What’s the Best Way to Increase My
Email Open Rate?

ANSWER: According to a recent survey, 64% scientists open message because the subject line clearly communicates the product or offer contained within. This finding indicates that an effective subject lines needs to specify the product, service, or informational content that is featured within the email and why the offer is of interest to the researchers being sent the email piece. Email subject lines are unique in that they text or images contained within the body itself does not get the supplement the subject line unless the email gets opened. Thus, it needs to be the most effective and thought-through part of the entire email composition.

Also, email subject lines cannot incorporate any variation in font style, text size, or emphasis (italics, bold, etc.). The key points that should be addressed when drafting an effective subject line include:

• State the product or offer that you are featuring and how it benefits those receiving the email communication. If this requires that you to breakdown your emails into niche communications to various end-users, the time is well worth the return-on-investment that you will experience from using targeted subject lines.

• Keep the email communication personal by using name, title, location, or other user-specific data whenever possible. A/B testing has demonstrated that scientists are more responsive to communications that recognize their name, status, or position. The reason is that they view these items as indicators that the communication itself is personalized to their needs – e.g. offers a product that would be of value to them based on the procedures that they regularly perform.

• Locate the “impact language” at the beginning of the subject line and the beginning of the email. The reason for this action is that today’s leading email providers (Gmail, for instance) allow limited character use for the portion of the subject line that they display and also present the first sentence of the email as well, assuming that it is succinct. If either of these components is a run-on sentence, they will be cut short in the users inbox and will have less impact.

• Think like your customers. By doing this, you will address their needs, rather than pitch your products. Use information that you have learned from existing customers to explain how your product will benefit your customers at that time of year, that point in their funding cycle, at that duration since their last purchase, etc.

To summarize, the subject line is of greater importance than the entire email composition, because without it be effectively drafted, the rest of the email won’t even get viewed. For this reason, it is best to test it on your friends, co-workers, and colleagues first. Then test it on a small audience of potential end-users of your products, and eventually, once optimized, it earns the “right” for use in mass communications. Remember, regardless of how tantalizing an offer is, if the email subject line doesn’t demand attention, the e-mail marketing promotion is unlikely to meet performance goals.

The Direct Marketing Association estimates that for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return-on-investment is $57. If your email campaigns aren’t meeting this metric, it is quite likely that your subject lines need testing and revision.

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