Learn how to craft a better subject line in your email to avoid being part of the 75% of emails never opened! Guest post by Cara Ray of Avacado Toast Marketing.
"On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar."
Not judging a book by its cover is a good practice when it you are hanging out a Barnes & Noble, but the truth is, we all do judge within a glance.
The same is especially true when we are opening emails.
The average open rate across all industries is roughly 25%. So that tells us that 75% of emails hit the trash for various reasons. Probably the most common reason for poor open rates could very well be poorly written subject lines.
Q: How can we increase our odds of getting opened?
A: Follow Ogilvy’s advice and spend most of your time crafting an awesome subject line!
Crafting emails that will get opened, read and hopefully acted up, is well...we already said it, a craft.
In true Ogilvy-fashion, we should spend 80% of our time working on our headline (in this case, a subject line) and 20% of our time in the body copy.
That may be easier said than done, but it should serve as a guiding principle of where to spend time and resources when it comes to writing your emails.
Whether you are sending one email at a time, or you’ve got a whole sequence of emails stacked in the queue and ready to go, here are some good examples to follow. It’s helpful to write 2-4 headline options, and then pick the one that best fits the purpose(s) of either yourself or your client.
Quick note: [The comments in bold and in [ ] wouldn’t appear on a subject line, but are given to show what the headline is seeking to accomplish.]
These are subject lines for a fictional nutritional company, but the principles could be applied across various industries. You’ll get the idea...
Remember, writing a good subject line is not an exact science, and does require some trial and error.
When you’ve narrowed down your headline choices, you can find which one fits best by sending it out to 2 different groups with 2 different subject lines and see which one performs better. This is called split testing or A/B testing. It can be a very valuable tool in helping you understand your target audience and what they respond to by opening.
This exercise of crafting your subject lines before you begin writing also help inform your writing. Get a good subject line down, and your writing process will not only be breezy, but it will also be more cohesive.
Spend 80% on your headline, 20% on your body copy, and you’ll (likely) be 100% satisfied.
Written by Cara Ray of Avocado Toast Marketing
Avocado Toast Marketing helps entrepreneurs and small businesses make an impact in their markets by creating on-point messaging through copywriting, email marketing campaigns and branding strategy. Cara Ray is the avocado-holic behind Avocado Toast Marketing, and you can connect with her on Instagram, Facebook and on her website.
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