What makes a good subject line for emails?

Though different situations may call for different approaches to crafting good subject lines for emails, there are a few core best practices that savvy marketers should keep in mind. When possible, make sure to convey a sense of urgency in your subject lines. If a recipient doesn’t open your message and act on it the first time he or she sees it, it’s more likely to get buried in the inbox.

Use subject lines of short, medium or long length but make sure to include key information within the first 40 to 50 characters – these are the characters most likely to be viewed in preview panes or on mobile devices. Be creative, using personality and humor when appropriate, but make sure humor is consistent with your brand. Generally, avoid all caps, exclamation points and overly aggressive subject lines that might get flagged as spam.

Finally, remember that testing subject lines is one of the best ways to determine whether you’ve picked a good subject line for your emails. When testing, choose the winner based on your most important conversion metric—e.g., revenue, average order value, downloads or registrations. And test several times to minimize variables that could affect the income.

For more information on crafting good subject lines for emails, download Silverpop’s white paper, “Secrets of Successful ‘From’ Names and Subject Lines.”