Your email subject line can make or break the success of your email campaign. So, when it comes to crafting the best email subject lines for sales, it’s imperative that you take the time to get it right.
What makes a good email subject line for sales?
When sitting down to work on your subject lines for sales emails, you want to make sure you’re taking the time to make them the most effective you possibly can. To do this, you want to consider each of these subject line best practices:
- Know your audience
- Test your subject lines before sending them
- Avoid using all caps—in fact, ditch title case altogether
- Keep it short, sweet, and to the point
- Personalization can help you stick out in a crowded inbox
- Emojis are your friends when they’re used correctly, so don’t be afraid to incorporate them
- Generate excitement and/or a sense of urgency to get readers to act now
12 email subject line examples for those in sales
The good news is that there’s no perfect email subject line for sales. That said, your creative team can let their creative juices flow and, as long as they test well with your subscribers, send them off to your readers.
If you’re finding yourself with a bit of writer’s block, don’t worry. We’ve compiled a list of 12 email subject line examples that’d be perfect for a sales email. Remember, these are just templates, so feel free to use and edit them to fit your brand’s needs and voice.
1. Have you tried {product/service/brand/location}?
A great place to start with an email subject line for a sales message is to ask your readers if they’ve tried anything from your brand in the past. The idea is to get your readers thinking, and, once they’re intrigued, they’ll click through to your message to see what your aim is.
Subject Line: Have You Tried Scanning Wines Yet?
Source: Really Good Emails
2. A {benefit} for {reader}
As an email marketer, you know just how valuable an incentive can be to get a subscriber not only to open the email, but to click through to your website. Some of the best email subject lines for sales include an incentive, and there’s no easier formula than the benefit for the reader.
Incentives can come in any number of forms, including:
- Special gift
- Downloadable content
- A percentage off their purchase and more
Subject Line: 15% off – Just for you.
Source: Really Good Emails
3. #Tips/tricks/ideas for {common pain point}
Consumers want more informational content and less promotional content, so what’s a sales email to do? You can easily turn a sales email into an informational one by providing industry tips and tricks to your readers.
Does that mean you can’t include a plug to subscribers to purchase something? Of course not! Just don’t allow it to be the primary focus of your message. For example, Eventbrite is using the following email to help their current clients remain active members of the community by not only encouraging them to create an event, but giving them tips on how to get started.
Subject Line: 3 Tips For Organizing Events on Eventbrite
Source: Really Good Emails
4. How much do you know about {topic/brand/product/service}? ?
Again, a sales email doesn’t have to focus on selling a product. This email from mattress brand Casper does a great job of intriguing the reader into opening the message and teases all sorts of information that’s good to know—especially if you’re struggling with sleep. Once subscribers are on the Casper website, they may be intrigued to check out the products that the brand has to offer to address the pain points covered in their informational content.
Subject Line: How much do you know about sleep?
Source: Really Good Emails
5. <Name>, we just added {product/service/tip} that you might enjoy
There’s no better way to catch your reader’s attention than by personalizing content to their specific needs. In fact, we found that personalized email subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened by subscribers. In this message from Netflix, they not only address the subscriber directly, but they show suggestions that are based on the reader’s recent viewing history.
Subject Line: Smiles Davis, we just added a TV show you might like
Source: Really Good Emails
6. ⏰ Don’t wait: Get {deal} off your {product/service/order}
In sales, time is money, so why not use your subject line for sales email to create a sense of urgency for your readers? Combine urgency with a good offer and you’re sure to see your engagement rates start to climb.
This example by Freshly works on several different levels. They creatively use an emoji to grab the reader’s attention, and the use of the clock instantly alerts the reader to the fact that this email is time sensitive. From there, the email subject line not only gives the reader an incentive to act now, but tells them that the sale’s only good for the pre-black Friday timeframe.
Subject Line: ?️ You Can’t Wait: Get $60 Off Our Pre-Black Friday Sale
Source: Really Good Emails
7. <Name>’s year in review
A year in review may not seem like a good sales tactic at first; however, when done right, they can encourage your clients to remain active with your brand. These years in review show your clients that you’re paying attention to their activities and encourage them to remain engaged with a brand that cares about them and their activities.
Subject Line: Check out your 2017 Year in Review with PlayStation
Source: Really Good Emails
8. <Name>, Welcome to {brand}
Your first impression with a new subscriber can make or break your relationship. When someone signs up for your email list, they expect to hear from you in some way. That’s why a good welcome email is absolutely crucial to include in your email marketing strategy. You want your new subscribers to know that you’re excited for them to join you, tell them a little more about your brand, and maybe even throw in an extra incentive to encourage them to click through to your website.
Subject Line: Smiles Davis, Welcome to Filmsupply!
Source: Really Good Emails
9. The newest {product/service} is here ?
When it comes to sales, you never want to sound gimmicky. However, excited and gimmicky are two very different things. Some of the best subject lines for sales emails are those that generate a sense of excitement amongst readers. Whether it’s some exciting industry news, a brand-new product or service that you’re offering, or a big upcoming sale, share the excitement with your readers. Adding in some festive emojis can help generate some “good vibes” as well, so don’t be afraid to incorporate some.
Subject Line: ? YOUR MINI MONSTERA IS HERE ?
Source: Really Good Emails
10. We want to hear from you❗
Your subscribers want to know that you care about them and their opinions. Therefore, including customer feedback email in your strategy is an absolute must. The average response rate of an email survey falls around 24%, making it a valuable piece of content worth including in your arsenal. Approaching your customers for feedback shows that you care about them and their needs, so don’t be afraid to include a feedback email subject line in your sales email collection.
Subject Line: We want to hear from you! ✈️
Source: Really Good Emails
11. Introducing {product/brand/service}
New products are exciting! Share the excitement with your followers by keeping things simple with your sales email subject line. Your consumers will be intrigued by the idea of you introducing something new and will be inclined to open your message and see what all the hype’s about.
Subject Line: Introducing Our Newest Juice: Blue Lemonade
Source: Really Good Emails
12. {Competitor/brand/product} alternatives you’ll love
A little healthy competition can go a long way in promoting your product. However, you never want to play dirty. When it comes to “alternative” product informational emails, you want to keep things classy and professional. Talk about your process or product and how it differs from similar products on the market. Again, the idea’s to be informative, not salesy with these emails, so make it about weighing the pros and the cons instead of bashing other brands for what they lack.
Subject Line: 46/ A Dropbox alternative and a gravestone for your desk
Source: Really Good Emails
Wrap up
When crafting your subject lines for sales emails, you have a little more wiggle room than you would other types of messages. However, that doesn’t mean you should throw caution to the wind. Make sure you keep these email subject line best practices in mind:
- Know who your audience is
- Test each subject line before sending
- Avoid using all caps and title case altogether
- Keep it short, sweet, and to the point
- Personalization matters
- Emojis are your friends
- Get readers to act by generating excitement and/or a sense of urgency
Want to become a master email subject line writer? Check out our guide to becoming an email subject line superhero!
You created a beautiful landing page and put together an opt-in popup to grow your email list. You’re ready to see results from your email marketing efforts, but you aren’t seeing the new customer conversions that you thought you would.
Are you using welcome emails properly?
When it comes to converting new customers, you need to write stunning welcome email subject lines that make your subscribers want to know more. Just because they signed up for your email list, that doesn’t mean they’re ready to offer their loyalty.
Welcome emails allow people know why they want to work with your brand. They’re the first step in building a relationship with a potential customer, but only if your subscribers actually open them.
Why stunning welcome email subject lines are critical to your campaigns
Subject lines are critical. After your company name, they’re the first thing people read in their inbox, and most people don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out if an email is relevant to them. That’s why you need stunning welcome email subject lines. Subject lines impact key metrics:
- The subject line alone is the determining factor in whether 47% of people will read your email or not.
- Nearly 70% of email recipients use the subject line to decide whether an email is spam.
- People who receive emails with personalized subject lines are 22.2% more likely to open them.
The most common way to personalize welcome emails is to include your recipient’s first name in the subject line. This results in a higher open rate than welcome emails without a name.
Another way to increase open rates with welcome email subject lines is by optimizing their length. Open rates vary based on the number of words in an email subject line:
- 0-5 words: 16%
- 6-10 words: 21%
- 11-15 words: 14%
- 16-20 words: 12%
- 21-25 words: 9%
While you may see different results—you should use A/B testing to see what works best for your email list—it’s clear that shorter email subject lines result in higher open rates. This means you can see higher conversion rates too.
3 ways to incorporate stunning welcome email subject lines into your next campaign
If you really want to see results from your campaign, you’ll need more than stunning welcome email subject lines. You’ll also need a welcome message that encourages your reader to take action.
1. Ask a question that inspires curiosity in your subscribers.
If someone has just signed up for your email list, there’s a good chance they’re at least a little bit curious about your company. A welcome email is a perfect opportunity to provide valuable insight into how your organization works. Open-ended questions spark interest in your content and give your reader something to think about.
Source: Really Good Emails
Subject line: Wondering how Havenly works?
Service-based companies can use welcome emails to get people started. You can include links to your FAQ or “how it works” page or include a video that describes how your services work. Whatever the content, you want a subject line that lets your readers know what to expect.
2. Use personalization to generate interest in your message.
Email personalization is a simple technique for improving open rates, and a welcome email is your first chance to make a good impression. It’s a good marketing practice to use opt-in forms that ask for a subscriber’s first name. This is one of the easiest ways to incorporate personalization in your email campaigns, and it can increase open rates.
Source: Really Good Emails
Subject line: Hi Smiles Davis! Welcome to HomeAway!
A welcome email is your chance to hype your brand. You really want people to open these emails if you want them to build a relationship with your company. Email personalization is the first step toward building that relationship.
3. Include an offer or discount to add value to your content.
Email coupons and discount codes not only increase your open rates, but they improve your conversions as well. If you want your welcome email to encourage people to purchase from you, a promotional offer may be just the trick you need. Including an expiration date can impart a sense of urgency to help close the deal.
Source: Really Good Emails
Subject line: Smiles Davis, you have 20% off
Coupons and discounts can increase total purchase amounts, but they’re even more effective as part of a loyalty program. If your company has a customer loyalty program, a welcome email with a promotional offer is the perfect way to grow your list.
36 stunning welcome email subject lines that boost open rates
When it comes to boosting open rates and driving growth, you need stunning welcome email subject lines that catch your reader’s eye. These 36 examples of actual welcome email subject lines show how you can use just a few words to capture your audience.
