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Despite all the hype over Facebook and Twitter, email continues to be the warhorse of internet marketing. It can be used to build trust, create rapport and sell more of your products. That is, of course, as long as people read your emails. When writing emails, a copywriter’s first goal is to ensure they’re opened. The key to this is, of course, is the subject line. Unless the subject line’s copywriting builds the reader’s excitement or interest, then the email isn’t going to get read. A common mistake is to write email subjects that are clever or witty. The problem with this approach is that you risk confusing people who might not understand your humour or what you’re hinting at. Being clever or witty also doesn’t give your recipients a strong reason to read your message. So how can you write emails that get opened faster than presents on Christmas Day? The key to writing subject lines is to focus on the reader (rather than the copywriter’s creative brilliance). Think about why they should read your email. What’s in it for them? What benefit will they gain from reading your message? This could be the promise of news, exclusive information or suggesting you have a solution to a common problem. Starting an email with ‘This is how..’ or a question (e.g.‘Do you know why…’) are two powerful copywriting tactics you can try. Keep it relatively short and avoid spammy words With different email providers offering different size windows to read subject lines, it’s a good idea to keep your subject lines short. A maximum of 50 characters is a good target, which is about 10 words. This ensures most people can read the whole subject line and understand what benefit you’re offering. Try to avoid using spammy words like ‘Free’, ‘Help’ and ‘Percent off’. These risk sending your email to the junk pile, and in tests these words have shown to lower open rates. So in summary, write email subject lines focused on the recipient that suggest what benefit they’ll gain from reading your message. And save your creative or witty brainwaves for the message itself. ----------------------------------------------------- Article provided by Matt Ambrose from the Copywriter’s Crucible - an award winning melting pot of copywriting tips and marketing ideas.
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