All Web eMail Blog

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

How to choose the best subject line

(or SEO keywords, PPC ad copy!!)

Deciding the right Subject line for you email campaign can make the difference between success or failure. Your recipients will often base their decision whether to open or delete your email based solely on the subject. Just think about how you check your own email and how easy it is to hit the <Delete> button. So why do we rush from design to delivery without giving much thought to the subject line? This article should help show you how to use some easy to use tools to help you choose the best subject lines to test with. If you're not testing multiple subject lines, this should help you choose a better subject BEFORE you send your email and not the next day while you're evaluating your campaign results.

Note: Real credit for this article goes to Chistopher Penn of Blue Sky Factory who explained all of this on the Blue Sky Blog. You can view his full article here. While we are already aware of the tools discussed below, we wanted to run the same subject line analysis using data for one of our clients. We'll follow up this article with the actual results of our test.

The two tools used to help find a better subject line are Google's Wonder Wheel and the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. We'll start with the Wonder Wheel tool which gives you a list of other relevant search terms based on your initial Google query. For this test, we're trying to find the best subject line for a client promoting a newsletter explaining the causes and remedies for age spots, melasma and hyperpigmentation. The original subject line chosen by the client was "Help for your Age Spots, Melasma, Hyperpigmentation" and will be used as one of the test subject lines. While melasma and hyperpigmentation are part of the newsletter content, we already knew that "age spots" was a more important keyword based on earlier research. We start the analysis by simply going to Google and performing a search for the term "age spots".

Notice the "Show options..." link just beneath your search term on the results page. Clicking this link presents some new options along the left side of the screen including the "Wonder wheel" link shown in the second image below.

Google Search Resultss

Wonder Wheel

When you click on the "Wonder wheel" link above, you are presented with a graphical representation of other search terms related to "age spots". From the list of 8 suggestions, the search terms "remove age spots", "fade age spots" and "age spots home remedies" are clearly relevant to the email newsletter we are trying to promote. Clicking on each of these search terms drills down a bit further suggesting other related search terms.

Age Spots

When we click on "remove age spots" above, we're presented with the image below suggesting eight more related search terms. Several of them stand out as related to our initial search term "age spots" and are relevant to the email newsletter. These are "remove melasma", "remove skin cancer", "remove skin spots", "remove liver spots" and "remove age spots home remedies".

Remove Age Spots

Similarly, when we click on "fade age spots", we're presented with several other related search terms. We like "solutions for age spots", "fade age spots skin" and "fade melasma".

Fade Age Spots

Doing this one last time for the suggested search term "age spots home remedies" leads us to the search term "melasma home remedies" which is also related to our newsletter.

Age Spots Home Remedies

Here's where things get really interesting. Including our initial search term "age spots", we've now built a list of 13 related and relevant search terms.

age spots
remove age spots
remove age spots home remedies
remove skin spots
remove melasma
remove liver spots
remove skin cancer
age spots home remedies
melasma home remedies
fade age spots
solutions for age spots
fade melasma
fade age spots skin

Let's plug these into the Google Adwords Keyword Tool and rank the results by actual Google search volume and we see some clear winners.

Adwords Keyword Tool

Age spots clearly leads the pack in search volume by end users, but there is also lots of interest in removing/fading age spots and "home remedies". This leads us with a new subject line to test, "Removing age spots with home remedies", based on actual search behavior and not on guesswork by a marketing department. The new subject line also supports the content in the body of the email so we're not risking alienating our reader with body content unrelated to the subject. Once the subject lines are tested with a portion of your list and a winner is chosen, the rest of the list is sent the winning subject line.

This A/B subject line split test is still running. Check back and we'll have the results of our test and learn if in fact "Removing age spots with home remedies" actually outperforms "Help for your Age Spots, Melasma, Hyperpigmentation".

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Best Practices For Email Design

Business before pleasure. So goes an old adage that reminds you how you should place your obligation above the pursuit of your own gratification. The same can be said of graphic design in emails. Graphic designers, biased by their training, often place beauty above function and what works. The designs in emails that get the highest readership and response are often night and day apart from what looks good to the eyes. Many high converting emails may not win an art award but they accomplish what they were meant to do-make more sales.

Here are the six most important factors you should consider when designing your emails.

1. Do not overshadow the message with the graphics.

If your graphic design is so fancy that it causes the reader to pause and be wowed by the design, then your message will be likely to get lost. The purpose of the graphics is to help relay your message, and not compete with it. This does not mean that you want your emails to have a shabby design because this is just as harmful, but like salt which enhances the flavor of your food, too much can kill you. The purpose of the design is to make a professional first impression and lead the email recipients into the marketing message of the email and not to blunt this message.