Stunning welcome email subject lines with emoji
Emoji are a fun way to connect with your audience. They convey meaning without taking up a lot of space, and they help break up the monotony of your inbox. When it comes to using emoji in subject lines, 56% of companies saw higher unique open rates. Read through these subject line examples featuring emoji:
- Hello from your new friend in the kitchen ? ?
- Welcome to Made In! ??
- Welcome to Dense Discovery ?
- ? There’s more to unlock, Smiles Davis
- ?️ Smiles Davis, the fun’s just begun!
- Welcome to HireClub! ?
Stunning welcome email subject lines with promo codes
Email coupons and discount codes are a great way to encourage new customers to shop with you. Nearly 100% of millennials use mobile phones to compare prices, and 53% of all consumers want to see only digital coupons. Consider these promotional offers in welcome email subject lines:
- Welcome! Get $25 Off Your 1st Order
- You’re in. Get 15% off an L16 ?️
- Welcome to Zalando! Enjoy £10 off your next order
- Welcome! Here’s Your Discount Code
- Welcome to the Fonts.com Newsletter – Your Free Fonts are Inside
hooray! your 10% OFF code is here.
Stunning welcome email subject lines with personalization
When compared to emails that don’t use personalization, emails that are personalized have 29% higher open rates. They also yield transaction rates that are six times higher than emails that aren’t personalized. Check out these welcome email subject lines that feature basic personalization:
- Welcome to Uber, Smiles Davis
- Really Good Emails, welcome to your YouTube Community tab!
- Smiles Davis, let’s get you moving!
- Welcome to Teachable, Smiles Davis!
- Smiles Davis, you deserve the best
- Welcome to TheZebra.com, Smiles Davis. Your quotes are here!
Stunning welcome email subject lines with questions
As mentioned earlier, questions create intrigue. Rather than being told what to think, questions let your subscribers wonder whether they need to know the answer. You can use simple yes or no questions or you can ask questions that require a bit of consideration.
- New to Our (Curious) World?
- Are you feeling lucky?
- Interested in opportunities?
- Did you say “beard”? – Welcome to Beardbrand!
- Ready to meditate?
- Ready to step up? Welcome to Activité
Stunning welcome email subject lines with next steps
If you offer services to your customers, a welcome email is the right time to let them know how to take advantage of what you offer. From emails with account login instructions to critical next steps, these welcome email subject lines highlight what’s to come:
- Here’s how to get started:
- Log in to your Wayfair account
- 4 Ways to Get Started with AWS
- Welcome to nDash: Important Next Steps
- You got Ellevested! Here’s what’s next
- Welcome! Here are the top 5 things to know.
Stunning welcome email subject lines with a simple welcome
Even with all of the potential options, the most common welcome emails simply welcome their new subscribers. Larger companies can get away with a blunt “Welcome,” but small businesses will want to call out what they offer or what makes them stand apart.
- ? Welcome to Pixelbuddha — the Most Freebie-Friendly Community
- Welcome to the world of Magic Spoon
- Welcome to the smoke show.
- Welcome to Food52! Make yourself at home.
- Welcome to Your New Favorite Printer
- Welcome! Our Expert Booksellers Recommend…
Wrap up
Writing stunning welcome email subject lines takes practice. Every email list is different; every industry is different. Writing for the B2B industry is different from writing for the B2C industry. There are ways to make the process more efficient, though. Consider these takeaways when writing your welcome email subject lines:
- Use your subject line to create interest in your brand. Highlight features or explain what you have to offer.
- Write subject lines that inspire confidence. Remind your readers why they signed up for your list in the first place.
- Include a promotional offer in your subject line. This will improve open rates and help lead to a new customer.
Depending on the goal of your welcome email, your subject line can be as general or specific as you want. You may even consider segmenting your welcome campaigns based on how people get to your site.
Want to know how you can optimize your email campaigns for ecommerce? CM Commerce has powerful features that help automate and optimize your email performance.
You’re planning an important event and you’ve run into a problem. You’ve done all the word-of-mouth promoting you can do and need to approach your email list, but you don’t know where to start. How do you get people to open your email?
What’s the secret formula for getting one step closer to conversions?
Your subject line is the key to success.
If people don’t open your email, how will they click your call to action? If they don’t click your CTA, how can you convert them?
Read on to discover the importance of event email subject lines, some simple subject line formulas, and 31 real examples of the best event subject lines to help you create powerful subject lines that’ll inspire anyone to join your event.
Why event email subject lines are so important
The two most important components of your email content are your subject line and your CTA. Your subject line is what gets people to open your email, and your CTA gets people to join your event.
Write every subject line to entice the subscriber to open the email so they can read your engaging content and CTA.
Here are some common questions we receive about subject lines:
How long should event email subject lines be?
Subject line length varies between email clients, so a simple answer would be to keep them as short as possible. This will account for people reading emails on their mobile devices, which happens for over half of all emails sent. You may only have about 40 characters to encourage readers to open your emails, so use that space (and negative space) wisely.
Should subject lines have emoji in them?
This will depend on your audience. Everyone’s list is different, and that means everyone’s audience is different. A younger demographic may appreciate emoji in the subject line, whereas an older demographic may find it unappealing. We recommend A/B testing this particular aspect of your email subject lines to see how your audience responds.
What does a compelling subject line look like?
We receive this question frequently, and it depends on a number of factors. First, who’s your audience? Are you trying to reach young people for a music festival? Or are you targeting a specific crowd for a nonprofit gala? To help with this, we’re giving you some common email subject line formulas, plus real examples of event email subject lines that work.
Common email subject line formulas
Crafting the perfect event email subject line takes time, but not everyone has hours of time to dedicate to a subject line. It can be frustrating to figure out where to start.
Consider the following “formulas” for some situational subject lines that can really amp up your event subject lines. Once you’ve used some of these formulas a few times, the perfect email subject lines will come more easily.
1. Sense-of-urgency subject line
Great for encouraging action at the end of the wire, email subject lines with a sense of urgency get opened.
Think about offering early-access to tickets to your event and pair it with an email subject line that starts with “Act fast.” You can also try calling out things like “early access” or “limited-time access.”
Don’t overuse email subject lines with a sense of urgency or people will stop responding to them. Use them sparingly for maximum effect.
2. The emotional appeal subject line
Are you planning a nonprofit event to raise money for charity? This is the perfect opportunity to try an emotional appeal subject line.
You can also use an emotional appeal for people who have FOMO (or the fear of missing out). Try a subject line like, “Don’t be the last to get tickets.” Short and succinct.
The emotional appeal isn’t for every brand, but it can be an effective tool in a few special instances. Try combining an emotional appeal with a sense of urgency or promotional offer to see what kind of response you get.
Subject Line: Invest in Yourself. See you in May!
Source: Really Good Emails
3. Promotional offer subject line
Offering discounts and promotional codes for your event is a great way to get people to open your emails. Subject lines with “Save [$xx] today!” may perform well for certain events.
As the sense of urgency emails, use promotional offers sparingly. You should use these as a hook after you’ve already established the reasons someone wants to join your event.
Other than early-access offers, use these infrequently in your email campaign to make customers feel like they’re really getting a deal.
4. Informational subject line
If you’re hosting an event with a lineup, you may find that using an email showcasing your headliners or expert speakers is the way to go.
An informational subject line is exactly what it sounds like: a subject line that presents information critical to your customer’s decision-making process.
You can also send event emails with informational subject lines prior to your tickets going on sale. It’s a great opportunity to get your subscribers interested in your event.
Subject Line: ? Just announced… Aaron Draplin at MU 2017!
Source: Really Good Emails
The 31 best event email subject lines
There are two types of emails you need to send for an event: invitation emails and thank you emails.
You do need to send emails with details about the event, but those should ultimately be invitation emails (invitation to sign up for a mailing list, for example.) Your CTA should be designed, in virtually all communication, to get people to come to your event.
Once people have attended your event, you want to show appreciation for their patronage. This not only makes them feel good, but encourages them to return for your next event.
Here are some examples of the best invitation email subject lines:
And, because thank you emails are important, here are a few stellar examples:
You may notice some trends in these email subject lines. For example, you’ll notice a few emoji and two references to a countdown, indicating a sense of urgency.
There are several uses of “save the date,” which is a popular phrase in the event industry.
As you may also notice, what constitutes as an event can be ambiguous. Have a special reason to celebrate your customers? Use these event email subject lines for inspiration.
Wrap up
Sending event emails isn’t as difficult as it seems; there are some simple guidelines to follow that will make the experience simpler.
A few important takeaways regarding event email subject lines:
- Your subject line is the most important component of your email, so spend the most time on it.
- Not all subject lines are made the same—use one of our formulas to craft the perfect line for your situation.
- Shorter is better—the longer your subject line, the fewer people on mobile devices will be able to read.
All it takes is just a little bit of diligence, patience, and testing. Use our formulas to choose the perfect email subject line strategy, then use these 31 event email subject lines to get inspiration for your next campaign.
Learn more about how Campaign Monitor can help you craft beautiful emails for your next event.
With the end of the year quickly approaching, it’s time to start thinking about how you can reach out to your audience and share your appreciation for their support all year long.
While many retail marketers can do this with a few words and some special promotions, nonprofit organizations have little to work with, besides their words.
That’s why crafting subject lines for thank you emails and messages that truly show your adoration for your subscribers is so crucial.
Why should nonprofits be using thank you emails
While all marketers should be making use of thank you emails in their email marketing strategy, it’s especially important for nonprofit organizations as the end of the year approaches. The fall months and holiday season tend to see the most charitable giving.
Donating is an emotional act. People give to others because they want to feel as if they’ve done something good, so you need to play your part and make sure they feel appreciated for going out of their way to donate to your cause. The best way to do this is by sending them a thank you message.
Source: Really Good Emails
Crafting a quality thank you email to send to donors
During a time when consumers are constantly being bombarded with messages to “download,” “buy,” or “get,” it can be quite refreshing to open a message that’s nothing more than a thank you for helping a good cause.
Due to the unusually high number of emails landing in their inboxes at the end of the year, many consumers suffer from email fatigue. So, while you may be looking for that last donation to push your nonprofit over their annual goal, make sure you’re taking the time to truly appreciate your current donors by sending them a genuine thank you email.
Deliver only the most compelling message.
When crafting your thank you email to your donors, you want to make sure you’re still delivering only the most compelling messages. Remember, donating is an emotional act made by donors, so you want to match or exceed that emotion to not only make them feel appreciated, but to keep them coming back as returning donors.
In this message from charity: water, they thank donors for participating in the Giving Tuesday efforts and thank them for being a constant inspiration in creating “a perfect picture of the world we believe in.”
Source: Really Good Emails
Humanize your message with your design.
