Perhaps not the best choice of words, but it made you want to read more, right? Your subject lines need to grab your target audience in the same way your headlines for print ads do. Your prospects and customers receive an awful lot of e-mail and if your subject line doesn’t make a case for opening the e-mail you’re sunk.
Poor subject lines fall into two camps. In one, the subject line tries to be catchy or trendy and ends up having nothing to do with the actual content of the e-newsletter. On the other side, you have the subject line that sits on the page like a manhole cover, doing nothing to entice the reader to click and find out the rest of the story (forgive me, Paul Harvey).
As crude as the above headline might be, you knew what this section was about and the angle. It certainly catches your eye more than a title of “Why subject lines are ineffective.” You may choose different verbiage for your publication, but make your subject line catchy and specific to the story subject.
The Fix:
To write better subject lines, you really need to focus on the benefit of the story to the reader. If you write a story on a new company offering, the subject line should not read, “Company Y introduces new widget.” It should be more like “New widget improves production speeds by 10%”. Make it about what’s in it for your readers and not what your company just did and you are halfway there.
If you do not have somebody on your staff with the skill to hit that high note, then hire a copywriter. There are plenty of freelancers out there ready, willing, and able to craft an e-newsletter with subject lines that leap off the page. And for a reasonable price, too.
This blog was taken from “Nobody Reads Your e-Newsletter…And How To Fix It.”.
Addendum:
In 2017, the battle for attention in the in-box rages on. If you want them to open, you have to grab their attention in the subject line.
