In actuality, your subject line deserves as much attention as any other component in your email campaign. Without a good one, even the best offer from the most trusted brand can be deleted in one quick click. Remember that past the open, subject lines are a major driver of click-through rates as well. They direct recipients to pay attention to specific articles, products, and information.

Establish objectives first

Many factors can help isolate effective subject lines. Start by determining your objective, such as:

• Increase open rates
• Improve conversion rates
• Acquire new customers
• Build awareness for a new product or service

Monitor your own inbox for ideas

What piques your interest? What motivates you to open? And conversely, what subject lines in your inbox do not encourage you to open? Keep an eye on the subject lines spammers are using...and make sure your subject lines don't resemble them!

Less is more

Testing proves that shorter subject lines provide more credibility. Keep it short and simple - less than 45 characters and less than five words whenever possible. The subject line should tell recipients what they can expect to find in your email message. The key here is: Don't make them guess. Avoid ambiguous subject lines such as "Announcing our best sale ever."

Avoid problem words

Certain words and phrases can trip your message on spam filters or almost guarantee instant deletion even if the message makes it to the inbox. If it sounds too good to be true (even if it is), it will never work. For a list of 100 words you should avoid using in subject lines, click here to download our new white paper, The Seven Dirty Words you can't say in subject lines; plus 100 others you shouldn't use either.

Branding in subject lines

Recipients tend to accept and open messages from brands they know and trust. If you have an established brand or product, reference it in both the subject line and the "from" name.

Test and track what works

Test, test, test. Subject lines are easy to test. Split your list three or more ways and try variations. The key is to try different subject lines to learn what works. Also, test more than once to verify results. (For more information on email testing, download our white paper Email Testing: Six Steps for Success.)

After the tests, track and analyze the best open and click-through rates. Categorize and assess them by various approaches, such as long vs. short, use of certain words, dollars off vs. percentage off, etc.

Be consistent

After you start to see the types of subject lines that are performing well, follow those same parameters in future subject lines. While subject lines will be unique for each message, they should also become instantly trusted and recognized by recipients.

Recruit a coworker

Too close to the message? Take a step back and ask a coworker to create the subject line. Sometimes when you've been working on a project too long, you can start to lose focus. Having a coworker look at the message can bring a fresh perspective - and also a fresh subject line!

More tips when writing

• Be witty, but avoid "cute" or clever headlines.
• Use subject lines that are relevant to your recipients.
• Never use all caps, even if it's just one word.
• Never use a misleading subject line.
• Only use necessary punctuation (commas and apostrophes).
• A question mark is okay. Never use an exclamation mark.
• Don't use leading articles like "a" and "the" in the subject.

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