Design plays a more significant role in your nonprofit email messages than you may think. The right image can be more impactful than your best copywriting, so humanizing your message with the proper use of imagery, typography, and layout can make or break your nonprofit’s thank you email.
A fitting design is crucial to stir up the right emotions. Just take this example from UNICEF. They make use of smiling, happy children playing in the water to help cement the idea of water = happiness into the reader’s mind.
UNICEF even uses blue layering over the image and in the text to create an emotional experience. In fact, blue colors are often associated with feelings of calming and soothing, which is great for this image. These are kids that are suffering from lack of water, so adding the calming and soothing tones to the image helps to bring that emotion to the surface. If this example were used as a thank you email campaign, the imagery would compel readers to feel as if they did some good.
Source: Really Good Emails
Focus your attention on your reader.
Finally, you want to turn the attention to your readers. Throughout the year, they hear plenty about your cause. So, instead of making the focus of your email your cause, how much you made, or how much you still need, focus the attention on the donor.
In this example from charity: water, they focus solely on the reader and the fact that, thanks to their contributions, they’re now able to help bring water to those in need in Rwanda. They still get to bring up their cause, but they’re focusing on the reader and what they did for the cause, nothing more.
Source: The Balance Small Business
4 tips for crafting subject lines for thank you emails that get noticed
While crafting a compelling and emotional message is an essential part of your nonprofit’s campaign, crafting the right subject lines for thank you emails is of the utmost importance. If you don’t have the right subject line, your readers are simply going to skip over it, and your message will go unseen.
Keeping these four tips for crafting subject lines in mind is crucial when designing and testing your thank you email campaign.
1. Get personal.
Personalization is vital for any email marketing strategy; however, it’s particularly important when it comes to nonprofit email marketing. Consumers have come to you to fulfill their emotional need to give back, so, in return, they want to be recognized for their efforts.
When creating your subject lines for thank you emails, consider incorporating their name, donation amount, or any combination of information you have on them, such as their habits or whether they’re viewing, sharing, or donating.
The more personal you can make your subject line and accompanying message, the better.
Source: Really Good Emails
2. Spark emotion
The ability to spark emotion plays a significant role in whether your email message will be overlooked or opened. Take this example from a political campaign:
Email subject line: A leader the world respects
Source: Gmail
During a time when a country is preparing for the next big election, playing into your audience’s emotions can and will determine your ability to get readers to open your message. The subject line in this example stands out, thanks to tension created in the news, ensuring readers are going to click and learn more.
When it comes to nonprofit thank you emails, you can spark emotions by using words such as:
- Thank you
- Grateful
- Gratitude
- Thankful
- Appreciate
3. Keep it short.
As with your email message, you want to keep your subject line specific and to the point. More and more people are using their mobile devices to view their emails, which means that longer subject lines are truncated. An ideal subject line is five words or less—around 50 characters in total.
4. Use emojis.
Thanks to emojis, your email subject lines can be more expressive than ever.
A few examples of subject lines for thank you emails include:
- We appreciate your contribution ?
- You Did It! ?
- Thank You >Name< ?
Nonprofit thank you email subject line examples
Need some extra help crafting a subject line for your thank you emails? Here’s a list to help get you started:
- Thank you for your donation!
- Thank you from >Organization<
- Thank you for your gift >Name< ?
- ? Thank you for your generosity!
- Thank you for supporting >Organization<, >Name<
- >Name<, Your Donation Means A Lot ?
- >Name< Your Gift Means The ? To Us
- We thank you for your support >Name<
- Thank You! ?
- It’s Thanks to You, >Name<
Wrap up
Crafting a thank you email campaign takes time and creativity, especially for nonprofits. However, if you keep these tips in mind, you’re sure to make your readers feel appreciated enough to return to your organization:
- Create a genuine thank you
- Make it about your reader and their contributions
- Use your subject line for thank you emails to spark emotion
- Personalize your message to your readers
Need a little more help with your nonprofit’s email marketing? Then be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing for Nonprofits.
The end of the year is quickly approaching and, for nonprofits, this means formulating email campaigns to meet year-end fundraising goals. But what good is an amazing email if no one opens it?
Carefully crafted nonprofit email subject lines are the most powerful tools in your arsenal to drive in those end-of-year donations.
Read on to discover how you can get them right.
How to write nonprofit email subject lines
According to a study, December 31st is the busiest day for nonprofit emails. In fact, the month of December, in general, is a busy month for nonprofit emails.
If you want to break through the noise, you’ll need to devote considerable time to drafting the perfect subject line. Thirty-five percent of people decide whether or not an email is worth their time based purely on the subject line.
You only have a few words to accomplish several goals: Inspire, intrigue, create urgency, and encourage action, so keep the following tips in mind.
Use action verbs.
If you can use an action verb as the first word in your email subject line, that’s perfect. If not, try to include at least one somewhere in the text. When it comes to nonprofit email subject lines, some powerful action verbs include:
- Save
- Help
- Give
- Change
- Join
This email from Patagonia’s nonprofit is loaded with action verbs that inspire the reader to take action. Photos in the body are effective too, so long as they’re mobile responsive. Bringing these action verbs into the subject line tells your reader what you want from them and what they can expect from the rest of the email:
Source: Really Good Emails
Get personal.
Personalizing your nonprofit email subject line boosts your open and click-through rates and will help you develop a relationship with your audience. According to research from Experian, this means at least 27% higher open rates and 11% higher click-through rates, along with six times higher transaction rates.
Create a subject line that includes the recipient’s first name and consider using the name of a specific person from your organization as the sender. This will make it feel like more of a one-on-one heartfelt conversation between two people rather than an organization reaching out to a non-specific person, asking for money.
Why would anyone want to donate to someone who can’t be bothered to remember their name? You know the value of connecting with your audience, and that principle applies in the email subject lines for your nonprofit the same as it does elsewhere in your organization.
Pose a question.
Using a question for your nonprofit email subject line gets your readers thinking and compels them to open the email to learn more. It’s the same strategy TV producers use to make sure you can’t miss that next episode: unanswered questions and cliffhangers.
Here are a few examples to get you started:
- Can you help X?
- Can we talk about X?
- How will you change the world today?
This email from Charity: Water poses a question and tells readers an interesting story that also inspires them to donate.
Source: Really Good Emails
Create urgency.
Donating to charity is something people always seem to put off indefinitely. It’s something we all think about doing, really want to do, and mean to do, but, for some reason, we put off following through with our intentions.
So how do you break that cycle? By creating urgency.
If you don’t set some kind of deadline, your readers might feel inspired to take action but might not follow through and actually donate.
An email saved for later is better than an email thrown in the trash, but it still doesn’t do much good for you or your organization. It certainly doesn’t help you meet your goals.
To create urgency, let readers know you’re matching donations until a specific, limited time. Set a deadline to reach a specific goal.
Spark emotion.
You need to tug on your readers’ heartstrings and spark some kind of emotion without sounding exploitative.
When it comes to nonprofit email subject lines, let your reader know right away who needs their help and what they need. Be as specific as possible.
Simply saying “We need your help now” or “Donate now” isn’t enough to draw an emotional connection between their donation and your hard work. Providing the human element that inspires your organization also tells your reader their donations go to good use.
Say thank you.
Too many nonprofits overlook the importance of building a relationship with their readers. You need their donations, but they want to feel like you actually care about them too.
Send out nonprofit email subject lines that thank readers for being a part of your team and helping out. It’s what you’d expect from a friend, so don’t be surprised that your subscribers want to hear your gratitude as well.
Another potent tactic is to send out follow-up emails with photos and updates of how their funds were used. If you have a small organization, you could even consider sending personalized photos for each donor.
This email from Human Needs Development contains a personalized message from the managing director, photos, and documents detailing exactly how the donor’s money was spent. It also reminds the reader that the need to save children in Yemen is ongoing and includes a link to continue donating.
Source: Human Needs Development
The 13 best nonprofit email subject lines
These subject lines from nonprofits contain the winning formula for building a relationship with your readers and inspiring them to get (and stay) involved in your organization’s cause.
1. UNICEF: How many children will you save today?
This subject line doesn’t teeter on the fence with wishy-washy wording. Instead of asking whether or not you’ll save children, it asks how many children you’ll save.
2. MoveOn: Help victims of the Camp fire this Giving Tuesday
Starting out with an action verb is always a win for nonprofit email subject lines. Plus, this email capitalizes on the Giving Tuesday trend and addresses a timely and urgent need.
3. Human Needs Development: Here’s where we used your donations…
Nonprofit email marketing is about much more than merely asking for donations. If you really want to make a lasting impact and develop loyalty with your donors, earning their loyalty and recurring gifts, you need to build a relationship with your audience. Human Needs Development always sends a follow-up email with photos showing exactly how your donations are used.
4. Avaaz: 48 hours to save the bees
Give your readers a deadline to take action and they’ll feel more compelled to actually follow through. To top it off, this email subject line makes it feel like the fate of bees is in their hands. Though the situation might be bleak—there are only 48 hours to act—their donation can have a major impact.
5. Susan G. Koman: Holiday gift deadline is tomorrow
This email from Susan G. Koman sets a deadline directly in the subject and also takes advantage of holiday gift-giving to inspire those end-of-year gifts.
6. Middle East Children’s Alliance: Give 2,000 children in Gaza the gift of life – clean, safe drinking water
The specifics in this email subject line from Middle East Children’s Alliance really make it stand out: Give 2,000 children in Gaza safe drinking water. It’s simple, somewhat emotional, and starts with an action verb.
7. The Marine Mammal Center: A special gift to thank you for all you do
Who doesn’t want to feel appreciated? Who doesn’t love special gifts? Instead of asking for things in your nonprofit email subject lines, consider ways you can give back to your generous donors.
8. World Wildlife Foundation: Ready to change the future?
It’s always amazing to feel like you’re a part of something bigger than yourself. This email from the World Wildlife Foundation immediately inspires readers to take action for the greater good.
It’s also an optimistic subject line, which will be refreshing for most of your subscribers. With all the need in the world, it’s easy for people to feel overwhelmed or feel as if there’s nothing they can do to help. An optimistic subject line like this one not only tells your reader their donation can have a powerful effect, but it might also make them feel more hopeful.
9. Charity: Water: You did it!
It’s crucial to build a relationship with your readers. Remind them of how their donations are used and make them feel appreciated for their efforts. It’s always good to remind them that their donations are actually making a difference to combat fatigue.
10. Oxfam: Before 2017 ends, change lives
This email from Oxfam is short but powerful. Despite its brevity, it still manages to knock off three bullet points: It provides a deadline, includes an action verb, and tugs the heartstrings a little bit.
