As I logged into my e-mail account, I clicked on the Bulk folder to check the latest newsletters. Most of the newsletters and mailing lists that I’m subscribing to, arrive in my Bulk folder.
I glanced curiously through the 25 new messages displayed on the first page. There were only 3 e-mails that pulled my attention and made me open them immediately. Also, I opened 4 additional e-mails because they came from sources that I was expecting e-mails from.
And, what about the rest?
There was nothing in the subject line that would’ve been beneficial for me. Therefore, I didn’t even bother opening the rest of the e-mails. Maybe, I’ll go through them later when I have more time to spare.
Who knows! Maybe those e-mails that I didn’t open had something of a great value to me. But, the marketers sending them didn’t spend enough time to word the subject in a way to grab me by my shirt and make me open them without even thinking about it. Well, at least 3 of them did.
How’s your “opening ratio” of the e-mails that you’re sending to your list?
We live in a “Headline Society.” With free time becoming increasingly rare and with a massive amount of information coming at us from infinite number or sources, people use headlines as time-saving devices. They direct their movements and attention to the headlines that spark interest.
Analyze yourself and see what grabs your attention first, the content or the headline?
If your headline doesn’t instantly reach out and touch the prospect, chances are that the rest of your message doesn’t stand a chance.
And, remember that the subject line of your e-mail is nothing else but a headline. It’s the first thing that people see before they even look at your entire e-mail. It’s your only chance to interest and influence the recipients. It will either grab their attention or not.
Your subject line will tell the recipients whether they should “read on” or “move on”. If your subject line fails to attract a sufficient readership, nothing else matters. The body of your e-mail quickly becomes irrelevant. Your entire effort might be doomed.
Ideally, you want to make your e-mail recipient be “fully alert” and pay attention to your message, the same way you would pay attention to a fire truck, an ambulance, or a police car coming down the road with the sirens on.
You have to burst out with your strongest, most provocative, explosive choice of words. Something that compels the recipients of your e-mail to read further and take action.
So, how would you get that accomplished?
A successful subject line consists of carefully selected words that achieve any, or all of the following:
1) Deliver a benefit,
2) Present a compelling offer,
3) Reveal attention grabbing news.
But regardless of the approach you choose, at the end of the day you want to accomplish the following with the subject line of your e-mail:
a) Attract attention and create curiosity;
Never beat around the bush, but cut right to the heart. Capture people’s attention with your most remarkable claim or benefit that you will deliver with your e-mail. You want to make your subject line impossible to miss. Benefits, benefits, benefits. That’s what everyone wants