Creativity, style, formatting and length of subject lines are all important points to take into consideration before you send an email.

Be Creative

Using a subject line that is specific is most appropriate when corresponding with people who know you or with people who are expecting your message. How do you get the attention of someone who doesn’t know you or who isn’t expecting anything from you?

The answer is – be creative. Writing a subject line that is creative is an excellent method for improving chances that your email message will be opened.

In this instance, the subject line isn’t used to describe the contents of the message. Instead, the subject line is used to convey some other type of information.

What kind of information? It will vary with each message you send, and it depends on the recipient. The key question is – what can you tell the recipient that will convince him/her to open this message and read it, instead of deleting it? In some cases, you will need to be quite creative.

There are numerous types of information you can provide in the subject line to help convince the receiver to open the email message. Here are a few examples.

(Uses for the subject line): Identify who you are

(Sample wording): Lawyer

(Uses for the subject line): Tell how you met this person

(Sample wording): Chamber Networking B’fast

(Uses for the subject line): Tell why you are contacting this person

(Sample wording): Animal shelter fundraiser

(Uses for the subject line): Find things that set you apart

(Sample wording): E-commerce lawyer

(Uses for the subject line): Find common bond with recipient

(Sample wording): Fellow IU grad & lawyer

Subject Lines: Formatting and Style

There is another challenge you must overcome when crafting an effective subject line. This involves the length of the subject line.

The new message box you view on your screen for the subject line will allow you to type as many words as you want. But, the receiver’s screen has limited space. Only a small portion of the wording will be viewed by the recipient.

How much appears on the recipient’s screen for the subject line? It varies, depending on the person’s system and how he/she has the screen setup. A safe guess is that approximately 25 to 35 characters will appear.

Definition

Pay careful attention here. This approximation doesn’t mean 25 to 35 words. It means “characters.”

A character is defined as a letter, space, or punctuation. For example, any time your cursor moves one space, that’s considered one character.

Phrases

Since the space is so limited in the subject line, you don’t need to type a complete sentence. Use a phrase or series of words instead of a full sentence.

This is one time when an incomplete sentence is appropriate. Leave out the little words, and get to the point.

Capitalization

The only “rule” regarding capitalization in the subject line is to be consistent. For example, you may choose to capitalize only the first word. Or, you may decide to capitalize every word.

Remember not to use all uppercase (CAPITAL) letters. This is considered shouting. Shouting at a person would certainly not be the best way to convince him/her to open your message.

Always remember that the creativity, style, formatting and length of your subject lines are important factors to consider before you send an email. Be conscientious of the image you project to your customers and colleagues by using effective subject lines.

Email marketing is becoming extremely popular but this does not mean all business owners know how to run an effective email marketing campaign. However, those who are well versed in the subject of email marketing and have experiencing using popular strategies effectively are likely to gain a huge advantage over their competitors who do not have these skills. This article will provide useful information for business owners who are hoping to improve their sales or website traffic through effective email marketing. There are four strategies we will discuss here:

1. If you do not have a great deal of information about email marketing and do not deeply understand the principles involved one of the best ways to orchestrate a truly effective email marketing campaign is to hire a consulting firm with a proven track record in promoting business through email marketing to assist you in your endeavor. Similarly to traditional marketing using medias such as radio, television and print media, the popular strategies governing email marketing are changing constantly. As a business owner you likely already have enough to deal with trying to stay up to date on business practices that you do not have the time, energy or finances to also stay up to date on the latest changes in email marketing.

2. For this reason it is certainly worthwhile to hire a professional in the email marketing industry who can devote himself full time to keeping up to date with the most effective email marketing strategies and designing an email marketing campaign for our business to help you achieve your business related goals. However, selecting a consultant from the many options available can be downright overwhelming. In general you should look for a consultant who has a great deal of experience, a proven track record, listens to your questions carefully, explains concepts simply and makes your project a priority.

3. Another popular strategy for email marketing is to offer an email correspondence course on a subject closely related to your website or the products or services you offer. These correspondence courses should include a number of short segments, provide useful information, be of interest to your intended audience and should also help to promote your business in some way. The simplest way to promote your business without having your correspondence course deemed to be spam is to use a soft sell approach to subtly urge readers to make a purchase or visit your website for more information.

4. Publishing and distributing period e-newsletters is another example of an email marketing strategy which can be highly effective. An e-newsletter is very similar to a newsletter which is printed and distributed by conventional methods such as mail delivery. The bulk of an e-newsletter should be quality content in the form of featured articles, short articles containing useful tips or product reviews. The e-newsletter may also contain graphical elements. These elements may simply be graphic designs or they may be graphics which also serve as links. The links may direct traffic to your website or to other websites. Finally, your e-newsletters should contain some type of soft sell sales approach. It is important to not make the sales pitch blatant as this may result in the e-newsletter being considered spam. Finally, the e-newsletter should contain a call to action urging the readers to either make a purchase or visit your website for more information.