11. International Rescue Committee: Match ends at midnight!
Everyone wants to stretch their dollar as far as possible, even when making donations. Not only does this email subject line from the International Rescue Committee set a deadline, but it lets readers know that their donations will be matched.
12. Give Blood: Do something amazing today
This email subject line from Give Blood manages to create urgency and inspire action without applying pressure or guilt.
13. SF Marin Food Bank: Help make it a special Thanksgiving for all
Starting out strong with an action verb like “help” tells readers exactly what you want them to do. Don’t ever leave them guessing, or they won’t do anything. Crafting a giving campaign around the holidays also provides a timely reminder to act fast, before the holiday has passed and it’s too late.
Bonus: How to A/B test subject lines for greater efficacy
Before sending off your great fundraising email, one important step you should never forget is to split test (also called A/B testing) your subject line. Remember, your fundraising email subject line is an important element in improving your open rates, so it’s important that you get it right.
What is A/B testing?
A/B testing simply means testing to see how different variations of certain elements in your email perform. In this case, you should test how different subject lines perform. To do this, create two different subject lines for the same email and send them to two equal samples of your email list.
Source: Share It
The point of the test is to see which subject line drives more opens. You can check out our Email Marketing Benchmark Report to see the average open rates in your industry.
Assuming that you’ve already crafted your subject lines, here’s a summarized version of how you can A/B test your subject lines:
1. Set the testing rules.
Lay down the rules that are going to govern your test, so as to limit the number of variables that can skew the results. For example:
- Determine your sample size
- Decide on the duration of the test
2. Select the elements to test.
Next, decide on the elements of your subject line that you’re going to test. A few examples include:
- Name vs. no name
- Number vs. no number
- Question-based subject line vs. statement-based subject line
- Emoji in subject line vs. no emoji
3. Run your test.
Once everything is in place, go ahead and run your test, send the email.
4. Analyze, interpret, adapt.
At the end of the set testing time, gather all the data, analyze it, and interpret it. Which subject line performed best? Use the winning subject line in the email that you send to the rest of your list.
What if both subject lines performed poorly?
That’s an indicator that you need to go back to the drawing board and improve your subject lines.
Tools to help you improve your subject line
To help improve your subject lines, try these two tools:
Advanced Marketing Institute’s Headline Analyzer
The Advanced Marketing Institute’s Headline Analyzer tool was designed to help in creating strong blog post headlines, but it also does a great job with email subject lines. AMI’s headline analyzer measures the emotional impact of a subject line, with high-scoring subject lines having a greater chance of increasing email open rates.
Source: Advanced Marketing Institute
CoSchedule’s Email Subject Line Analyzer
Coshedule’s Email Subject Line Analyzer works a bit differently from the AMI headline analyzer. One of the biggest differences is that it also helps you optimize for length, an important aspect in email subject lines.
Using these tools, it becomes easier to create subject lines that your readers won’t be able to resist.
Source: CoSchedule
Wrap up
The end of the year is a high-pressure time for nonprofits. You have goals to meet, and you don’t want anything to stand in your way of reaching them because you have a lot of people depending on you.
Spending plenty of time and careful consideration on your nonprofit email subject lines can make all the difference and help you stand out from the other nonprofits flooding everyone’s inboxes this holiday season.
The key is to inspire readers to click through and take action.
For more information on how you can nail your next nonprofit fundraising campaign, be sure to check out our nonprofit marketing guide.
Updated July 2019
Here’s the thing: You want to write email subject lines that actually work. You already know that subject lines get noticed in busy inboxes (because you compete against 121 emails an average office worker receives every single day). And you know the only way to get traffic and conversions—and ultimately sales—is to stand out.
In short: You need to know what makes a great subject line work to be successful as an email marketer.
The email subject line tips in this article are backed by 20 studies and CoSchedule’s very own data from our Campaign Monitor account.
The goal here is to help you learn and remember the mechanics the best-performing email subject lines often share.
But before we get into that, let’s give you a great starting point.
Start with these 20 creative email subject line example templates
Sometimes, that blinking cursor can be intimidating.
So, use the following email subject line templates as a type of “swipe file”. Copy, paste, then fill in the blanks to get started.
- Stop {Undesirable Emotion} Now
- {Desirable Outcome} (Your First 3 Steps)
- New {Thing}: What It Means For {Audience’s Role}
- What {Credible Influencers} Are Saying About {Topic}
- {Someone Audience Looks Up To} Can Afford Any {Product}, She Uses…
- Best {Emoji} + {Emoji} + {Emoji} = {Emoji}
- {Topic}, {Topic}, and {Seemingly Unrelated Topic}?
- {Personalized Company Name} + 497% More {Need} = {Emoji}
- {Emoji} Your {Emoji} With…
- {Personalized Name}, Earn {Something Desirable} Today Only
- You’re Missing Out On {Something Desirable}
- Tonight Only: A {Audience’s Role}’s Dream
- Want 587% More {Something Desirable}? {Emoji}
- This Is A Sales Email {Emoji}
- Don’t Forget! {Event} Today {Emoji}
- …When You’re Sick And Tired Of {Something Undesirable} {Emoji}
- “{Quote}”
- A {Topic} Process To Reduce 30-50% Workload {Emoji}
- {Topic} + {Topic} + {Topic}
- “I Love {Something Undesirable}!” (said no one ever)
Then, use the following 7 tips to optimize your subject line.
1. Leverage words that have been proven to boost email open rates.
My research into email subject line mechanics dug up 100 words, terms, and symbols that are highly like to influence open rates when you use them in your subject lines:
Further analysis suggests you’ll get the best open rates by using 3 or more of the words/terms and/or symbols from that list in your subject line.
2. Remove words that reduce open rates (or trigger spam filters)
Just as there are words that typically increase email open rates when you use them in subject lines, there are words that negate those opens, too.
Here’s a shortlist of 100 words, terms, and symbols to avoid using in your email subject lines:
It’s best practice to use zero of these words, terms, or symbols in your subject lines.
3. Include a number in your subject line
Including numbers in blog post headlines increases clickthrough rates by 206%.
Even though the research refers specifically to blog posts, subject lines in emails serve a very similar purpose: Increase clicks from a list (blog post category pages, social news feeds, email inboxes, etc.).
It turns out, like blog post headlines, using numbers in your subject lines increases email open rates.
A recent study that analyzed 115 million emails suggests email open and reply rates are higher when a number is present in the subject line. Numbers and data get your emails noticed, demonstrate a clear and straightforward message about your offer, and set the right expectations for your readers, helping draw them in.
Include at least one number in your subject line to boost your email open rates.
4. Put an emoji in your subject line ?
Campaign Monitor recently researched the use of emojis in subject lines to understand if their inclusion increased open rates. When I chatted with Kim Courvoisier a few months ago, who was a marketer here at Campaign Monitor, she suggested:
Brands that are using emojis have seen a 56% increase in their unique open rates. This isn’t a report from experience. We’re really seeing an increase in emojis, and you can use them as a brand appropriately, and they do add a nice little bit of flare and attention-getting in the inbox.
If you’re wondering where you can find emojis:
- Windows: Use the WIN + . (actual period punctuation mark) to open the emoji keyboard.
- Mac: Hit Control + Command + Spacebar to open the emoji window.
If neither of these suggestions works: Check out GetEmoji and copy/paste.
Best practice suggests using 1-4 emojis in your subject line will boost your email open rates.
5. Keep your email subject lines the right character length
While the 20 studies analyzed for this article differed drastically on the topic of email subject line length, everyone agrees: Keep your subject lines short.
50% of all emails are opened on mobile devices. iPhones show about 35-38 characters in portrait mode, and Galaxy phones show roughly 33 characters in portrait mode.
Long story short: Make sure the 50% of your subscribers who will open your email on their mobile device can actually read the entire subject line.
Best practice suggests subject lines that are 17-24 characters long are most likely to boost your email open rates.
6. Keep your email subject lines the right word length
The studies suggest the more words you use in your subject line, the fewer opens you’ll get.
That means your best best is to use a short number of characters as well as a short number of words.
Use 3-5 words in your subject line to boost your email open rates.
7. Test title case subject lines
Research suggests that subject lines in title case are most effective at boosting your open and reply rates.
That study suggests the psychological reasoning behind title case’s success is perceived authority. Even something as small as using title case instead of sentence case or all lower case in an email subject line is an authority badge for the sender.
It’s like showing up to an interview in a suit instead of a pair of shorts.
What does title case actually look like?
- Title case: Pack My Box With Five Dozen Liquor Jugs
- Sentence case: Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs
- Lower case: pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs
Write your subject lines in title case to boost your email open rates.
Bonus tip: Utilize preheader text to boost subject line open rates
Preheaders are excellent to use after your subject lines. Preheaders, also known as the “Johnson box,” summarize the content in your email for added enticement. Your audience gets a chance to preview the email, even while it sits unopened in their inbox.
This is a great way to hook your reader, compelling them to open their emails. Also, adding emails with preheaders and subject lines can boost open rates by 7%, so add this practice to your email marketing repertoire to see greater opens and better return from your emails.
Whether your customers open their emails on mobile devices or desktop computers, preheaders add more space for you to hook your readers and impress them.
How to write an email preheader
Want to know the basics to write an effective email preheader? Here are three tips to get you started.
Limit the character count
An ideal preheader includes 85-100 characters. You want to keep it short and straight to the point. Your audience will only spend a few seconds scanning an email, so condensing your preheader, with a hook included, will keep them from skipping your email entirely.
Make it meaningful
Since you only have up to 100 characters, you need to include engaging and meaningful language in your preheader.
Use strong verbs and keywords and introduce the subject of your email immediately. You can even include emojis to grab your customer’s attention if your branding allows it.
Add personalization where you can
It’s always a good idea to personalize all elements of your email and the preheader is no different.
Include your customer immediately, whether that means using their name as the first word or providing them with pertinent information. People love to see their name on an emails=, and they especially love updates pertaining to products they ordered online.
How to combine a subject line and preheader for a compelling email
So, now you have the secret formula for crafting an attractive subject line and preheader. However, what do a great subject line and preheader look like? How do you craft a preheader and subject line that boosts open rates?
Here are four examples from companies who got their subject line strategy right.
Birchbox
This subject line is 5 words, hitting the target of 3-5 words for higher open rates.
In the preheader, Birchbox used the customer’s name as the very first word in the sentence. They also stuck a short, 7-word sentence at the very beginning of their preheader. This is a great idea to implement because the customer sees the premise of the email without opening it.
Source: Campaign Monitor
Skillshare
Skillshare gets down to the crux of their email–wasting no time. In the subject line, the company indicates how much time their customer has to act upon their subscription. Then, the preheader gets right down to the price.