2. Go easy with the header graphics.

Most websites would have a 'header graphic' across the top of the page which may show your company's logo and a tagline. Most email graphic designers may try to repeat this in the email itself. Now keep in mind that the preview section of the email (what the reader sees without scrolling) is the most crucial real estate for your email. If you fill this section with your company logo and graphic, then you are missing an important opportunity to pull the reader into reading the remainder of your email. The point here is that this preview section of the email should be used to convince the reader to continue reading the email. While brand recognition is important and a logo does this easily, don't make it any larger than absolutely necessary.

3. Design with graphic blockers in mind.

Keep in mind that most popular email clients such as AOL Desktop, Gmail and Outlook 2003 & 2007 block images as the default setting. This means that these clients would only see space holders or Alt tags where the images should be. (Don't forget to use ALT tags!) Of course the email recipients can choose to turn on images, but this is an extra step that you don't want to count on. What the designer must do then is create a layout, so even if the images do not show up, the message would not be adversely affected. Also keep in mind that the design elements and technology available in email is still behind that for the web and not every HTML design element is available for the email platform.

4. Avoid graphic response buttons

Your emails are sent out with a response device that usually involves a link that the reader must click to get to a website for more information or to make a purchase. If your "click here" links are replaced with graphics and the email client doesn't show these graphics then the reader cannot respond to your email. This would drastically reduce your click-through rate (CTR) since there is nothing to click on. It's best to keep all your calls to action as simple text links that would show up in both text and HTML formatted emails. This doesn't mean that graphic button cannot be used to support the text link, but the graphic buttons should not stand on their own.

5. Keep the unique email medium in mind.

Email is a unique medium quite unlike a webpage, a flyer or print ad. In order to adapt to the more popular email clients, it is wise to view your messages in these clients before sending out a campaign to your subscribers. Email clients like Microsoft Outlook can have a preview pane for viewing a portion of an email without actually opening the entire message. These preview pane areas are further limited depending on the screen size which can drastically affect how much of your message the recipient sees without scrolling down through the message.

Just as web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox & Safari render the same web page differently, each email client renders an HTML email differently. Additionally, the HTML language commands we take for granted when creating a web page don't necessarily work as intended in the HTML email client. Explaining exactly what does and does not work is beyond the scope of this article, but as a rule, keep things simple and test your copy before sending. Many email service providers, like All Web Email, have tools to help you see exactly what your email will look like in all of the top email clients, with images turned on and with images turned off. This identifies areas to fix BEFORE the message gets to your customers.

6. Remember the purpose of your email.

Keep in mind the purpose of your email when considering your design AND that you can only do the following two things in an email:

A. Share information or knowledge (Order confirmation, newsletter article, dates, reminders, etc.)

B. Guide the recipient to your webpage where you can actually sell something or gather additional information. (You can't sell anything in an email)

Since you can't sell or gather anything in an email, don't try. If you're trying to gather information or sell something, use the email opportunity to make a strong case that the recipient should click on the email link taking them to your website where you can continue the conversation. And don't forget to ask for the click using a clearly defined link that restates your value proposition. Don't simply say "Click Here". Instead use something like "Click here for your free report" or "Start enjoying now".

Friday, December 4, 2009

How To Create More Effective Calls To Action In Your Email Marketing

Marketers refer to any request to a prospect to take a desired action as a 'call to action'. This includes a request to buy a product, download a report, opt-in to a subscriber list, add an item to a wish list, visit a website or call an 800 number.

Calls to action are necessary because your email readers don't intuitively know what to do based simply on the information that you provide them. As the marketer, you may think it is common sense that they should now buy your product because you told them of all its virtues, but if you don't ask for the sale you are not likely to get it. It is important therefore that you not only tell your prospects what you want them to do but do so effectively. Ideally, any call to action should be clear, direct and concise.

Here are five ways to make your calls to action as effective as possible:

1. Be clear on what you want the prospect to do.

The most common call to action you'll find in an email is the simple "click here". You may argue that you cannot get any clearer than this because you are telling the prospect to click on that link. But you need to provide more information on the results the reader can get for clicking on the link. You must therefore provide a benefit for taking the action you are asking them to take.

