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Infographic by Column Five Media

10 tips for writing better subject lines

1. Keep it short to about 20-35 characters. Why? Too short and it won't be descriptive enough and too long and the subject line in it's entirety won't preview in most of today's email platforms and that's pretty useless if...      See what I mean?
2. Keep out the mumbo jumbo. Replace £ with GBP, $ with USD and try to avoid special characters like exclamation marks! Special characters can trigger spam and sometimes they just don't render properly for the recipient. Generally, the higher your sender score, the less you have to worry about your subject line setting off alarm bells for spam. You can check your sender score (using an IP lookup) here: https://www.senderscore.org/
3. FREE SPECIAL DISCOUNT IN OUR SALE! NOW! Numerous other factors in a subject line can add to an increased spam-rating too, especially; CAPITILISATION, words like 'free', 'discount', 'offer' and the list goes on. Test your subject line with this free tool: http://www.localnews.biz/subjectline/validatesubjectline.asp . Although a little over-sensitive at times, it's very handy to have at your disposal.
4. The best time to send emails is at... There is no such thing as a best universal time to broadcast your email, but there is a best time for when you should be sending your emails, but there's only one way to find out: split test different days and different times. Make sure the tests are fair by using identical emails, subject lines and equal segments of data. You may find Monday produces a better open rate but Tuesday produces a better conversion rate.
5. Two subject lines in your emails... Many email platforms now preview the first few characters of your email (most notably: Gmail) after the subject line before the reader has opened the email. Choose from the following tools to preview subject lines in a variety of platforms: Inbox Inspector from Mail Chimp and litmus, the latter also having a very handing spam-checking tool.
6. Make it relevant! I'll never forget the email I got with the subject line "Want #accessory#for your Lexus IS200?". I didn't own a Lexus and the company knew what car I had on file. Always remember to make as much use of the data that is available to you, put yourself in the receiver's shoes...would you want to be sold accessories for  a car you don't own?
7. Hey Fred, we've got news for you. Personalisation can work well in subject lines, but make sure you have the correct data. If you're using a script to automatically populate this data, it's not going to look good if they didn't include their name when they signed up, or maybe they spelt their name wrong - which will end up being your fault, the customer's always right. Always have a backup plan in this case, for incomplete data.
8. Test your subject line before you broadcast. Have you ever considered testing your subject line on another channel? Get a handful of proposed subject lines and test them in PPC ads and see which one get's the higher CTR, a few pounds spent on some brief PPC activity could mean big money when it doubles your open rate!
9. Let the data do the talking. There are always people in your business that won't listen to your recommendations on subject lines. If you've got the data that shows how your database reacts, use it to your advantage and don't go along with other people's gut feelings.
10. Cross my heart. No one likes a liar, give them a clear and quick insight into what's in your email. The hard work has only just begun once you've hooked your recipients with your subject line and if you just go with the quick win "Massive discount off your next order" you'll probably get a good open rate but you can guarantee that your unsubscribe rates will go up and your click-through rates, go down when they find out it's only 5% off orders over £100. Try not to over-promise with your subject lines and under-deliver with your content, it's always better for a recipient not to open the email and stay a subscriber, rather than open it and unsubscribe.

 

8 tips for a welcome email

When someone subscribes to your email campaign for the first time, it's always a good idea to let them know what they can expect before dropping them in to the regular cycle of newsletters.

Whilst most companies confirm your email subscription, most of the time these emails are a simple sentence stating "Thanks for subscribing" and leave it at that.

It is key to let your new subscribers know exactly what they've signed up for, what to expect, what not to expect and remind them of your brand values.

1. First impressions count - Remember this is most likely the first email they'll have ever received from you. Remind your new subscriber what you're about and briefly explain what they can expect from your emails.
2. Timing is of the essence - You'll be surprised how quick people forget about subscribing, so ensure that the welcome email follows as soon after the subscription as possible.
3. Verify - Get them to confirm their email address by clicking on a verification link (known as "double opt-in"), to ensure you keep dud emails out of your database.
4. Control - Detail information about what they've subscribed to, how often they'll be emailed and what they'll be emailed about. This is a good opportunity to allow them to change their email preferences based on topic and frequency.
5. Data capture - You don't want to put them off signing up in the first place by asking for too much information, name and email is often always sufficient. Why not suggest to update their profile and add more information about them, so they can get more relevant emails and better offers. Sell the benefits.
6. Reward - Why not offer them a small discount off their next order? A great chance to encourage first/repeat purchases.
7. Get comfortable - Concentrate on selling the relationship first. You've got time to sell your product and you don't want to risk losing them off your list just to make a quick sale.
8. Take your time - Don't rush to try and solve everything in the first email, get across the basics about your brand and your email campaign, then maybe follow up a week later with a suggestion to update their profile or an incentive etc. You don't want to give your new subscriber an information overload and them missing the important information in your newsletter.