Knowing basic information from the start gets customers to click fast. They know what they can expect by and clicking on this email, which means they’re more likely to actually purchase if they open it.
Source: Add This
Netflix
If there is one thing Netflix excels at besides entertainment, it’s short, punchy subject lines. In addition, this email is very simple in character and conversational in nature.
Source: Gmail
Netflix beckons their customer back with a 3-word call to action, “Come back today,” as if an old friend says they miss them. In the preheader is another call to action, this time appealing to an emotional need the customer might feel to enjoy themselves through the streaming service. This is a perfect example of a great subject line strategy that “hooks” your customer’s attention.
Wrap up
You want sales. But without email opens, you get zero clicks to your website which means zero traffic that you can convert which means zero sales.
Something as simple as email open rate can help you concentrate on the lead indicators that influence more significant metrics down the funnel.
So, if you’re thinking of improving your open rates with a little help from data:
- Use a few of the words that are proven to increase open rates.
- Avoid the terms that typically decrease open rates.
- Test using a number in your subject line.
- Include at least one emoji.
- Make it about 17-24 characters long.
- Shoot for approximately 3-5 words.
- Write it in title case.
- Utilize preheader text.
- Learn from other companies.
- You’ve got this.
Now that you understand why subject line open rates are so important, try your hand at creating your own with these formulas.
Article first published June 2016, updated May 2019
The weather is heating up, and summer consumer spending is significantly increasing. What does this mean for you? It means it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to promote your brand through smart email marketing campaigns designed for everyone’s favorite season.
Before sharing some examples of summer email subject lines, refresh yourself on these subject line faux pas that all brands should work to avoid.
Faux pas #1: The blank subject line
The first brand in question sent an email with the subject line totally blank. Studies show 47% of email recipients open email based on subject line alone, while nearly 70% mark emails as spam depending on the subject line. This blank subject line gave me no indication of what was in the email, and I deleted it immediately, as I am sure many other recipients did. Mistakes happen to even the best email marketers, but make sure you always test your emails before sending to avoid glaring issues like this one.
Tip: Don’t miss an opportunity to use your subject line to capitalize on a hot spending season by leaving it blank.
Faux pas #2: The regarding-absolutely-nothing subject line
The second brand sent an email with the subject line that simply said “RE.” I have never sent an email to this particular brand, so the email they sent me was regarding nothing.
I typically really enjoy marketing emails from this company, but the subject line “RE” immediately set off the spam alarm in my brain. In fact, I was about to mark this email as spam until I realized this email was actually from a brand whose email promotions I use quite often to purchase products I love online.
Before making a mistake of this caliber, remember how many emails are marked as spam based solely on subject line. Using a potentially misleading subject line is a great way to look like spam, which can substantially impact your open rate.
Tip: As you prepare your summer marketing subject lines, make sure they offer information about your hot summer promotions. You’ll want to avoid misleading subject lines or subject lines that sound like clickbait.
Faux pas #3: The forgot-to-replace-the-default-text subject line
The final faux pas was an email in which the retail subject line read: “Enter your subject line here.”
As a person whose career revolves around knowing the ins and outs of email marketing, I immediately recognized what had happened. This business forgot to replace the default text in the subject line of the template they selected.
Tip: While it’s easy for any brand to make a simple marketing mistake here and there, it’s also imperative to remember that subject lines greatly influence open rates. Remember that subject lines are used to pique consumer interest, develop trust, offer value, and, ultimately, keep your customers interested in your brand, so you must pay attention to them.
How do I write a good subject line?
As we approach summer, you want to not only avoid these potential subject line faux pas, but increase open rates by taking your email subject lines to the next level. This is the season to boost your sales by customizing email subject lines to show off the content of your email. Keep the following tips in mind to get the most out of your email campaigns.
1. Make it personal
Your subject lines, like your emails, need to be tailored to the recipient if you want to increase the odds that your message will be opened and read. Emails that offer a personalized subject line are 26% more likely to be opened than those with a generic subject line. Personalization begins with segmenting your customers so your messages can be specific to their interests, needs, and buying patterns. By breaking down customers into smaller, more precise groups, you can tailor your marketing to customers that are most willing to make a purchase.
2. Keep it playful
Summer is the season for fun, so let your email subject line reflect the lighthearted mood of the season. Play with your word choices and don’t be afraid to be creative or even silly with your tags. You might want to schedule a brainstorming session to go over the season’s sales and specials, finding ways to plug in the summer theme to your announcements. Don’t be afraid to toss in an emoji or two, as these convey fun while increasing open rates.
3. Take advantage of the summer holidays
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the summer offers more retail opportunities with Father’s Day in June and the Fourth of July. In 2017 alone, Americans spent $7.1 billion on barbecues and cookouts. Father’s Day follows with $15.3 billion expected spent in 2018, which breaks down to about $188 per person. In addition to spending patterns, these holidays present fabulous opportunities for word play or other gimmicks for effective subject lines.
4. Promote special offers and events
Summer is the perfect time to schedule special offers and events. In addition to having more free time on their hands, many customers are also more eager to make purchases. When you send an email campaign to promote these once-a-year occasions, create a subject line that captures interest and compels your customer to open your message to learn more.
75 summer subject lines for retailers
Are you ready to kick your summer campaigns into full swing? To help get you inspired for the season, here are 75 summer and end-of-summer email subject lines that are currently heating up inboxes. Let other companies take the lead with their own brand of attention-grabbers or choose from a selection of generic lines that can be customized to fit with nearly any business:
Stars, Stripes, and Sales
Who’s Your Daddy (Father’s Day sale line)
Summer Gets Better
Get a Head Start on Summer
Summer is Getting Closer: Grab a Deal Now
Our Holiday Deals? Summer Pretty Good
Yelp: Rise and Shine, It’s Beach Time
Swimwear 365: Seas the Day
LOFT: Meet Your Summer Loves
ShopBop: The Go-To Summer Shoe
REI: Make Summer Epic
Kate Spade: Hello Sailor
Supergoop: Summer Workout Goals
Free People: re: The Heat Wave
LOFT: Summer’s “It” color is…
Rip Curl: Earn Your Stars & Stripes
Chandon: Don’t Miss Our Summer Party!
Topshop: The five shoes of summer
Virgin America: Float away this summer with fares from $69 one way
Kate Spade: Your summer style muse (and her chicest secret weapon)
CB2: jumpstart summer with these 3 hot offers
THACKER NYC: The B I G B A N G Sale Starts Now! ??
Topshop: Kendall + Kylie swimwear has landed
Birchbox: What’s Your Biggest Summer Beauty Bummer?
Food52: We pledge allegiance to the picnic.
Rent the Runway: A sale that’s better than fireworks
Rip Curl: Made For Independence Day
Unison: Red White +Blue Cool
Whole Foods Market: Beer Cocktails and Grilled Pizza? Hello, Summer!
Crate and Barrel: Let the fireworks begin
Minibar Delivery: Red, White & Brews ?? ?
Name Bubbles: Before you head off to that BBQ…
DAVIDsTEA: Your summer iced tea is on us.
Topshop: The big summer sale edit
rag & bone: Summer Whites
Weekend Sherpa: Beaches & Beverages
Gap Kids: this is BIG (for sandcastles & pool parties)
RON ROBINSON: Swim Into Summer
Pharmaca: Shop EWG-approved sun care, on sale now!
DSW: Sandals $29.95 & under = a happy closet
Tory Burch: The Miller Sandal: Pick a new shade for summer
Etienne Aigner: Everything You Need For A Stylish Summer Getaway
Sloat Garden Center: Birds, bees, and warm weather color!
Real Simple: How to Plan the Perfect Summer Getaway
Bloomingdale’s: Quick! Save 50% on Women’s Swimsuits & Cover Ups
Charming Charlie: NEW crossbodies & summer dresses. Yes & yes!
Chandon: Perfect Summer Party Day 1: Sparkling Red Snow Cone
AliExpress: Heads up: Get your hands on the hottest gadgets
Rip Curl: WAVE THE FLAG
The Music Zoo: 30 Red, White and Blue Guitars & Basses for Summer
lucy: Summer’s on sale. up to 40% off
Del Mar Racing: Summer is Heating Up
Pottery Barn: July 4th Savings + Free Shipping
J.C. Penney: Under $10 summer styles for the family—polos, tees & more
J.Crew Factory: Get extra 30% off these summer MVPs
Blaster Tag: Blaster Tag Summer Hours & Mobile Parties
CustomInk: You could win a summer prize pack or an iPad!
Toms: Take your toes on an adventure | Beach-ready styles
Gap Kids: rarely on sale! stock up on summer must-haves
lucy: Cool. Carefree. Capris.
DSW: Big brands. New sandals. $29.95 & under prices.
Bloomingdale’s: Sun’s Out! 10 Beach-Bound Essentials for Him & Her
DAVIDsTEA: It’s time for something exotic…
Banana Republic: Summer dresses to wear everywhere
The Stationery Studio: Up to $25 Off Patriotic Parties
NORDSTROM: Sun’s out: Pop-In@Nordstrom de Soleil
Pottery Barn Kids: Summer-ready savings! 20% OFF all tabletop + more saving
Etsy: 4th of July decor
Food52: The holy trinity of summer salad tricks.
Neiman Marcus: Try out a lighter palette for summer
The Land of Nod: Games for All Summer Long
Guitar Center: Fun in the Sun Savings End Today
Whole Foods Market: 8 Summertime Sips That Sparkle
Old Navy: 60% OFF your summer essential
katespade.com: our take on beach essentials (plus, a present for you!)
Wrap up
As you prepare for the summer email campaign season, remember to avoid potential subject line faux pas and craft your subject lines to convey summer excitement, pique consumer interest, and develop a relationship of continued trust.
You can also use our powerful Shopify integration to send smart email campaigns throughout the summer months or any time of year.
This is a guest post from MailCharts.
What’s the advice marketers hear most often? “Send more email.”
What’s the consumer’s biggest turnoff about promotional email? Too much of it.
The solution to this situation isn’t just to pull back on sending emails—we can hear the howls of protest from your brand managers at the mere idea of reducing frequency—or to keep emailing until you push your subscribers over the edge and hope you can keep pulling in new subscribers to take their places.
The answer is to send better email—messages that add value to the promotion, that say something more than “Buy this thing.” We call those messages “FYI” emails because they have content designed to inform recipients as well as sell to them.
As stated in this recent Campaign Monitor blog post: “Promotional emails can and should illustrate the value of your product, but they should do so in a thoughtful and organic way.” An FYI email, which can be all informational or a combination of information and promotion, is an elegant way to achieve that goal.