You must also deliver immediately on what the link promised. For example if your link says "Download here" but they are taken to a review page about the product then this introduces another step and confusion in your sales process. A download button should take the reader to a download page and a "buy now" button should take them to a sales page. The key is to make your calls to action links as self-explanatory as possible with little question about the action you want your readers to take.

2. Be careful when using call to action images.

If you use a graphic button as your call to action you can be introducing some hurdles not faced by plain text links. First, many if not most email clients, as well as some spam and virus software programs, block images by default. If your image doesn't show up in the email then it cannot be clicked.

Secondly you may have a broken or missing image link which means again that your image would not show up again. Sometimes when the image shows up the hyperlink is missing and this creates another problem because the image is not clickable.

Thirdly, avoid an image placed in with an image map because this would restrict where the reader can click leading to unpredictable results. It's always safest to stay with simple text links.

3. Provide adequate links to your website.

If your call to action links are the only link to your website then you are limiting how your readers can get to your website. Consider using live links for your domain names, products and services, blogs and other resources on your website. By sprinkling links to your website all over your email you increase the chances that your readers will click on one to get there. If you wait until the end of the email to place your call to action link, then you are hoping that all your readers will scroll to the end. You should have at least one call to action link in the 'preview pane' of the email client where the reader doesn't have to scroll to see it.

4. Highlight the text links.

Your call to action links should be like stop signs - they should be clearly visible and arrest attention. You want the links to scream "Click me!" You can do this by using bolding, bigger font sizes than the surrounding text and placing them on their own line with enough 'white space' around them. Because you want your call to action links to stand out from the rest of the email, caution should be taken that other text are not competing for attention with these links. If everything stands out then nothing would. And the blue underline text is still the most recognizable clickable link, so don't try to get very fancy here with color choices and animations.

5. Use clear and concise expressions.

Some call to action expressions like "Add to cart" have become second nature to web users. A quick review of that expression shows how powerful it is - it has a built in metaphor of shopping in a physical store and it says "buy!" Your call to action expression should also be as clear and concise such as, "Go here to read the rest of this article" or "Click here to download now!" These expressions all contain action words and what benefit the reader would get from taking that action.

If you are clear and direct about the actions you want your readers to take, then they are more likely to take those actions. So rather than hoping your subscribers would read between the lines, tell them what to do.

Labels: Email Call To Action Email Marketin

Monday, November 9, 2009

12 Secrets of Marketing Through Newsletters

An online newsletter or Ezine can be a very effective means of promoting your business by taking advantage of the economical delivery through email. No longer do you have to think about postage and paper, but with one click of the mouse you can have your newsletter in the inboxes of thousands of subscribers. But keeping a loyal following of readers takes some planning and creativity. Below are some important tips to help you maintain a faithful subscriber base and create a successful publication.

1. Choose your newsletter name carefully. To give your newsletter a bland name such as XYZ Company Newsletter is to miss an important opportunity to brand your newsletter and make it a supporting product of your company. You should think of your newsletter as another product and give it a catchy name that tells what the newsletter is about as well. Also, be careful of giving the newsletter the name of the editor since this person may change if the company is sold, for example.

2. Provide valuable content without giving away the farm. Most likely your newsletter is a free subscription and you want to provide valuable information to your readers. What other purpose could you have for running a newsletter than to give valuable information? But at the same time if you give away everything then you can sell nothing, especially if you are in the information business.

3. Inject some personality into your newsletter. Personality doesn't belong only to the entertainment industry but very much to marketing. To be considered bland and boring is to lose your readers attention in a heartbeat. People want to be entertained even if your subject is death and taxes. This doesn't mean that your newsletter has to be 'edgy' or 'shocking' but it must create interest and hold attention.

4. Ask your readers for their preferences and opinions. The 'Dear Editor'
section of a magazine gives readers a chance to voice their own opinions. If you poll your readers to find out what they think about your newsletter in general or about one aspect of it, then you'll be better able to keep the content on target.

5. Speak the language of your target audience. Every market or group has a common jargon that helps bind and differentiate them as a group. If you use the same jargon and language as your subscribers, then you'll build community around your newsletter and they will accept you as a leader.

6. Make your promotions proportionately small compared to the normal content. A newsletter should not be a publication thinly disguised as an ad for your company. Your subscribers will soon see through this sham and unsubscribe in droves. But if you sprinkle promotions among the valuable content then you are more likely to make more sales.

7. Ask subscribers for subject ideas. Your readers opted in to receive your newsletter with certain expectations in mind. Perhaps these expectations were limited to what you promise they will get from your online publication, but they may wish that you cover some subject that you haven't shared as yet. The only way you can find out is to ask. This does not place you under any obligation to deliver, but by just asking it says that you care about your readers' needs.

