WHY DO SUBJECT LINES MATTER SO MUCH?
I don’t know about you, but when I open my inbox in the morning about 100 emails immediately start downloading—while I’m watching.
And as they do, I glance at who they’re from and at the subject lines.
Some jump out at me immediately. The ones from friends, relatives and business associates.
All the rest are teetering on the edge of an abyss. Yep, you guessed it. I’m talking about the trash bin.
AVOIDING THE TRASH BIN
Copywriters and marketers use several strategies to get emails opened and keep them out of the trash bin.
Probably the most important has to do with subject lines.
After name recognition, the contents of the subject line are probably the most important factor in determining the life expectancy of an email.
Create a great subject line and your email just might live to see another day.
Stick with a bland, generic subject line and your email is certain to die a sudden death.
STRATEGIES FOR CREATING GREAT SUBJECT LINES
Using things like urgency and curiosity in a subject line have been shown to result in better open rates for emails. Timeliness and relevancy also increase open rates. As does the use of numbers.
The good news is that these same strategies work for fundraising emails.
How do I know? Because the following are three emails that I opened…and read.
GREAT EMAIL APPEAL SUBJECT LINES
Check out this one from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
As soon as I read the subject line,
“2 million oysters in 2 weeks,”
I had to know what was going to happen to 2 million oysters. Was someone going to eat them? My curiosity got the best of me. I had to read this email.
Here’s another one that was hard to resist, but for a totally different reason.
“384 Days Without a Home”
Now knowing the ASPCA is an animal welfare organization, I already knew that this email was about an animal. But what animal? And why had it been without a home for 384 days?
This email worked because it tugged at my heartstrings by using such a large, number in reference to a homeless animal.
Lastly, check out this subject line. This is one of my favorites.
This particular subject line reads like something out of a horror movie.
“Would YOU enter a nuclear fallout zone to help save forgotten animals? We did.”
For that reason alone it got my attention. But add to that the horror of animals being trapped in a nuclear fallout zone. I was hooked.
Now I know what you are probably thinking. Okay, but those are the easy ones. And maybe that’s true. Some stories and horrors don’t require a lot of work when it comes to subject lines. They almost write themselves.
LIFE SUPPORT FOR FAILING EMAIL SUBJECT LINES
But let me show you a few examples of fundraising emails that could be greatly improved with just a little work.
Take this example from Friends of the Earth.
“Quick signature needed: Chlorpyrifos”
I can’t even pronounce “Chlorpyrifos.” How do I know if I should love it or hate it?
After just a few minutes of research, I learned that Chlorpyrifos is a pesticide that acts on the nervous system of insects. It actually comes from the same class of chemicals as nerve agents like Sarin gas. They are called organophosphates.
So why not try this for a subject line.
This Nerve Gas May Be Masquerading As A Pesticide: the truth about chlorpyrifos.
Or
Pesticide or Nerve Gas: What’s on your food?
These subject lines are certainly more compelling than “Quick signature needed: Chlorpyrifos.”
Now the next example from Ocean Conservancy starts with the word “Urgent.” But the rest of the message says anything but.
“Urgent…please take action for the ocean today”
A subject line like:
“Another Deepwater Horizon Disaster Could Be Right Around the Corner,”
certainly seems more alarming and urgent than the one in this email.
And lastly, this email appeal from Environment Maryland.
While there is nothing wrong with the subject line,
“The bees are dying,”
this statement alone isn’t that compelling. Okay, bees are dying. But what does that mean to me?
A subject line that tells the reader what the loss of the bee population will mean to them is much more compelling. For instance:
What If You Had To Remove All Colorful Foods From Your Diet?
Holy cow, I love fruit. What do you mean I have to remove all colorful foods from my diet? And I eat a salad almost every day for lunch. How can you eat a salad without foods with color?
That subject line would get my attention and I bet a lot of other peoples.
HOW TO KEEP YOUR EMAIL OUT OF THE MORGE, A/K/A THE TRASH BIN
With hundreds of emails fighting for life in your reader’s inbox, the need for great subject lines has never been greater.
As fundraisers, we spend a lot of time obsessing over the emotion in an appeal, and whether or not we’ve thanked our donors enough.
And those things are very important, but they won’t matter at all if your email ends up in the trash bin before it is even read.
Your subject line is frequently the only thing between your email and the trash bin. Treat it with the care and attention it deserves.