2 minute read time
The Email Minute 06: 5 Subject Line Mistakes
Email has been around for decades now. It’s time to elevate your sends and evolve your outdated writing practices. Shane gives five of them you can cut from your subject line repertoire today.
Transcript: 5 Subject Line Mistakes
So you want to send emails that your audience will actually open? Well then it’s time to tighten up and get rid of these five common mistakes.
I’m Shane Phair, Senior VP of Marketing at Campaign Monitor, and this is The Email Minute.
Mistake number one: writing like a business. Cut the jargon. Cut the insider lingo. Even including the word “newsletter” can decrease click through by 30%. Remember—these are people you’re sending to. Make sure you write like it.
Mistake number two: failure to personalize. Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened. So whether that’s based on geography, past purchases, user status, or behavior, make it relevant, and make them feel noticed.
Mistake number three: lack of testing. If you can think of 2 different subject lines, test them! This process makes sure the better one wins out, meaning you’ll have more success in the inbox.
Mistake number four: forgetting pre-header text That little sentence right after the subject line holds a LOT of unused message space. Take full advantage of what shows up in the inbox and write something compelling.
Mistake number five: a broken experience. Watch out for subject lines that don’t match the content, forgetting to fill in placeholder text, spelling errors, wrong personalization, and lengthy subject lines that get cut off.
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