8. Offer special subscriber-only promotions. Perhaps once per quarter you can offer subscriber-only specials or a free gift to say "thank you" for being a loyal subscriber. Although you may think that you are already 'giving' in every issue, remember you are trying to build a relationship that will eventually translate into more profits for your company. So lay out the red carpet and more prospects will turn into customers.

9. Pique your readers" curiosity by promoting future newsletter issues. The nightly news broadcasters are experts at this viewer engagement technique by reminding viewers about the stories that will be coming up after the commercial break. They use this strategy because it works. If you give a 'sneak peek' of topics you'll cover in upcoming issues, then subscribers will not likely forget about you.

10. Provide online access to newsletter archive. As you gain new subscribers they would want to have access to earlier issues of your online newsletter and you can also use this archive to promote your newsletter to new prospects. You are also providing valuable content for the search engines that will boost the rankings for your website.

11. Keep a record of the open and click-through rates for your emails. You may find that a certain day of the week attracts a higher readership than other days. You may also find some subject got a higher readership and all this data can help you to improve the marketing results from your newsletter.

12. Publish your newsletter in both text and HTML formats. This will give your subscribers a choice of the format they wish to receive your newsletter in. You may also choose to send a link with the HTML version of the letter in the text version for readers who want this option.

Maintaining a newsletter with fresh and valuable content takes commitment and a lot of hard work, but the rewards can be enormous for your company's visibility in its market niche.

Labels: Newsletter Content

Thursday, October 22, 2009

7 Ways To Pull Your Email Marketing Out of The Dark Ages

Email has been like a direct marketer's dream come true. Just think about it: no postage, instant deliverability, highest direct marketing ROI and almost instant response to your marketing message. But these clear advantages over 'snail' mail have left a lot of email marketers lulled into a state of lethargy and failing to adopt more advanced email practices.

Usually, the more expensive an advertising channel is, the more vigilant marketers are about their investment compared to other cheaper methods. Most companies have seen a high return on investment using email and have thus been less attentive to new technologies and innovations in this field. When deliverability, for example, became a growing concern, most companies responded by just sending more emails.

Whenever a marketing method is as economical and effective as email, then you can expect overuse and even abuse of the subscribers. Email marketing abuse has led to more scrupulous subscribers who guard their inboxes like their purses. Marketers who fail to adapt to this new consumer attitude will continue to see diminishing returns for their email marketing.

Marketers must therefore continually change with the market place to remain on the cutting edge of email marketing by using the latest tools and technologies if they hope to remain viable. Below are seven ways email marketers can improve their email campaigns.

1. Be proactive about deliverability. An email message that never gets read represents wasted resources. So be sure to use an ESP that employs new technologies such as Return Path that can predict deliverability issues before your campaign is sent out rather than afterward when it is too late. Many ISPs are now using email filtering programs to determine which messages should reach customer's inboxes. Customers also have the option to rate email messages as "junk" or inbox worthy. So your email reaching its destination is no guarantee that it will get read.

2. Use updated email benchmarks. Open rates and click-through rates have been the basic benchmarks for years now, but email marketers need to go beyond these gauges. Marketers need to address questions such as, "Which links in an email were clicked, how many times and by whom?" "How many subscribers forwarded your emails and where and when they used the 'Send to Friend' link in your email?" There are more data collection tools now available than just five years ago and so other email parameters can be determined. The data aggregated from these tools can be used to improve subscriber engagement and retention.

3. Use customer data to enhance segmentation and targeting. Direct marketers agree that the more they know about the demographics of their list, the easier their targeting becomes and the higher the conversion rate. The use of surveys and other subscriber profiling strategies can allow you to further refine the segmentation of your list according to user preferences and other subscriber dimensions. The more personalized an email appears to a subscriber the more likely it would be opened and read. When subscribers view your email messages as relevant to their needs then unsubscribe rates would drop.

4. Make use of email automation. An opt-in form on a website collects a visitors contact information, automatically sends them an email response, sends them follow-up emails and allows them to manage their own subscription. Automation should lead to greater efficiency in marketing, but many marketers are not using the latest tools that can free up their time for those tasks where human input is really critical. For example, subscribers can be sent marketing messages to match yearly holidays, seasons and even birthdays without further input from the marketer.

