$1,115
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625
41
1
Those are the subject lines of 5 White House emails we’ve seen. Above is what they actually looked like in Gmail.
Do Creative Email Subject Lines Work? (Yes! If…)
The answer is always “it depends”, but let me break it down for you.
- Yes! If you want your email to stand out in the often-cluttered inbox.
- Yes! If those types of subject lines appeal to your subscriber base.
- Yes! If your goal is to get an open (read: not necessarily a click-through or conversion).
- Yes! If you are okay with some subscribers choosing to not open based on the subject line alone.
- Yes! If you’ve tested and tested and tested until your data proves that it works.
Open vs. Click-Through vs. Convert
Let’s expand on the 3rd bullet above. If your only goal of email marketing is to get people to open, then you don’t need to read any further. If you are interested in clicks and conversion, continue on. Here’s the issue with using subject lines like The White House example above.
- They subject line should be consistent with the main call-to-action in the email copy/creative. In the case of The White House example, they nail this part. Politics aside, when you open the email it discusses the significance of that particular number. There is a large image of the number as well as some copy describing how it ties to health care reform.
- The copy/creative should be consistent with the landing page. Again, with White House example, they also get this part right. Their landing page reinforces the campaign, Health Reform by the Numbers.
- The other aspects of your email should be in order. The White House still misses on this often. The “miss” that jumps out at me most is their from name. Leading with “The White House” would be a better option than the cut off, so we only see “Nancy-Ann DeParle, The W.”, which is not instantly recognizable.
- We also recommend using some Share With Your Network (SWYN) options. At a minimum, they could include a few social components. If they want to create buzz, make it easy to share, right? Learn more about how email and social play together.
- Monitor your unsubscribe rate. This way you can see if being creative is causing you to alienate a greater than average number of subscribers.
- Finally, as we say often, yet cannot be stressed enough: Test. Test. Test. What works for others may not work for you. What was successful on the last campaign may flop on the next. What is considered best practice for most, may bomb out for you. Let the data – your metrics - dictate your next steps.
So now it’s your turn. Test away and let us know what you learn.
Originally posted by DJ Waldow
Revised and Updated by Michelle Wolverton for WhatCounts.com
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