Are you struggling to improve your email open rates? Can’t work out why your brilliantly written emails aren’t getting the results they deserve? The email open rate benchmark for the construction industry is an average of 21.7% to 39.14%. If you’re not reaching this, we can help.
Tried and tested email marketing solutions
Before we tackle that, let’s check…
- Your database clean and up-to-date
- You’re targeting your email marketing campaigns at the right audience?
- You’re not bombarding your subscribers with too many emails – or the opposite, and your lead has gone cold?
If the above is checked off, low email open rates generally indicate your subject line is not relevant or piquing the interest of your audience. And that’s why I’ve picked the perfect subject for this Marketing Mentors blog – how to write great email subject lines.
What makes a good subject line?
A good subject line clearly or compellingly describes the campaign or contents of an email in a way that people respond to by engaging with the email.
What works for one audience won’t work for another. You’ll want to test a few variations to see the difference this can make for your marketing email open rates.
When you learn what works, don’t stop. Keep testing and exploring new avenues. You can always drive your response rates up.
How to write a great email subject line
Personalise subject lines
Using dynamic merge tags to include a recipient’s name or location is worthwhile, particularly if it’s a post-purchase follow-up or a promotional email.
Avoid cliches
Instead, focus on showcasing the strengths of your product or service. Be direct and descriptive in a way that can’t be confused with competitor offerings.
Be single-minded
Try highlighting specific deals or a themed product range.
Be topical
Tap into industry talking points – if it’s right to mention Budget Day predictions or housing target forecasting in your subject line (rather than the latest Netflix show), try it.
Use emojis, but with caution
More than one emoji can feel more B2C than B2B, although engaging with the human rather than the business is encouraged. Also avoid replacing words with emojis as it can confuse the reader and make your subject lines unclear.
Keep email subject lines short and mobile-friendly
Nine words or 60 characters (max) is about right.
Limit punctuation
Use no more than three punctuation marks or special characters per subject line, as it makes emails feel ‘spammy’.
Use audience segmentation
This can influence your subject lines (e.g. by role, activity or other relevant data). Segmenting your audience is also proven to increase conversation rates and deliver better results than generic emails.
Test what works (and what doesn’t)
If your email contains multiple pieces of content, test which one gets the best response when featured in the subject line – Mashable are masters at this with their newsletters. You can learn A LOT from this about what resonates best with your audience (by segment).
Finally, know that what works best for one business, product, service, subject, or time of year may not work so well for others.
Build A/B testing into your email marketing strategy
Testing multiple variants (known as “A/B testing”) should be a part of every email marketing strategy. This can help you improve your email marketing stats AND deliver the content your prospects want in the most relevant or appealing way.
When it comes to A/B testing, never underestimate the big differences small changes can have on open rates – use these to your advantage.
Here are a few you can try…
- Name vs. No name
- First person vs. Second person
- Urgency vs. No urgency
- Ambiguous benefits vs. Specific benefits
- Sentence case vs. Title case
- Capitalisation vs. No capitalisation
- Hyphens vs. Colons
- Ambiguous copy vs. Specific copy
- Gratitude vs. No gratitude
- Emoji vs. No emoji
If you want to get a little more complex, play with your word order. This example of subject lines would make a great A/B test for the same email:
- Use this discount code to get 15% off your next order
- Get 15% off your next order using this discount code
If you have any great tips or techniques that have worked for you or indeed you have great success as a result of trialling any of the tips above, do let us know by dropping me an email.
