Over the years I’ve been doing a lot of testing with email marketing trying to increase my open rate. I believe it doesn’t matter how many subscribers you have on your list because if they’re NOT opening your follow-ups then it’s going to be impossible to convert them. I decided to do some research and skim through the web looking for case studies on email subject lines and where people are having the MOST success. For example, if you do a quick search for “email subject lines” in Google you’ll be able to find enormous case studies performed my marketers testing different lines then calculating ROI. The ROI in this case will be the actual open rate and how many people are clicking through on your call-to-action. It’s awesome what you will find online and how this information can help tweak your overall strategy.
Let’s look over some statistics and what email subjects lines have had the highest ROI. Next to each subject line I’ll write a quick explanation, if any, of why these are so effective. Let’s get started.
Here is a quick statistic provided by MailChimp.com:
Analysis of over 40 million emails, the 10 most effective (60-87% open rate) subject lines were: (Most to least popular)
- [Business Name] Sales and Marketing Newsletter –
The effective of this newsletter will depend on your niche however if you are an online entrepreneur then it’s pretty to see why. Everyone is looking for creative ways to sell and market their business so you will be attracted to follow-ups providing insight into your industry. However, be sure to include your business name before the subject line to increase opening potential. Subscribers remember when they have opted into a newsletter which provides value.
- [Business Name] Content Update (Oct 31 – Nov 4)
The dates are just an example however it’s strongly recommended to have the correct dates replaced. I had written extensively about the power of compiling previous weeks content into “1” single newsletter. This will avoid you from sending too many emails each time content is published and give people a choice to read the ones they find appealing. This was the second MOST popular subject line and continues to produce awesome results.
- ATTENTION [Business Name] Subscribers
This email subject line is effective for the obvious reasons. First “capital” letters always stand out and the word “ATTENTION” is something we’ve grown up to accept. We automatically are drawn to it when we see or hear it however, it’s important at the same time to provide value when the subscriber opens the message. For example, the email follow-up will NOT be as effective if you are NOT providing a quality message afterwards.
- [URGENT] You’ve got ONE DAY to watch this…
I must admit this is very strategic in getting subscribers to open your email however you MUST provide awesome value when people click through. Why is this so effective….simple:
First, it provides people with a time limit forcing them to act right away. Next, something with a time limit is automatically thought to provide value which is why I stressed the importance of substance within your email follow-up.
- 212 Blog Post Ideas
I’m surprised this isn’t the MOST popular because I’ve been getting emails from my subscribers about content ideas for years. Not to mention the highest open rate I’ve achieved has been using these lines in my subject however you have to keep a few things in mind. First, I think much of the success will have to do with the niche your involved in because many big companies have internal writers and don’t need to send out these types of emails since their subscribers are different than online content blogs.
Secondly the rate at which you send these emails are much less than you would the others. For example, how many times can you send out a follow-up outlining 212 Blog Post Idea’s…right? However, if you pay close attention to the rest you can send those out at a rate of 2-4 times per month. The strategy you use will depend on your niche which is why testing is very important. However, from the case studies above we know what the most success subject lines are to date and these should be utilized effectively going forward.