Have you ever found yourself in the situation where you’re creating a marketing email but don’t know what should go in the subject line?
You’re in good company. We’ve all been there. Most of us haven’t even thought about the subject line until the last minute, leaving us with an excuse as to why we didn’t think about it sooner. (In fact, a 2019 HubSpot study found only 10% of people surveyed thought about the subject line before sending the email.)
But writing a marketing email with a bad subject line is worse than writing one with no subject line at all. With a little preparation and brainstorming, you can write the best subject lines for your business.
Here’s how.
Start With A Brainstorming Session
The first step in writing the best subject lines for your business is to put yourself in the shoes of a customer. What would make them click on your email? What would make them take an interest in your brand or product?
Ask yourself these questions and try to come up with answers. Don’t worry; you don’t have to have all the answers right away. Take some time to think through your email’s content and get an idea of what would make your customers interested in your product or service. (You can also use this time to brainstorm a potential subject line as well.)
Once you have your basic idea of what your email’s content will be about, it’s time to put it into actual words. This is where your copy comes into play. Make sure you have a good reason as to why your customer should click on your email. And make sure you stick to that reason throughout your email’s copy. (For example, if you are marketing to tech-savvy customers, you might want to start your email with a few tech-related terms. But if your target audience is mainly business owners, you might want to start with some marketing or business-related keywords.)
As you go through the copy, look for phrases that require some research or that you might want to adjust based on who your audience is. (For example, if you are writing to the tech-savvy audience mentioned above, you might want to replace “businesses” with “companies” or “firms” as they relate to technology. If you are writing to a general audience, you might want to leave these terms as they are.)
Test Different Timing For Your Audience
There are various schools of thought when it comes to the best way to send an email. Some marketers prefer to send an email 15 minutes or less after the initial contact (usually referred to as the “cold email” strategy).
According to HubSpot Blogs research, only about one in five (18%) of customers will actually open your cold email. That means that if you are trying to grow your email list, it’s probably not the best strategy to use. (If your goal is to get people to click on your email, the “cold email” strategy is a great option.)
If you are looking to engage with customers who have already heard of your brand or company, you can try a few different tactics. (You can use email marketing software like HubSpot to segment your list and send personalised emails to specific people. Alternatively, you can use marketing automation software to create and send automated emails based on previous actions.)
For instance, if you sell shoes, you can try sending your email at the end of each day. That way, your customers will have time to think about your offer overnight and will be less likely to click on a busy shopping site’s email when they’re trying to buy clothes.
Use Email Marketing Software To Its Full Potential
Email marketing software is a valuable tool that can help you get the most out of your email database. It can help you automate your email marketing, so you can focus on growing your business instead of having to check up on your email campaign’s progress.
One of the main reasons why so few people actually use email marketing software is because of the learning curve associated with it. When you’re first exploring the functionality of an email marketing tool, it can feel overwhelming. Every tool is a little different, and it requires a learning process to get the most out of it.
But once you do figure it out, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Automating email marketing means you can set it and forget it. You’ll get tons of good results without having to check up on it regularly.
The Bottom Line
As you develop your marketing strategy, consider how you want to communicate with your customers. What platform do you prefer to use? What type of content do you want to feature in your emails?
Once you have an idea of what you should write in the subject line, it’s time to test it out with your customer. Start by sending a short email to see how your customers respond. If you’re worried about them ignoring your email, you can always follow up with a short text message. (Just make sure you don’t go over 500 characters, otherwise, you’ll lose the ability to send individualized emails to your customers.)
As you continue to grow your business, you can take advantage of email marketing software’s functionality to send targeted and personalized emails to your customers. Doing so could help you gain a competitive edge in an already crowded market.