5. Make your email marketing a conversation. The success of the new Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and Twitter shows how much consumers want to be heard. They are not lacking in opinions on a host of issues, and asking them to rate and review your products or services can lead to higher responses. These reviews can also be used in your own marketing as testimonials and as evidence that you are not just talking to the consumer, but listening as well. When consumers feel like their opinions count, your company will experience an increase in customer loyalty.

6. Integrate offline marketing with your email marketing. A hard-line segmentation of offline and online marketing can prove a mistake. An offline marketing model which has worked well for your company can be integrated into your online marketing rather than abandoning the offline approach completely. Email marketing should be seen as a new way to reach the consumer - a new communication channel - rather than a whole new other world. For example, offline coupons can be translated into online coupons sent by email. You should therefore use email marketing to compliment your offline efforts not replace it.

7. Use the cumulative data collected to incrementally improve conversion. Simply having the technology at your fingertips to collect more information about your subscribers is not a reward in itself. The real reward comes from analyzing these data and responding by making the changes that will improve results from your marketing campaign. The ultimate goal should always be email optimization and customer satisfaction. This requires testing new methods, data analysis and responding to new findings. And this cycle should never end.

No longer can the email marketer rest on his laurels and feel secure in using old methods and email approaches while ignoring new consumer attitudes and innovation in email marketing. With the new tools available and the information accumulated on consumer behavior, to continue using obsolete email marketing practices is simply foolhardy.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Email Marketing - How Much Does It Cost?

Email and other Internet marketing approaches have a distinct advantage over non-Internet marketing: Statistics that measure the success can be obtained easily and inexpensively. Almost every aspect of an email marketing campaign can be tracked, measured, and tested, as we discussed in an earlier blog called Tracking Your Email Campaign.

But, how can you determine how many mailers reached a physical mailbox or how many of those that did were opened and then dropped in the trash? It would be neither simple nor inexpensive to determine these things.

Just as different things in an email campaign can be tracked, there are different ways that advertisers can be charged for delivery and other services ... and different ways that the effectiveness of a campaign can be related to its cost.

The most common methods of paying for email or other Internet advertising include the following:

CPA - This stands for Cost Per Action or Cost Per Acquisition.

PPA - Pay Per Action is another name for CPA.

PPC - This is Pay Per Click. This is also called Cost Per Click (CPC).

CPL - This stands for Cost Per Lead.

CPI - This is Cost Per Impression.

CPM - This is for Cost Per Mille (Thousand) Impressions. It can also mean Cost Per Thousand names on an email rental list.

Let's now define these various terms and how they are used.

CPA - Cost Per Action or Cost Per Acquisition
When a recipient of your email marketing message clicks on a link in the email, this is called taking action. Whether the objective is to get more users to sign up for an email newsletter, download a white paper, or purchase a product on the web site, a conversion is tallied, when the user performs the desired action.

Perhaps it would be better to call the Cost Per Action (CPA) approach to charging Cost Per Conversion instead, since the advertiser pays for each specified action (conversion). Bear in mind, however, that in some contexts, a conversion only refers to gaining a new customer. As always, you must be aware of how a term is used.

When CPA is referred to as Cost Per Acquisition, the focus is on the fact that most offers by advertisers are about acquiring something ... typically a new customer by making a sale. The term Cost Per Acquisition is actually more specific, but not all Cost-Per-Action offers can be accurately referred to as Cost Per Acquisition.

CPA is often considered the optimal way to buy online advertising, since you only pay if the desired action takes place.

Cost Per Action (CPA) Versus Cost Per Lead (CPL)
CPA is focused on an immediate action, whether it is a sale or a newsletter signup. However, with CPL, the advertiser is paying for the contact information of an interested lead ... someone whom the marketer can engage in multiple ways ... for example, signing up for the newsletter, joining the community site, or joining a rewards program. The objective is a relationship which includes multiple sales over the long run.

Cost Per Impression (CPI) or Cost Per Mille/Thousand (CPM) Impressions
An impression is the loading of an advertisement onto a user's screen. This could happen when the user opens a marketing email that was received or when the user visits a web page that displays the ad.

Just as we discussed for click-throughs, you have to know how the value is being calculated. Does the ad server increment the count every time the ad is displayed or are reloads and other non-qualifying activities excluded from the tally?

Very simply, CPM estimates how much it costs to show an ad to one thousand viewers.

With opt-in email marketing, CPA (a click-through, for example) or simply the cost per email for delivery are more often used as the basis for charging. CPM, in this context, typically refers to the cost per 1000 names on a rented email list.