3 ways “FYI” emails bridge the gap in frequency expectations
No matter how much they like your messages, your customers aren’t in the market for what you have to sell every day. FYI emails give you relevant reasons to stay in the inbox and stay on your customers’ radars until they’re ready to buy again.
Consider these three points about FYI emails.
1. FYI emails are geared to help customers, which makes them more useful and valuable.
Here are just a few ways you can use FYI emails to help customers:
- Answer customer questions about your products and services
- Suggest more uses for your product or new ways to use a service
- Offer solutions to common issues or list tactics to head off problems
- Explain how to buy a complex or high-ticket product or why to buy one product/service over another. This move can also help you reduce complaints and increase retention.
- Introduce key behind-the-scenes people to highlight their expertise and build authority and personal interest in your company.
2. FYI emails don’t replace promotional emails.
Instead, they allow you to send more email—or to maintain frequency with less risk of attrition—because you are offering more value and greater relevance.
When you ask people what they want in their emails, the top answer is always “offers and savings.” Maybe that’s what’s on their minds. Or, maybe that’s what you have conditioned them to expect because it’s what you promise them at opt-in.
FYI emails have a specific purpose in your email program. They aren’t just chatty fillers between promotional emails.
Here’s an example: If you use customer journey mapping, you can plot points on the journey where an FYI email can help keep your customers on the right path, whether your goal is to drive first or repeat purchases, to avoid churn or bring them back from inactivity or attrition.
The goal is to drive conversion through information, not just by pitching a discount or incentive.
3. FYI emails align with your marketing goals and strategy.
In a consumer setting, these emails borrow their structure from the nurturing or drip emails that are a standard part of B2B content marketing, especially for products or services that have a long consideration cycle. But this B2B practice is also a perfect template for your B2C efforts.
Suppose your brand goal is to make more money. Your marketing strategy to achieve it might be to shorten the time between consideration and purchase, to retain more customers, or to bring back more customers from inactivity. An FYI email is a perfect tactic to carry out those strategies.
Here are examples:
- Reduce consideration time: Use the email to answer questions, offer buying advice, or compare different products or service levels.
- Retain customers: Introduce new products or suggest new ways to use the product or service. Highlight improvements or upgrades.
- Reactivate: Restate your brand’s unique benefits or highlight improvements or upgrades.
How to get started with FYI emails
Spend some time figuring out what your customers would want to see in these emails. You might already have much of the background in other places around your company.
Ask your customer-service or support staff what kinds of questions or complaints they get. Check with your buyers or product managers for guidance about making the best purchasing decisions. Talk to your web team to get insights into shoppers’ browsing habits, such as where they access FAQ pages before shopping or where they’re most likely to bounce away from the site.
You don’t have to drop out a promotion entirely from an FYI email. For example, an email with a sizing guide for jeans or athletic shoes should link to new products in those categories.
If your marketing plan calls for adding a discount for a new product, go ahead and add that, too. The information in the email helps your customer buy smarter, and the discount is the incentive that might push them to conversion more readily than a straight promotion might.
Figure out cadence: If you are a high-frequency sender (5+ emails weekly), try replacing one of those emails (weekly or bi-weekly depending on your plan and resources). A low- to-medium-frequency sender could test the effect of adding one FYI email to the regular message stream.
Always test the effect.
FYI emails can work well for some brands and never move the needle for others. Loyal customers might respond to them more than customers who shop your brand when they can’t find what they want somewhere else. And they might not have any effect on customers who have tuned out completely
But you won’t know until you try it—and then test to find a change.
We’ve collected a number of examples from the MailCharts database. See what you think and which new approaches might help you connect with your customers.
5 FYI emails you can try out right away
This list begins with emails that are almost exclusively information-oriented and then progress to a nearly 50-50 mix of informational and promotional emails. All examples are from the MailCharts database.
1. Sender: Campaign Monitor
Subject line: Looking to boost productivity & improve the customer journey?
We’re beginning with Campaign Monitor, and not just because they were kind enough to give us space in the blog to talk about email practices. Campaign Monitor’s informative emails are well respected among knowledgeable email marketers, including the company’s fiercest competitors.
This lead-nurturing email focuses on broad digital marketing education, from marketing automation to SEO and (surprise!) lead nurturing.
All of these topics connect back to specific services in Campaign Monitor’s portfolio, but it’s a subtle nudge rather than a direct request for a sale or even a sales call or demo.
See it here
2. Sender: Kona Bicycle Company
Subject line: Kona Newsletter: Finding Freedom with Jim Brown
Many outdoors-oriented brands excel at FYI emails because they understand that the experience with the product is a key selling point, not just the equipment itself or the price. Kona takes two approaches to using information-driven emails instead of straight promotional messages. We cover both here.
This email is almost exclusively informational and focuses on a Kona user who has a compelling story that would appeal to the rugged individuals that make up Kona’s market.
Most of Kona’s bikes are in the low to mid four figures, so their buyers likely aren’t in the market too often, and their prospects might need a lot of information before they make up their minds to buy.
A post like this would draw interest and tell a story, keeping the bike brand top of mind until the decision to buy is triggered.
See it here
3. Sender: Kona Bicycle Company
Subject line: The Electric Ute: Take it E-asy!
This approach by Kona is slightly more promotional but the informational approach still dominates the email, which highlights the brand’s e-bike.
The message features the bike’s utility by showing it in real-life situations that vary from an urban mom’s daily errands to a rugged run on a twisty mountain trail. Can you spot the few lines of promotional copy?
See it here
4. Sender: Hallmark
Subject line: Decorated, deviled, hidden and more
Seasonal events and holidays drive Hallmark’s cadence and frequency. According to its frequency calendar (a feature for every brand in the MailCharts database), the brand sent 6 to 7 emails weekly in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, then drops to weekly/biweekly sends in quieter weeks.
So, Hallmark has plenty of bandwidth to drop in a magazine-style FYI email loaded with lifestyle-oriented topics among its promotion-driven emails.
That makes this FYI email stand out even more. The topics—food, crafts, family fun—are tangentially related to Hallmark’s brands but they don’t promote specific products. All the promotional material is sequestered at the bottom of the card.
See it here
5. Sender: Fast Growing Trees
Subject line: Hey! Check out what’s happening at FGT this month!
Horticulture brands like Fast Growing Trees are ripe for FYI emails because they can serve both the master gardeners who need high-level tips and the newbies who need plenty of guidance to avoid killing their tender new plants. (Who knew over-watering was a thing?)
All of the articles included in this email lead to product pages where readers can buy the featured trees, but the email uses information to guide the click decision rather than a price, time limit, or incentive. The email also includes promotional content, but, as with the Hallmark email, it’s corralled at the end of the email.
See it here
Subject line: Featured Artist: Paul McNeil Skateboards
This skateboard company knows their most devoted customers are interested in the artists who design their boards as well as the mechanics that go into it. This email is a great example. It’s packed with content like a video, an artist bio, and a unique playlist. It gives skaters something to click on and buy, but the FYI content dominates the message.
See it here
7. Sender: The Candle Lab
Subject line: Our favorite ways to reuse candle jars
This Ohio-based candle company’s FYI email is the most promotion-oriented of all the emails featured in this collection. It looks informational, but what’s the real goal of this message?
The subject line, hero image, and CTA button lead you to think it aims to encourage readers to watch the video of store employees reusing their empty candle jars. But the secondary offer that goes with it—a $1 credit on every returned jar toward a purchase—is intended to build foot traffic and sales. It’s a subtle combination of FYI elements with a relevant promotion.
See it here
How we got here
Almost as soon as person-to-person email took off in the late 1980s and early 1990s, smart marketers discovered email could connect them directly with their customers and prospects without paying for printing, postage, ad space or commercial time.
Consumers loved getting coupons and other offers delivered directly from their favorite brands right to their computers. No more overloaded mailboxes! But you know what happened next: spam, fraud and blacklisting took the shine off email.
Dark days for email: Consumers went from complaining about junk mail to objecting to junk email and overloaded inboxes. Spammers and fraudsters polluted the channel. ISPs, blacklist operators and governments made the inbox harder to reach. Email’s future as a marketing channel looked bleak.
Why email still rules: Fast-forward about 15 years, and we’re still here. Consumers still complain about too much email, but they also continue to prefer email over other commercial channels for promotional messages, despite recent fluctuations in engagement metrics like opens and clicks.
What happened? Many marketers have gotten smarter about how they use email. They give consumers more control over email content. They use testing to find out what works and employ data and automation to create near-1:1 messaging.
Email content has evolved, too. More marketers are either adding value-driven content to their promotional emails or swapping out at least one promotional email for an “FYI” message. And that brings us to the reasons why you should consider it, too.
Article first published in October 2015, updated April 2019
Do you ❤︎ emoji? It seems an increasing number of brands do. All kinds of businesses are jumping on the emoji bandwagon. Even Facebook has recently announced Reactions, which enables users to add emoji alongside the usual thumbs-up icon.
Have you looked at your inbox lately? Emoji are showing up more and more frequently, particularly in email subject lines.
Whether you’re thinking about adding emoji to your email subject lines or already have, in this post, we’ll cover the benefits of emoji, what you should consider before using them, and give you tips to help you engage your subscribers and get them opening your email campaigns.
The benefits of emoji in subject lines
Why is everyone so keen on emojis? It’s not just because they’re cute; emojis can actually have some big benefits, including:
Increased open rates
Fifty-six percent of brands using emoji in their email subject lines had a higher unique open rate, according to a report by Experian.
We noticed that Growth Hackers has recently begun using only emojis (and no text) in their subject lines and pairing that with text via their preheader. We reached out to Anuj Adhiya, Director of Engagement and Analytics, to see how this new tactic is working, and Adhiya said that, though the tactic is new, they are seeing more recipients opening the emails (and they have a couple of theories on why). This, in turn, is translating to more clicks on email content. He noted they are still trying to understand other impacts but are encouraged enough to keep using emoji for the time being.
Save space
Space is very important with subject lines, especially considering the increased number of email opens on mobile devices. If you want your entire subject line to fit on a mobile device, you have about 30-40 characters to use, and emoji can save space. You can say a lot with an emoji, and it only takes up one character.
Convey emotion
Brands are constantly working to make an emotional connection with their customers. Words can’t always convey emotion, but emoji can.
Stand out in a crowded inbox
Inboxes are increasingly full, making it an ongoing effort for your emails to stand out. Take a look at the two subject lines below. The first one, without emoji, is from Ticketmaster. The second one, with three emoji, is from Minibar. Which one catches your eye?
