We’ve all been there: scrolling through your inbox glancing over the subject lines of your messages. What catches your eye first? Maybe it’s the most urgent or last received—or maybe it's the one you’ve been waiting on a response from for over a week. In any situation, your mind is playing an elimination game with these subjects whether you realize it or not!

Working men and women are flooded with emails every day, so it only makes sense we need a method to differentiate one email apart from another. It is the same thought process one might take when auditioning for American Idol—what can I do to ensure the judges remember me? 

According to statistics from Avasam, emails with personalised subject lines are 26 percent more likely to be opened. There is simply not enough time in the day to absorb all of the information we receive in various forms, much less in our inboxes alone, so the first impression is everything. The role of a subject line is to set the scene for what your reader can expect to receive in your message. These can be short, sweet and to the point; or long, detailed and deadline-oriented. In this post, we share three tips to ensure yours is hook, subject line, and sinker. 

1.  Keep it simple. Most recommendations online say subject lines should be no more than 60 characters, but some email aficionados think even that is too long. Make sure every word in your subject line serves a purpose. One important exercise is writing out your entire email, then going back to choose the main highlights wisely for your subject line. If your email is about extending a deadline, it can be something as clear and simple as: Deadline: Execution of [Name of Conference] Contract Extended to Tomorrow, June 18. 

2.  Appear urgent if need be, but stray away from blending in with spam. Several symbols used together like $, %, or punctuation in a row can alter the appearance of an otherwise sophisticated email. You might think you’re enticing a customer with a loud subject line, but it’s actually making them turn the other way. Creating a sense of urgency is a great method to lure readers to your entire message. The more they think they are missing out by not opening your email, the bigger the desire - just be careful how urgent you’re looking. 

   Avoiding the use of all capital letters in your subject line is highly recommended as well. Subject lines, and emails/text in general, are so often misread or mistaken because each receiver reads them in their own voice. One might take all capitals as yelling or a cry for a response, which is never a good look—EVEN OVER A COMPUTER! 

   Though they can be extremely helpful, placeholders can be tricky with mass emails. There is always an exception to the rule, but we recommend staying away from sending emails with a first name placeholder. This practice has taken on the connotation that you used a mail merge or similar system. You want to avoid having clients think you were dropping names in without personalized messages. When most readers see subjects like this, they immediately mark it as “Read.” And nobody wants to be left on read!

3. Have fun. Be creative. Use your resources! When you send an email around the time of a holiday or some major event spotlight like the Superbowl, use that to your advantage! Jazz up your subject line with a funny quip about the halftime show, or Easter Bunny. For example, if July 4 is coming up when you plan to send an email, weave the holiday into your subject line with the word “fireworks,” “long weekend,” or “celebrate.” 

It is important to remember that everyone’s preferences vary and what works for us, might not for you. Different industries prefer a well-mannered, mature tone of voice over a more relaxed and casual tone, and vice versa. Test out different subject lines among emails you’re sending most often—which one received the most responses? Build your case study from there. 

Before sending, always subject yourself to reading your email’s subject line as if you were the recipient. Would you click view? We wish you luck in this endeavour!