One of the most important elements in email marketing is the subject line, because on the basis of this the reader often decides whether to open an e-mail or not. When is he going to open the mail early?
The most important factors influencing the opening rate:
- Address quality Sender (recommended is company + name)
- Dispatch time
- Deliverability (whitelisting, CSA certification, etc.)
Six tips for effective subject lines
Users decide within a few seconds whether they want to read an e-mail or not. Within this short time, manage to attract the attention of the readers to wake me up? Below are six tips for effective subject lines.
Awaken curiosity
First and foremost, of course, it is important to arouse the interest of the readers. With Subject lines that only contain "Newsletter 02/06" or "Newsletter der Müller Reisen GmbH", this will naturally be difficult. Instead, the subject should be be used to arouse the interest of the readers: Write what expects the user in the e-mail and why he should open it.also you put the benefit for the user clearly in the foreground - for example with a subject like "Relax on Sylt and save 30%". Another one One way to arouse the interest of the readers is to use a Question in subject.
Pay attention to the number of characters
When writing text, also keep an eye on the number of characters in the subject line - especially then, if your newsletter is directed at private users and you have a high percentage at webmail providers in the subscriber list. This is how GMX presents in the overview for example, represents only 21 characters of a subject. With Hotmail there are at least 40 characters and Gmail even shows 87 characters. The number of displayed character is often limited, however, even when a desktop application is used to read the mails. This is how Outlook represents in the classic three-column Preview and at typical screen resolutions between 40 and 50 characters dar. Keep the subject line as short as possible and use exciting and attention-grabbing terms at the beginning of the sentence.
Build trust
A subject line can be worded a bit exaggerated to make it achieves the desired effect. But beware of empty promises, because you risk your credibility, which in the long run leads to lower opening rates and logouts.
Avoid "spammy" terms
Avoid completely capitalized terms in the subject line, because Spam filters rate this as a spam indication. Caution is also necessary with very promotional terms (free, free of charge) and exclamation marks.
relevance decides
The best subject line is of no use if the subject is not relevant for the recipient is. You can increase relevance by segmenting your address pool (e.g. by gender, age or place of residence) or reference to current events, such as such as holidays, celebrations or political decisions.
Personalization in subject ?
The own name is always an eyecatcher - of course also in subject lines. The However, the effect of a personalized subject line can wear off quickly, if it is used too frequently, so that economical use is recommended. You should also consider an alternative subject line for recipients whose names are not available, so that the recipients do not have a failed personalisation attempt as subject.
Time of dispatch
The time of dispatch is a decisive criterion for the success of an email. No matter if advertising email as standalone or editorial newsletter - besides the design, the personal address and the actual content, the time of dispatch is a decisive factor in Criterion, so that the sending becomes a success. However, there are not an optimal dispatch time - apart from general aspects - must also the target group addressed in each case and their Internet usage behaviour to be kept in mind. Black Monday is certainly not only in the stock market a term. Meanwhile, this term has become a household name for anyone who is actively and uses email, commonly. The walk Monday morning in the office to the computer and the first retrieval of the emails makes many internet users shudder.
Not infrequently, several hundred emails arrived over the weekend and about 98% of these are unwanted. You spend the first half hour, laboriously to search for the remaining 2%, constantly in fear of a yet important customer inquiry by mistake as spam. The same thing happens, on a smaller scale, every morning. Especially overnight the spam mails come in droves. One reason is certainly the time difference - spam from the USA is mostly found in the local evening time (you want to "catch" people in their spare time) and this is with us in the middle of the night. Some particularly annoyed email users even think about a time window of the email receipt: "You can reach me by phone from 9.00 to 17.00 o'clock and by email from 7.00 to 22.00 10:00 p.m. Outside these times your emails and calls cannot be answered. ...will be." As a newsletter sender (or also advertising sender) you should Point to consider when planning a shipment.
From the observations of the users' usage behaviour, the following basic Derive rules:
- Avoid Monday morning as shipping time. At the earliest after the lunch break of the readers, by then the flood of spam in the email accounts will have been processed has been.
- For the rest of the week, never ship before 9:30 a.m., so that you don't have to the user is forced to delete the data.
In addition, there are also target group-specific considerations in the Shipping time. Who do I want to reach with my emails and how does my Receive the Internet? In principle, even with offers that reach end customers should consider that private emails (although often unauthorized) to be read in the office. This is how a dispatch on weekdays during office hours so it makes perfect sense. Times between 9.30 am and 14.00 pm are very well suited 2 p.m. However, if the advertiser wants an immediate reaction, for example in the case of a competition to generate addresses or a spontaneous purchase, then the dispatch should rather take place towards the end of the working day, i.e. after 14.00 hrs. Because information are often read in the office, but the actual action, like an online purchase or another conclusion, on the other hand, is usually made in leisure time in the evening. A dispatch after 17.00 o'clock however is again critical, since the enamels often will not be retrieved on the same day (please also remember that the dispatch is not completed after the dispatch has been started, but is can often drag for many hours) and thus the next day under the flood of spam described above and the resulting deletion mania of the user can fall. Friday afternoon (as well as the Monday morning, see above), should be avoided as shipping times. The users who receive the emails in the office are already busy with weekly financial statements and have no time for Emails. Saturday is generally the quietest day on the Internet.
Experience shows that the Internet is used the least on this day. Business readers have weekends and for end customers Saturday is usually the traditional household day. A shipment on Saturday should only take place if it concerns a promotion, which takes place on that day - for example a reminder for the draw of the lottery numbers. From Sunday noon on, it is an effective time for shipments, who want to promote and introduce private activities. Sunday afternoon is often used by private individuals to browse through online shops in peace and quiet and search the Internet for bargains and offers. The flood of spam from Saturday night is already deleted, the email box and the head of the user free for new programmes. By the way - very clever senders even have an eye on the weather forecasts! Beautiful weather has blatant negative effects to Opening Rate and Click Rate. The preoccupation with the Internet is when the sun is shining (at least this is true for Germany). A rainy Sunday, on the other hand, is ideal for sending to private customers!
To sum up...
- Expect that not only typical private individuals, but also the working population is your target group, the dispatch of Monday noon is suitable by noon on Friday.
- Shipments before 9.30 and after 17.00 should be avoided until 2:00 p.m. would be perfect.
- Private customers can reach you very well from Sunday noon.
- Saturday, Monday morning and Friday afternoon should be avoided for dispatches.
If the shipper pays attention to such small "rules of the game", the opening rate of a shipment by a few percentage points.