Emojis aren’t for everyone. Before you add them to your subject lines, you should consider the following:
Tone
Will emoji fit your tone? If you have a serious brand, for example, one that handles financial data, emoji might seem unprofessional to your customers. Ask yourself if quirky symbols or smiley faces fit your brand and make sure you test on small segments of your audience to measure how your larger subscriber base will react.
Audience demographics
If you market to millennials, emoji may hit the mark because they’ve become part of their daily life. That’s not to say that older customers won’t embrace them but, if you market to an older population who may not find them engaging, be sure to test before you go full-force.
Potential rendering issues
Not all emoji show up properly on different mobile devices and email clients. If this happens, subscribers may see this ▢ or just the word “emoji” instead of your intended icon. How do you know which email clients are particularly problematic for emoji? We have a handy chart that breaks down which email clients display emoji properly.
All of the email clients with the green check mark display emoji correctly. Most of the big email clients like Gmail, Yahoo!, and Hotmail don’t have any issues with emoji. Outlook.com and iPhone/iPad sometimes convert symbols into the word “emoji.” Outlook 2003 doesn’t support emoji at all. That’s when this ▢ will show up. This shouldn’t stop you from trying emoji; it just means you should test them first to make sure everything looks good.
Tips to use emoji well
Read on for some tips to make sure you use emoji in a way that engages your audience:
Use online sites to find emoji
Aren’t sure where to find emoji? You can turn to sites like Copypastecharcater.com, Megaemoji.com, or Fsymbols. Here’s a list of places to find icons too. Simply copy the emoji that you want and paste it into your subject line.
Use popular options
The folks at Econsultancy revealed the top and bottom three emoji that can affect your email open rates.
Tips to use emoji well
Now that you’re pumped and ready to dive into the emoji craze, let’s talk about a few best practices. Here are some tips to make sure you use emoji in a way that engages your audience:
Use online sites to find emoji
Aren’t sure where to find emoji? You can ?that off your list by turning to sites like Copypastecharcater.com, Megaemoji.com or Fsymbols. Here’s a list of places to find icons too. Simply copy the emoji that you want and paste it into your subject line.
Use popular options
The folks at Econsultancy revealed the top and bottom three emoji that can affect your email open rates. Who knew the snowman was so compelling?
Make it relevant
With so many emoji, you can usually find one that will complement your message. You don’t have to rely on the most popular emoji every time. For example, Tynker, a business that offers programming courses for kids, used a school bus in a recent email subject line to promote a back-to-school campaign.
Be creative
Emoji give you creative freedom. Pottery Barn, for example, used a watch in a recent subject line to signify the limited time left on a sale.
BevMo sets its subject line apart by personalizing the subject line and adding stars at each end.
Test to make sure your audience responds well
We mentioned testing emoji, but it’s worth repeating. Before using emoji, run split tests to see how your customers react to them. In a split test, you’ll send one group of customers an email with an emoji in the subject line, and send another group the same email without the emoji. You can use the difference in open rate to decide whether emoji are a good fit for your audience.
Test to make sure emoji display properly
Before you send your email out to a large group, you’ll want to see how emoji render in different email clients. For Campaign Monitor customers, you can use our Inbox Preview feature to see previews of your email in over 25 different email clients before sending your campaign to ensure your email looks the way you intended. It’s better to catch the problem early and troubleshoot before you send the email to your subscribers.
Don’t go overboard
While you might be on the emoji bandwagon, these fun little images aren’t something you want in every subject line, or you’ll risk emoji-burnout.
Are emojis still a good idea?
It was 2015 when we last updated this post. Although the use of emoji in the subject line was a new thing, there were definitely some great benefits that were already noteworthy.
However, a lot has changed since 2015. So this begs the question: Is incorporating emojis into email subject lines still relevant in 2019, or have people had enough of these characters?
Considering the fact that there is now a World Emoji day, we haven’t quite reached the burnout yet. But how are the numbers looking for marketers?
Experian found that, compared to text only subject lines, using emojis in email subject lines increased their open rates by 56%.
Econsultancy also did an emoji subject line study of their own. They found that, during the 2016 to 2017 period, around 5% of global subject lines had one or more emojis. Of that 5%, the number of emojis used was about 1500.
Although the use of an emoji in subject the line is still not mainstream yet, their study also found one of the most critical pieces of information: Emojis worked well around 60% of the time.
If you’re wondering which emojis were the most popular, the following were in the top 5.
Source: Econsultancy
The 3 best practices for emojis in subject lines
1. Understand your audience
One of the most critical aspects of all forms of marketing is understanding your target market.
- Who are they?
- How old are they?
- Do they use emojis in their everyday lives?
Answering these questions will help you know and understand how far you can push the envelope with your emojis. For instance, if your email is for a finance crowd and you’ve been tasked to send out the term’s growth stats, you might not want to add hearts and smiley faces to the mix but, rather, a short plain text, accompanied by the below “growth” emoji.
Be sure to always be audience-relevant with your emojis.
2. Don’t overdo it
There are currently over 2,800 emoji characters, but that doesn’t mean half of them belong in your subject lines. Using too many emojis may result in confusion and frustration for your target market, who don’t have the time to try to figure out what your combination of 10 emojis means. Keep it simple by sticking to just a few emojis per subject line.
3. Remember to test
Whether it’s 2015 or 2019, testing is still valuable. Before sending out your email with a subject line emoji, take two equal groups of your target market and send them the same email but slightly change the subject lines: One will have emojis and the other won’t.
From this, you can gain insight by finding out what the open and conversion rates are. Testing your email subject line emoji strategy on a small group of people will help you to understand what types of these characters your market is comfortable consuming.
Wrap up
Emoji can add visual flair to your email subject lines and engage your subscribers compelling them to open your email. Use them wisely, and you can reap the rewards.
Article first published March 2016, updated March 2019.
It’s never too early to start preparing your email campaigns for the upcoming season. This incorporates more than just the season: It also includes Spring holidays and spring-themed email subject lines.
After all, springtime includes St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Cinco De Mayo, Mother’s Day, and Memorial Day—huge spending days for consumers and revenue-driving times for B2C businesses.
Here’s a list of over 60 subject lines from B2C companies that can help you craft your own creative Spring-themed email campaigns.
For those of you in the southern hemisphere, you can draw inspiration from these subject lines for holidays that fall this time of year.
Ready to spring clean your email subject lines? Let’s get started.
Spring-themed email subject lines
- Groupon: ?Spring Break is Coming ?
- Woo Nashville: Spring Breaking…or Spring Dreaming
- Tracking Board: Our 50% Off Spring Sale is On! All Memberships Now 50% Off!
- Forest Suites Resort: March into Spring with Our Lowest Rates!
- GapKids: TODAY ONLINE! Get everything they’ll need for Spring!
- Rent the Runway: A little something extra for your spring events
- PetCamp: Happy Spring from Pet Camp!
- Radisson: Save 30% on your Spring Break Getaway
- Nike: Hello, Spring. Goodbye, Subtlety.
- Neiman Marcus: Spring dresses! Our buyer shares her faves
- T&J Designs: Spotted: Sequins for Spring
- Nordstrom: Your spring-getaway packing list (for real-life budget)
- Food52: Grill pans, egg cups + more Easter brunch helper-outers.
- J.McLaughlin: Swing Into Spring
- Banana Republic: Spring is Coming! Shop accordingly
- bareMinerals: A NEW spring trend to fall for
- Navarro Vineyards: Spring Fever at Navarro
- Sloat: March in the Garden at Sloat Garden Center
Saint Patrick’s Day email subject lines
- Postmates: Feeling lucky? Win $500 in FREE Postmates credits! ??
- Edible Arrangements: What’s at the end of the ?
- Udemy: Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Courses are only $11.99
- Bed Bath & Beyond: ☘ Save Some Green on Top Picks + use your 20% OFF or $20 off $75 coupon!
- Deemer Floral Co.: Go green with a festive bouquet
- The Stationery Studio: St. Patrick’s Day — Personalized Party Supplies
- APT2B.com: St. Paddy’s Day Sale, All Items Green, White & Boozy
- Poppin: Get Lucky, Shop Green
- The Limited: 40% Off Lucky Green Charms
- Heels.com: Get Lucky Sale 20% Off Green Heels
- Ciate: Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Ciate
- Maurice’s: Lucky You! We’re Giving You Two Great Deals
- Gordon’s Jewelers: Lucky Break Save $25 Off Any Purchase $150 or More
- Banana Republic: It just might be your lucky day
- Party City: St. Pat’s Hats & Tees + 20% Off
- San Francisco SPCA: Save up to $45 Your Lucky Day!
- Tastes of Chicago: You’re in luck! Check out this special offer…
Easter email subject lines
- Five Below: Last Minute Easter Deals, 3-Day Easter Hop!
- Banana Republic: Egg Hunt! Find the Eggs Hidden Around our Site for Extra Savings
- AMS: Enter to Win 2 Dozen Chocolate Covered Strawberries
- West Elm: Hop to It!
- Williams-Sonoma: Exclusive Collections Online Now, A First Look At Easter
- Williams-Sonoma: The Sweetest Selection for Easter
- Henry & David: Ears to You!
- The Stationery Studio: Every Bunny Loves Easter
- Global Wine Cellars: 20% off Easter Inspiration
- Ink Cards: Introducing our 2016 Easter Collection
Cinco de Mayo email subject lines
- Petco: Are you ready to guac and roll?!
- Expedia: ? This 15% Cinco de Mayo coupon calls for a celebration!
- Cooking.com: Top 10 Bean & Cheese Casserole Recipes
- Sports Authority: Happy Cinco De Mayo! Save 15% During Our Cinco 5 Hour Sale
- Musician’s Friend: Musician’s Friend: Top Gear Deals for Cinco De Mayo!
- TigerDirect: 50 Deals up to 50% Off: 20″ Acer LED $99 & More Caliente Deals
- Linens ’n Things: It’s a Fiesta: Save 20%
Mother’s Day email subject lines
- Postmates: Treat yo mama (or treat yo self) with free delivery for Mother’s Day weekend!
- Groupon: ?WARNING: Mother’s Day is SUNDAY!?
- Filmstruck: Still Need a Mother’s Day Gift?
- Udemy: During our Mother’s Day Sale, get comprehensive courses for just $9.99
- Edible Arrangements: Mother’s Day is TOMORROW
- Rip Curl: Our recommended lineup for Mom
- Chatbooks: $10 Credit = The Ultimate Mom Hack!
- Jaybird: Mothers deserve wireless
- Monica Vinader: Last chance! Order today for Mother’s Day Delivery
- Kate Spade: Carry-alls for Mom
- food52: Gifts that will make it to Mom in time (Phew!)
