When people read your subject lines, it should be obvious what your message is and why it’s relevant to them. The shorter the amount of time that recipients have to act, the more compelled they will feel to do so.ħ. Convey a sense of urgency and timeliness. Otherwise, their eyes will just skim right over your subject line without understanding that an action is required on their part.Ħ. Sometimes, it’s helpful to clearly inform readers what their next step should be. If necessary, use a consistent identifier (for example, including your company or product name in brackets at the beginning of a subject line, like for a new feature email).ĥ. You don’t want your email recipients to be confused when your email shows up in their inbox. Make sure it’s clear who your email is from. If possible, they suggest keeping your subject line under 50 characters (In a 2012 study, MailerMailer found that short subject lines, specifically with fifteen characters or fewer, had the highest open rates).Ĥ. The same study by Mailchimp found that longer subject lines performed worse than shorter ones. A recent study by Mailchimp (summarized in this infographic by Litmus) found that subject lines phrased as questions performed better than similar subject lines that were phrased as statements.ģ. If you’re targeting an email blast by location, add a personal touch to your subject line by saying something like “Great News for our Atlanta Users.” Adding this small detail will make recipients feel like the email is that much more relevant to them.Ģ. Let’s go through a few of these dos and don’ts to get an idea of current email subject line best practices. The good news? There are a few things that these companies have identified that will increase your open rates, and others that they suggest avoiding. That’s why most of us would rather design all of the content in our emails before we even think about what we’re going to put in that subject line box. In fact, they’ll be one of the first to tell you that writing subject lines is hard. Spoiler alert: there’s no silver bullet for subject lines.Įven email marketing companies like Litmus and Mailchimp have openly admitted that there’s no secret to crafting subject lines that will guarantee you opens and clicks (I know, I was disappointed too).