Your subject line is the most important part of your email. Period.

Get it right and your email is a success. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. I learned that the hard way yesterday.

We’re doing a big promotion on Election Day. Something new. The subject line in my email read…

“Election Day ONLY – 20% Off all Gift Certificate Sales! See inside for details…”

The first two people I talked to about the promotion asked the same question. “Do we get 20% off the purchase of a gift certificate or 20% off purchases made with a gift certificate?”

I went back and read the content of the email. It clearly states that you get 20% off the purchase of a gift certificate. How did they get so confused? Then I read the subject line again. I saw the error of my ways. It wasn’t as clear and concise as it should have been. I left room for interpretation.

TWO LESSONS

First, before you send an email, understand that many people will only ever read the subject line. They get so much email that they scan subject lines and hit the delete button. Therefore your subject line has to get your point across clearly and quickly with no room for doubt. Clever and cutesie subject lines leave too much room for interpretation. There should be no doubt about the purpose of your email. There should be only one interpretation of your subject line.

The best way to make sure your subject line is tight and to the point is to ask for help. Ask someone outside of your bottle to read your subject line and tell you what it means to them. Try to ferret out all the possible meanings. Then rewrite it to eliminate any confusion or misinterpretation.

Second, if you can’t make your point in the subject line, perhaps because it is too nuanced or complicated, then make sure your subject line has enough enticement to make people want to open the email. According to MailChimp, the average open rate for email from retailers is about 22%. In other words, 8 out of 10 people likely won’t open your email. You have to give them a reason.

Make it clear. Make it concise. Make it work for the 8 out of 10 that don’t open emails. Make it legitimate and not sounding too spammy. Make your subject line get people to want to open your email.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS In case you’re wondering why I am doing a promotion like this for the store, here are the reasons…

1. I get a huge influx of cash right when I need it most to help stock up for Christmas.
2. Customers who redeem gift certificates often spend much more that what the gift certificate was worth.
3. I get my customers to commit to shopping with me now before some shiny bauble from someone else catches their eye later.
4. I get to promote Election Day as an important day.
5. My Transactional Customers get a great deal!
6. About 10% of all gift certificates go un-redeemed, so I’m really only giving away a small bit of margin.