email on. Always think mobile first!
While the major benefit of having a longer subject line is the ability to give the reader more information. The problem with longer subject lines are viewing it through different platforms can cut off part of the line and leave the reader confused. Remember, you want to make it simple to get your message across to your audience at first glance.
3. Define your Preheader
A preheader is a short blurb that follows the subject line when viewing the email from the inbox. This gives the reader a better idea of what the email is actually containing. Especially for mobile displays, preheaders can be helpful when there is such a limited amount of space on a mobile screen.
Depending on your email platform, you are able to customize this for your email. If you do not define a preheader, the first 50 characters of your email will be the content shown. You want to make sure your preheader and subject line cohesively work well together and do not repeat the same information.
4. Using the word "free"
We all love the word "free" but you have to be careful about the way you use it in your email. With improved technology with spam filters, these platforms are able to recognize what people want to hear about the word “free”. People want to hear about “free” offers and promotions. The algorithm is there to protect fraud "free” emails. Making it no longer an instant sent to the spam folder.
5. Test your Results
With each new change, you always want to measure results. Measuring your open rate and click rate will help you understand your audience's response to your email.
You can try something called A/B testing. Where you test out two different subject lines to a smaller audience and whichever email has the best open rate you will use that subject line for the rest of the campaign to the larger audience. It takes out some of the guessing game of emails.
We hope these 5 tips are helpful for your next email campaign. If you want to learn more, download our Email Subject Line eGuide that you can use when developing your next email subject line.
Email Subject Line eGuide
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