- Anthropologie: To Mom With Love! Shop Mother’s Day Gifts.
- Kikki.K: Mom You are the Best. Shop for Mum.
- Terrain: For Mom, For You. Shop Gifts and Gear.
- J. Crew: The Best Mother’s Day Gifts
- Alex & Ani: She’s Got Great Taste. Let Her Choose. Send a Gift Card!
- Toms: Cool Mom, Cool Toms.
Memorial Day email subject line ideas
- American Red Cross: We’re grateful this Memorial Day
- Udemy: Last day for Memorial Day savings— courses only $9.99
- Petco: Long weekend, not-so-long-deals – hurry in!
- Groupon: Memorial Day Weekend Is Almost Over, But The Savings Aren’t
- Thrive: Memorial Day Exclusive: 30% off your next order
- Bath & Bodyworks: Memorial Day Sale Starts Today – Buy 3, Get 3 Free
- 10DollarMall: Happy Memorial Day Sitewide Sale
- Pottery Barn Kids: Memorial Day Sale! Up to 75% off select items
- Crate & Barrel: How to Host the Perfect Memorial Day Party
- Crate & Barrel: Up to 75% off the affordable Memorial Day cookout
How do you write a good email subject line?
Now that you’ve read some of the best Spring subject lines from other brands, it’s time to start crafting unique and personal subject lines for your email campaigns. Here are some best practices to help get you started.
Use a tested subject line formula
Writing subject lines is a lot more than just an exercise in creative writing. Data consistently shows that open rates increase when you follow one of the following formulas.
- Use questions – Help your subscribers think about how the question you are asking relates specifically to them. When you ask a thought-provoking question, your open rates may increase.
- “How To” – Tell your reader exactly how your content will help them in the subject line. This will leave them wanting more information.
- Scarcity – When there is only a short amount of time to get a deal, subscribers will click.
- Announcement – When something is new, your brand-lovers will go nuts with excitement.
- Numbers – Using a number can lead to a 57% increase in open rates. When in doubt, use a number to increase your open rates.
- Curiosity – Piquing curiosity is a great way to draw subscribers in. If you know what makes your customers tick, use it to your advantage in your subject lines.
- Surprise – The unexpected surprise pleases subscribers and leads them to open your content.
- Personalization – Everyone loves to see their own name, especially from their favorite brand. Have their name? Use it! You can even go beyond just first name and personalize on other things like a recent purchase, or a preference.
- Emoji – Remember to try adding a few emoji if it’s appropriate for your business as emoji have been shown to increase open rates and with fun choices like clovers, bunnies, and flowers, you can make your subject lines pop.
Pro tip: how long should an email subject line be?
Seasonal or no, your email subject lines should be short enough to read and fit on all devices, but they should also be long enough to encourage interest from subscribers.
Our best advice? Optimize subject line length to be between 41 – 70 characters long.
Use the holiday to your advantage when sending out promotions
It may seem obvious, but when you write copy for your Spring email marketing campaigns, make sure you convey that your promotion is in celebration of that particular holiday.
If you are running a promotion for Easter, then include the word “Easter,” or words that obviously are associated with Easter like “hop,” “egg,” “cracked,” “bunny,” “basket,” “hunt for eggs,” etc.
Not only will these holiday words thrill your subscribers, but they will also induce the scarcity principle because they automatically understand the promotion will end when the holiday does.
Wrap up
Remember it’s going to be an early Spring, so use the subject lines in this post as inspiration to create your email marketing campaigns.
**This post was originally published March 2016**
Every component of your email marketing campaign matters, so taking any of them for granted is guaranteed to hurt your campaign’s results. Nonetheless, some components of your email marketing campaigns get a lot more attention than others.
Many marketers take years to master the art of email copy. Others focus on analytics, painstakingly working toward finding the best possible day and time to send their message for maximum opens.
While there’s no doubt that these elements are important factors, don’t forget about the one that will make your message’s initial impression: The email header.
What is an email header?
In terms of content, there are two main components of any email message. There’s the actual body of the message itself, often where the sender puts the bulk of their communication and effort, and there’s the email header, the portion above the body of the email.
The header includes:
- The Sender
- The Recipient
- The Date
- The Subject
- The Server Responsible for the Transmission
- Image (Optional)
Every email program will allow you to see the entire email header, but most primarily show the subject line, sender, and send date by default.
Legal requirements for your email headers
There are certain legal requirements you must follow with your email headers. In the U.S., there’s the CAN-SPAM act. In the United Kingdom, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations of 2003 outline the laws regarding email headers. CASL laws in Canada do the same. Almost every country has their own version of these types of legal requirements.
Fortunately, they stipulate the same thing when it comes to what is an email header: You can’t include any false or misleading information. Scammers often do this to trick recipients into opening up their emails, but it can tempt otherwise legitimate marketers to bend the rules for those all-important opens.
It’s perfectly fine to get creative, but if you are actively deceiving your email list, you could find yourself in trouble.
How email headers produce better open rates and engagement
Without a doubt, the best possible way your header can contribute to greater open rates—and, thus, engagement—is through the subject line. After all, if your subject line doesn’t convince the recipient to open the email, the rest of it won’t matter.
Here are some simple rules for successful subject lines that will lead to more of your emails getting opened.
Most importantly, use A/B testing to get a sense for what resonates with your audience. By sending out two identical emails that have different subject lines on the same day and time, open rates will show you which subject line makes your recipients more likely to open your emails.
The more emails get opened, the better your engagement will be. However, good subject lines can also prime readers for conversion, too. Give them something to get excited about in the subject line, follow it up with similar copy, and your CTA will have a much better click-through rate.
That being said, you can also improve engagement by adding an image to your header.
Here’s an example from Camellia by Brooklyn Botany:
Image source: Stripo
The company is still relatively young, so putting their name and logo in the header reminds the recipient who’s sending the email and why they’ll enjoy reading the rest of it.
Adidas takes things a step further. Their email header not only includes a nice piece of branding copy, it also offers the recipient the option to go straight to their site. Engagement doesn’t get much better than that.
Image source: Stripo
4 examples of successful email headers
Email headers generally don’t get as much attention as the body of the message, the time you schedule it, segmentation, and other factors that determine if your campaign is a successful one.
However, here are three examples of companies that clearly understand that their email headers can lead to increased open rates and improved engagement.
1. Birchbox uses a header image to promote its loyalty program
Birchbox does several smart things with their header in the email below.
To begin, they incorporate an emoji in their subject line. At the moment, emojis in subject lines are still enough of a novelty that they’re attention getters. In the near future, they may become as commonplace as letters and numbers but for now, they’re a surefire way to ensure a second glance.
The other element of Birchbox’s header to emulate is the information provided in the subject line. Recipients are immediately incentivized to open the message as its value is clearly spelled out: “TWO Birchboxes for $10 Inside.” That’s two numbers in one subject line that’s well within the aforementioned limit for characters.
While you want to be careful using all caps in your subject lines, Birchbox only capitalizes one word, not the entire subject line. In this example, they’re using all caps to draw attention to a two-for-one deal, emphasizing what it is that makes their offer so special.
Image source: Campaign Monitor
But by far, the real standout in this email header, though, is the image the company used in the space separating the header from the main body of the email. Unlike other features of the email header, the image is optional since it isn’t required by law.
But we’d recommend including an image since it’s one more opportunity to add information, convert your prospects, improve customer loyalty, or accomplish whatever goal you have for your company and your email marketing campaign. Otherwise, you leave a highly-visible portion of your email as blank, unused space.
In this case, Birchbox uses their header image to inform their subscribers about their status within the company’s loyalty program, ensuring the customer knows where they stand. If they have a lot of points, this email could suggest beneficial ways to capitalize on that value. If the person only has a few points, like in this example, the email could suggest ways to build up more or reasons why they even should.
The header image can prep your reader for the content in your email and motivate them to convert.
2. AFAR uses a preheader to promote their site
Experiential travel magazine, AFAR, has a lot of information they want to communicate in just one email, so they opted to use a preheader, the area between the subject line and the actual header image.
First, the subscriber sees text referring to the article they’re promoting below. It’s short and sweet but gets the point across, hopefully striking a chord with the subscriber and making them want to read more.
Second, AFAR makes it easy for their subscribers to share their articles, helping the company reach a new audience that might not already be aware of their publication.
Third, the header provides options for exploring the rest of AFAR’s site. If a message’s recipient is interested in other features of the magazine, they’re just a click away.
Image source: Campaign Monitor
Also, this email features a fantastic subject line: It’s specific (train travel is fairly niche) and promises to reveal a secret (“unexpected benefit”), triggering FOMO and encouraging readers to open the daily email.
3. Uberflip gets right to the point with an eye-catching image
While the body of your email usually succeeds or fails based on the copy you choose, that doesn’t mean you need a ton of words in your header image. As we’ve already seen, more words can lead to a more engaging email, but a large image can be equally effective in many cases, too.
Image source: bizzabo
Uberflip sent out the above email to advertise Conex, their content experience conference. If you operate within this world, the author of the best-selling book Vlog Like a Boss, Amy Landino, probably needs no introduction. Seeing her face in the large image that precedes the message would prime subscribers to be pretty excited about the rest of the message, even without a lot of copy.
4. Nintendo makes it impossible to stop reading
Speaking of eye-catching, it doesn’t get more vibrant—and thus impossible to ignore—than this header image from Nintendo:
Source: media co-schedule
As you can see, it’s actually a gif, which effectively sets the tone for what’s to come in the rest of the email.
The email is promoting Nintendo Labo, which lets users build their own cardboard toys and then “bring them to life” with their Nintendo Switches.
Hence, the tagline in the gif of: “Discover. Make. Play.”
Creating a gif like this will definitely help your email stand out, leading to better engagement and conversions. Fortunately, it’s a lot easier to create your own gif than you may think. You can actually use the GIF Maker from GIPHY to create one for free, and then just upload it to your email template’s header.
Wrap up
Now that you know more about email headers and why adding one can be critical to boosting your engagement, don’t take your email headers for granted. While the importance of an email’s subject line is fairly obvious—and really can’t be overstated—marketers all-too-often forget about the rest of the headers’ potential to bring in more opens, click-throughs, and ultimately conversions.
As a result, businesses may spend time and money trying to improve every other factor in their email and still fall far short of their campaign’s potential.
If your email campaign doesn’t quite live up to its potential—and even if your campaigns do really well—you can improve your metrics by optimizing your email header. There are a number of different ways you can customize your email headers to produce higher open rates and encourage engagement, both of which will lead to more recipients clicking on your CTAs.