Emails haven’t lost their importance. In 2017, there were 3.7 billion email users globally, and this number is estimated to reach 4.3 billion by 2022. 50% of customers also prefer to receive offers in the form of an email.

A good email marketing practice is to review your email opens and clicks regularly. This will reveal which email strategies are the most effective.

In this article, we will focus on the subject line. The subject is the first part of your email that your customer will read. To capture your customer’s attention, you should create a subject that leaves your reader waiting for more.

Here are 10 tips for how to write persuasive subject lines that catch your customers’ attention:

Keep it simple and short

Your subject line is supposed to engage your audience and catch their attention. Make sure to be reader-friendly and avoid too long subject lines.

An ideal subject line that hooks your audience has to offer enough motivation for the recipient to open the email. At the same time, it needs to be short and concise. Especially, this concerns mobile devices that have smaller screens. You don’t want your subject line to be cut off.

In fact, 55% of people open their emails on mobile devices. There is thus a strong demand for short and clear subjects lines.

Not all customers are going to read your entire email. That’s why your subject line should be easy and fast to skim through. It’s better to use simple words and avoid any complicated structures.

Present questions

Presenting a compelling question in your subject line can catch your customers’ attention. This question should be relevant to your specific customer. Keep the questions coming in the body of your email, too. But the earlier you manage to attract your customer, the better.

The example above presents a question that is highly relevant to a content marketing professional. You can also include a promise that you will answer the question in your email. For example, a call to action that encourages your customer to open the email. When you present a relevant question, your customer will want to find out the answer. This will improve your open rate.

Offer value to your customers

Most email promotions are easy to detect. Make sure that your subject line isn’t just another generic promotion. You should provide your customer with some motivation to open the email. A good incentive is to promise some value in the subject, for example, a discount or a free trial.

This example promises a solution to a common problem among content marketers. If it’s a working solution, then it most certainly offers value.

Develop a sense of urgency

When there is a sense of urgency and scarcity, it can compel customers to act faster. It’s better to use this strategy sparingly, only when there is a reason for demanding such immediate action.

Explain why your customers should buy your product now and not later. An easy way to do this is to provide a time limit for your offer. If customers knew that the same offer wouldn’t be available later, they would more likely at least consider it.

Tell them what to do

Try to make your subject more clickable by using calls to action. You should be explicit and use action verbs to tell your readers what they should do.

For example, you can tell customers to register on your website or subscribe to your newsletter. You should also provide motivation, such as a discount for those who register within some limited time, as in the example above.

Make it personal

Personalize your subject line for your specific customer. This will increase your open rate. A simple way to do this is to use your recipient’s first name.

For more detailed information, it’s possible to analyze your customer’s data, for example, their recent purchases and preferences. Try to make use of this data about your customers to create more personalized and relevant subject lines. It is proven that this method will increase your open rate by 16% and reply rate by 3%.

Be straightforward

Since 74% of customers find themselves overwhelmed by the amount of emails, it’s better to forget about the hard sales tactics.

An honest approach is more likely to increase your open rate. Use the subject line to explain what you have to offer. Remember to mention the benefits. Be clear about your intentions: you’re offering a solution to a problem.

Take advantage of numbers

Avoid making any vague statements that aren’t supported by hard data. Using numbers is a good way to stand out and enhance your credibility. But keep in mind that your numbers need to be supported by actual research.

You can use numbers to convince your customers about the effectiveness of your product. For example, you can demonstrate how much past customers have been able to increase their sales.

In the example above, the number 80% has a strong impact on the recipient. It leaves you to expect that the sender didn’t come up with that number out of the blue but based the claim on some research. For a content marketer, such a promise, if true, is a compelling reason to find out what it’s all about.

Use editing tools

Your subject line usually consists of just a few words. Therefore, it’s crucial that there are no mistakes, such as spelling errors. You don’t want your email to end up in your customer’s spam folder.

Mistakes in the subject line give your customers the wrong first impression. They will expect more mistakes from the actual email. Many of them will also choose to ignore the email and not open it at all.

Editing is an important part of the email writing process. If your content could benefit from some editing, there are tools and services available. For example, you can check Handmade Writing, Hemingway App, or Readable.

Test them to see if they work

You want to understand what works best for your audience. The best way to evaluate this is by testing your subject lines. Testing goes beyond your intuition and can offer more useful insight.

There are also tools for evaluating the potential success of your subject line. For example, Email Subject Line Grader offers a numerical score based on the effectiveness of your email subject line.

These tips help you create engaging subject lines that catch your customers’ attention. This will take you closer to your goals of increasing your open and click-through rates.

If you want to learn more about writing successful emails, you can check our earlier post about writing perfect support emails.

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We have compiled 25 of our favorite customer service email templates + tips that can help you write enticing subject lines and get closer to your goals of increasing your open and click-through rates.

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