Per Per Click (PPC) / Cost Per Click (CPC)
The idea behind PPC or CPC is that an advertiser only pays when their ad is clicked. CPC is the amount of money an advertiser pays the search engine or other Internet publisher for a single click on its advertisement ... a click that brings one visitor to its website. Although these terms aren't typically used in the area of email marketing, they are included because of their extensive use in the general area of Internet marketing.

AllWebEmail.com provides a wide range of email marketing services at affordable prices.

Labels: Cost Per Acquisition, Cost Per Action, Cost Per Click, Cost Per Impression, Cost Per Lead, Cost Per Mille, Cost Per Thousand, Pay Per Action, Pay Per Click

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

How To Write Compelling Email Subject Lines That Boosts Your Open Rates

Your email has made it through the obstacle course of spam filters, black listing organizations, and email client filters to its final destination of your subscriber's Inbox. Your email will also be one of the hundreds of commercial emails that hit Inboxes per day. The question now becomes how do you entice the reader to open and read your email?

In a way, you already know the answer to this question as you have scanned your own email Inbox to determine the emails that deserve your attention. Direct marketers often picture their prospects as standing over the garbage container sorting their mails as 'junk' versus 'read-worthy. Your subscribers are no different.

In fact, here are some subject lines from my Inbox:

Say I do with Kodak's September Newsletter!

Save up to 40% with Corel's Labor Day Sale! Ends September 7

Dive into Autumn Savings at Sam's Club

My apologies ...

c u in vegas ;-)

Thank you for your payment

4 Steps to Get Started with Facebook

Which of these emails would you open first? Most likely the more personal and less commercial email will get your vote.

Here are some tips you can use when writing your email subject line:

1. Forget your corporate speech and be personal. Write your headline as though it was from a personal friend. The more you understand your subscribers and market, the easier it will become to learn their language and resonate with your readers.

2. Build curiosity. Keep in mind that the subject line is comparable to the headline for an advertisement. Its main purpose is to get the rest of your email read. You can therefore build curiosity by using an incomplete sentence, asking a question for which the body of the email will give the answer or using a teaser such as, "You won't believe this."

3. Mention the benefit or reward for opening the email. For example, you may write, "Here's how to get your emails read every time'. The reader has to open the email in order to learn this new information. Clear benefits include how to save money, be healthier, look more attractive and whatever benefits your service or products provide.

4. Make an announcement or give news. If you have any message that is newsworthy or can be cast as such, then use a subject line to announce this news. Announcements by their very nature get attention and you want your subject lines to get attention for your email body message. An announcement could be as simple as a change you have made at your website or a special report you intend to send to your subscribers the following week.

5. Provide tips. This article provides tips on how to write effective email subject lines. One of the reasons why you are reading it is because "how to" information is usually practical versus theoretical, and promises to help you accomplish a certain task. This is the same reason why so many books are titled using "how to". If you connect your tips with solutions to the readers needs, then you'll have a winner subject line.

6. Avoid using words that trigger the spam filters. Avoid words such as "free", "buy", "opportunity", "hurry", "limited offer", "sale" and "special". Most email service providers have tools which warns you if the 'spam score' is above an unacceptable level by filtering these 'trigger' words for you. (Note: Your "Domain Reputation", i.e. yourname.com, as a commercial mailer is becoming a bigger factor at the top ISPs when considering the Inbox worthiness of your messages. Increased reliance on Reputation means ISPs will rely less on spam trigger words during their Inbox delivery decision.)

7. Avoid using ALL CAPS and exclamation points!! It is commonly accepted online that all caps suggest shouting and you don't want to shout at your readers. Exclamation points suggest the same as well and should be avoided as much as possible. A simple comparison of personal emails with spam emails will show this clear difference.

8. Keep it short. The best practice is to keep your subject line below 50 characters. Most email clients will not show subjects lines beyond this length anyway and so the reader will not be able to read your full subject line before opening the email. Also, most emails sent by a friend usually have a short subject such as "See you tomorrow?", "Thank you!" or "I got it."

You may use any one of these subject line ideas or create a combination of strategies to make an even more effective one. For example, consider this subject line:

"Who wants to learn how to write compelling subject lines?"

This subject line asks a question, suggests tips ('how to' and makes an announcement. This triple combination makes the subject line more effective than just using one element.

You have just one line to get your emails opened and a lot hangs on that line. You have to make every word count by knowing your audience interests, and getting them excited to reading your email in full.

Labels: Open Rates, Subject Lines