How to create the perfect email subject line

Enticing your audience to engage with your marketing content or your important work email is a common struggle. An email is only as good as its subject line. With fewer than five seconds to convince a recipient to open an email instead of deleting or ignoring it, you will need to come up with a no-nonsense subject line..

The goal of the subject line is to get someone to open your email, no more, no less. If your email doesn’t get opened, it’s impossible to click on anything inside the email. Here are a few tips to boost your work or marketing emails and get noticed:

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Keep it short and simple

A typical email subject line is about 60 characters, while for mobile view it is close to 30 words. Ensure that you convey your intent in six to seven words. The subject line should indicate one focused action. Keep in mind that people browse through their emails very quickly. Using a concise sentence makes it easier for others to read and helps them prioritise their replies.

Place key words first

Today all of us check our emails on the smartphone. Since a long subject line may not be completely visible on your mobile, ensure that you place the key words first.

Eliminate unnecessary greeting

Please don’t waste precious space with ‘hello’ or ‘great meeting you’. These can be easily included in the body of the email. Also, if you are writing an email to a professional or an executive, this might become a necessity.

If someone has referred you, mention their name

This is important if you are applying for job or are looking forward to connecting with someone through a mutual acquaintance. Put it in the subject line to grab the recipient’s attention right away.

Mention if you need a response

We bet all our inboxes are flooded with emails on a daily basis, so how do you ensure your email is seen and replied to as soon as possible by the recipient? If you need a response, make it clear in the subject line by saying ‘please reply’ or ‘thoughts needed on this topic’. Also, if you want someone to read your email soon, just add an ‘FYI’.

Don’t do ALL CAPS

Using all caps may get someone’s attention, but it’s inadvisable. It is equivalent to shouting at someone to take notice of you. Your job is to make it easy for the recipient to understand your email.

Create urgency with the right key words

To grab someone’s attention to open your email in their inbox and check it within a given time frame, use key words like ‘Last 24 hours’ or ‘Register today’ to induce excitement and a sense of urgency. At the same time, here are couple of things you should avoid.

Keep it personal

“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” – Dale Carnegie

You have to understand that the email you are writing is for your recipient, and they have to recognise that it's about them or a subject interesting to them. Here are a couple of ways brands have managed to touch the right chords with their customer.

It is important to send trial emails to put yourself in the shoes of your recipients. Make it your goal to engage your recipients with clear subject lines that communicate that the valuable information they seek is a mere click away.