Regardless of the method of email marketing you opt to utilize, one of the most important strategies is to evaluate the effectiveness of your email marketing on a regular basis. This is critical because elements of your email marketing campaign which are not working should be weeded out. Likewise elements of your marketing campaign which are enjoying a high degree of success should be utilized more often. For example if you notice there is a spike in sales or website traffic each time you issue an e-newsletter, it might be worthwhile to begin issuing e-newsletters more often. This type of evaluation and feedback can turn a moderate success into a huge success.

One of the challenges of email marketing is getting the email actually delivered. There are several ways that email can end up as Spam, and steering clear of these causes will give your email marketing efforts a much greater likelihood of success.

How to Prevent Emails from Landing in Spam Folders

First, make sure that any small business marketing email is sent only to people that you already have an established relationship with, or those who have requested to be sent your communication. People you already have a relationship with can be considered personal friends or family, or people you have a business relationship with, such as customers, associates, and similar individuals. If you don’t know the recipient personally, it is best to have people “opt in” to receive your mailings. Having people subscribe to your mailing list is the best way to do this. Mailing outside of these parameters is likely to result in some recipients reporting your emails as Spam.

Second, mailing to a large number of names at once using personal email accounts often triggers a Spam designation. Even if you are mailing legitimately (i.e. people have requested your email), if you are mailing to more than 100 names at a time, it will likely be presumed to be Spam. Using a mailing service that is well known and respected by the internet service providers (ISPs) will help ensure that your mailing is viewed as legitimate when mailed en mass.

Even when you’ve mailed to an opt-in list, and are using a respected mailing service, your well intended email may still end up in a Spam folder instead of an inbox. This often happens due to using certain words or phrases in “subject lines” of emails that are often associated with Spam emails. The subject line is the header that is seen when an email shows up in your email in-box.

Email filters are used by ISPs to check the words in an email’s subject line. A good subject line can encourage people to actually pen an email. A bad one can mean your email gets deleted, or worse, it can cause your email to be categorized as Spam.

Often the more sophisticated service providers use a “point system” that identifies trigger phrases commonly used in Spam emails. Once an email accummulates a certain number of “points,” the email gets filtered out and is never delivered to a customer. In some cases it doesn’t even go into a Spam folder, but it gets completely blocked.

Common Phrases Considered “Spam”

Although it’s impossible to identify each word or phrase that can trigger a Spam designation, there are certain words that are almost always likely to cause problems. Examples from this list include the folllowing words:

amazing, big money, call now, cash bonus, credit, click here, collect, compare, discount, double your income, earn $, eliminate debt, 50% off, free, freebie, get rich, information you requested, loans, lose weight, lose inches, million dollars, make money, mlm, multi level marketing, opportunity, promise you, refinance, removes, reverses aging, satisfaction guaranteed, serious cash, stop (or stops), you’re a winner.

There are some additional problem phrases that can trigger some Spam filters, or start adding “Spam points.” The following phrases should be avoided as well:

Act now, all new, all natural, as seen on tv, avoid bankruptcy, buy direct, cash, casino, consolidate debt, credit card debt, don’t delete, easy terms, get paid, guaranteed, great offer, give away, limited time, meet singles, no cost, no fees, offer, one time, pharmacy, pharmaceutical, prescriptions, online marketing, order now, please read, save up to, special promotion, unsecured debt, unsecured credit, vacation, viagra, visit our web site, while supplies last, why pay more, winner, work at home, you’ve been selected.

Other Spam Triggers to Avoid

Besides phrases, using quotation marks, dollar signs and exclamation points in subject lines also can trigger Spam filters. So does using all capital letters, which is considered “shouting” in the online world.

You should also never put a toll-free number in the subject line as that can also cause your email to be filtered out by many filters.

Finally, when you start seeing new spam using certain words or subject lines in your own mailbox, simply know that these will start showing up in Spam folders soon. Make note of those words and phrases and know you should avoid them as well.

Deliverability Tip

To check your deliverability before you mail, you can purchase Spam check software that will help you verify that your email is free from identified Spam triggers. Another way to check your deliverability ahead of time is send your finished email to yourself and one or two friends that have good email Spam filters. If you do this before sending it out to your entire list, you will be able to see if your email scoots past the Spam filters and actually lands in the inbox. If it does, you can be reasonably sure that your email will get delivered. Now the challenge is to just get it opened!

© Karen Porter. This article may may be freely published provided all content is left intact and the author bio/resource information below is included in its entirety.