Tuesday, December 08, 2009

How to Get Your Target Audience to Open Your Emails

For starters, don’t include the word “free.”

Way back in 2007, Mailchimp, a company specializing in sending clients’ email newsletters, published an excellent article on what works and doesn’t work for email subject lines. We still go back to that article sometimes because it’s so helpful, so we thought we share some of its highlights and provide its link.

The article is based on Mailchimp’s study of open rates for over 200 million emails.

Highlights
Don’t

• Don’t include “free”—it’ll trigger spam filters—and avoid “help,” “percent off,” and “reminder”—they reduce open rates.
• Don’t keep repeating the same subject line from campaign to campaign. It’s good to keep basic branding intact for some consistency but then it’s important to include a focus on new content. So if your September email subject line was “Bookcentral Study Shows No Interest in New Online Bookstore” you could make the next one “Bookcentral’s Top Reading Picks for 2009.”
• Don’t send too frequently—everyone has too much information to process.
• Don’t using splashy promotional phrases, CAPS, or exclamation marks.

Do

• Do keep subject lines short—50 characters or less.
• Do make it clear that your information is timely (e.g., details on an upcoming conference’s speakers).
• Do make it a “newsy” headline with information designed to pique your readers’ curiosity (then make sure you satisfy their curiosity in the newsletter).
• Do put yourself in your readers’ shoes—they are pressed for time and they’re only going to open your email if the subject line is relevant, respectful, interesting, and useful.

Mailchimp ends with this advice: “When it comes to subject lines, don’t sell what’s inside. Tell what’s inside.”