How Do You Write an Engaging Email Subject Line?

Engaging email subject lines will boost the effectiveness of your email marketing customer engagement campaigns. They are a main factor that influences open rate, one of the most important metrics in email marketing. Let’s dive into what subject lines are and how they can be effectively crafted to engage your audience.

When Sending an Email, What Is the Subject?

The subject line of an email is a single line of text people see when they receive an email. Your subject line should be brief while still covering what content the viewer will see when they click on the email. It should also be engaging, as it needs to get the reader’s attention while competing with many other unopened emails in an inbox. The subject line is a powerful part of the email, since it plays a huge role in whether someone chooses to click on and engage with an email.

What Is the Importance of a Subject Line in Email Marketing?

Optimizing subject lines is crucial for email marketing. Getting subscribers to open an email is the first step of the email marketing process. A compelling subject line gets the viewer’s attention among a sea of other unopened emails and allows the rest of the email copy to make an impact. 

This is also extremely important because the open-rate of your emails can directly impact the bounce rate of your future emails. Emails sent from accounts with a high open rate are more trusted and less likely to be rejected by a server or sent to spam.

How to Write a Great Subject Line for Email?

Crafting great subject lines will help increase email engagement. Some tips for writing great subject lines are:

• Less is more: Shortening your subject lines can lead to better performance. Generally, most devices will show between 30-60 characters in the subject line when someone receives an email. It’s recommended to keep your subject line in the 30-40 character range or less to ensure the whole subject can be seen by your subscribers. 
• Deadlines: Providing a deadline in the subject of an email can lead to higher engagement. An example would be, “Our Next Event is October 12th – Sign Up Today!” Including the date of the event will lead to higher engagement from people who are interested, as it motivates them to move quickly. 
• Show value: A great subject line will show the value provided in the email content. An example of showing value in the email subject line would be, “Learn How to Get Better Sleep.” This subject line is effective, because it shows what someone will get from reading this email.
• Ask a question: Asking a question in the email subject can create curiosity and make subscribers want to know more. An example would be, “Are You Making These 3 Diet Mistakes?” This would get someone’s attention and make them want to learn more about how they can improve their diet. 
• Remove unnecessary words: Removing unnecessary words from your subject lines will make them more relevant and help condense them. For example, words like “thanks” or “hello” can likely be saved for the body of the email instead. 

Following these tips will help you create more engaging email subject lines that lead to successful email marketing customer engagement campaigns. 

How Do You Grab Attention in a Subject Line?

Beyond the email engagement strategies listed above, your company can find its own ways to create unique subject lines that engage your specific demographic of subscribers. Here are a couple of examples of ways this can be done.

Use Audience-Specific Keywords or Topics in Subject Lines

You must know your target audience to grab attention to your subject lines. Think about keywords, phrases, or topics your audience would respond to best. These can be based on age, location, special interests, etc. These key topics or phrases will likely stick out to your email subscribers and make them want to know more.

You can also test to see which words or phrases your audience responds to best in email subject lines through A/B testing and gathering valuable email metrics. Email marketing software and tools, such as AudiencePoint’s email insight software, can help you efficiently track the effectiveness of your marketing emails. AudiencePoint’s software gives you actionable data that you can use to get better results from your marketing campaigns. This data can be used to personalize your email subject lines to cater to your target demographics.

Use Catchy Email Subject Lines

Catchy email subject lines help grab attention and can have a lasting effect on the memorability of your emails. If the subject line is a memorable phrase, it can stay on your subscriber’s minds even after they have finished reading your email. Incorporating elements such as curiosity, amusement, or humor can make for catchier email subjects. Some examples of catchy email subject lines are:

• Don’t Let This Winter Sale Slip Away!
• The Truth About Keto Diets
• Get Fit With Just 30 Minutes A Day!
• Slam Dunk Sports Apparel Sale

You can use these examples as a starting point to create your own unique, catchy subject lines that fit what your company has to offer. 

Conclusion

Engaging subject lines will lead to better performance of your marketing emails, since they will catch your email subscribers’ attention. If you remember to show value, use audience-specific keywords, and create curiosity in your subject lines, you will notice your marketing emails performing better over time. 

Contact AudiencePoint to learn more today!