11 tips for the perfect subject

Even if it sounds natural, the subject line must make it clear what it is all about. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. In many cases, the recipient does not recognize what the content is. Mailings should also not simply be numbered consecutively, such as “Information Mail X/2021” or “Offers November 2021“. This is a waste of potential, because one or the other recipient who would have been interested in your cover topic will not open your mailing at all.

Become concrete. A subject line like “Only today 20% on all jeans” is much more meaningful than “Only for a short time reduced offers!“. It may be that some recipients do not open because they do not need jeans, but those who open know exactly what awaits them. This increases the chance of conversion.

The subject is the first impression the recipient gets from a mailing. To ensure that it is not also the last, interest must be aroused. Therefore, avoid formulations that are too general. Rather ask questions or state important facts, “Free cancellation up to 2 weeks before departure” or “Have you already thought of your travel pharmacy?“. Theses, assertions and hit lists can also arouse interest, such as “The 10 best gifts for men“. Questions and assertions can also be combined, of course, like “Vacation wanted? Our best last minute deals! 🏝️” or “Fancy an aperitif? Momos has the best one 🍸“. Optimal triggers are also concrete instructions for action, formulated as succinctly as possible, such as “Secure the last tickets now“.

You can also arouse interest by using strong words, for example:

Subjective: Success, Ideas, Tips, Facts, Secret, Reasons

Verbs: save, win, achieve, convince

Adjectives: free, new, easy, successful, guaranteed

And provide for variety! If a subject is repeated, it loses its effect. As everywhere in life, the dose is crucial and too much of a good thing is bad in the end.

The fact that a newsletter contains a personal address in the text should now be a matter of course. But what about the subject? Also here a personal address is possible. The chances of success are quite promising. Because the own first name catches the receiver immediately in the eye. Also a simple personalization with “you” in the subject can already upgrade the subject line. Example: “Our gift for you, Jenny!”

Impersonal designations such as “one”, on the other hand, should be avoided completely. Make sure that the name is spelled correctly.

A positive language usually leads to a more positive result. This is also true for the subject. Avoid words like “no” and “not”. These provide already from the outset for a negative tendency. Choose enough of its positive and activating words. That creates a good tendency and this transfers itself in the best case to the readers. The chance that the receiver opens the newsletter rises thus with it. SSo instead of “So you don’t smell unpleasant” better “Liz, everyone loves your scent“.

Most people get angry when they miss a chance, e.g. a good offer. Therefore, it can make sense to create a certain pressure with the subject line and to get people to act. Freely after the slogan, who does not buy now, is to blame itself. So communicate a deadline, such as “Order only 24 hours free of shipping costs” or “Last chance: Early bird discount ends at midnight“. Limited offers or remaining quantities can also be advertised in this way, “Limited edition: only 555 pieces available“.

Anyone who comes up with special offers must also deliver them. Many know surely the mattress business, with which durably the clearance sale with special discounts is applied. They consider these once, perhaps still another second time, until you notice that everything is only mesh. It behaves similarly also with newsletter, and/or the pertinent subject line. So anyone who advertises with “Only today…“, “Now free of charge…” or “Once-only offer…” must also comply with this. Otherwise, the trust is quickly gone and the recipient no longer opens a mailing.

As the saying goes: “A picture says more than a thousand words”. You can also take advantage of this in your subject line. Emojis first arouse attention and with the small pictures emotions can be conveyed quickly and easily. However these should not be used arbitrarily, but have reference to the topic, e.g. “🍁 With the sheets also the prices fall 🍂”. Use a maximum of 2-3 emojis, otherwise it will quickly appear dubious. On some occasions or partly in certain branches you should do without it completely. Here smilies can be regarded as frivolous and inappropriate. If you are not sure whether emojis is well received by your target group, it is best to send several split mailings. In the case of symbols with a different cultural background, depending on the target group, you should also pay attention to a possibly different meaning so that there are no misunderstandings. And important: Test whether the symbol is displayed correctly on different clients, as some emojis are not suitable for use in the subject.

You can simply copy the emojis into your subject line. In our blog post “Emojis – More emotions for email marketing” you will also find all common smilies and symbols well sorted.

As the saying goes: The worm should taste good to the fish and not to the angler. It’s the same with mailings. A subject line that you think is great doesn’t have to appeal to your target group. Therefore the motto is: test, test, test. With an A-/B-Test, for example, you can quickly determine what is more popular.

Example: One of our board members was convinced that emojis in the subject of B2B newsletters are counterproductive and lead to fewer openings. His argument was that he deletes all emails with emojis unread. So he regarded his behaviour as standard. We did the test several times – and each time the variants with an emoji performed better. One of the winning subjects was: “The 10 most important newsletter key figures 🚀 28 % Open rate – all recipients“.

Of course, in the B2B environment, the subject must not lose its seriousness.

We wish you lots of fun and success with your copywriting!