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Five Quick Tips for Creating Effective Email Subject Lines

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By Michael Miller    7/10/2019

Update 4/9/2020: CorpNote 3.0: more tools, more power, more possibilities...

Sending an email isn't effective if your recipient doesn't open the message. One of the first and most important things your recipient sees when they check their email is the subject line. Here are some tips for creating effective subject lines that improve the chances that your email will be opened:

1. Most email software, like the one used on an iPhone, limit the subject line display. Resist the urge to create lengthy sentences, and keep the subject line below 50 characters.
    
2. Make effective use of the space allotted. Think like you’re writing a short Twitter Tweet. Come up with a creative line that catches attention rather than a typical phrase like -- Your newsletter is here!
    
3. Make sure your name or company name is used as the sender for the email. He or she will immediately recognize you or the brand and be more willing to open the email. In CorpNote, you can set this information in account preferences.
    
4. Have someone else review and edit your subject lines. A quick glance by third parties will give you a different, unbiased perspective. You can even send several emails with different subject lines to yourself and a sample group to see how they look in an email inbox and how people react to them.
    
5. Have a call to action in the subject line but don't be "Spammy" – avoid phrases and punctuation that will get your message blocked or caught in people's junk mail filters. For more information view our FAQ, "My eCards are going into SPAM. What can I do to reduce this?"

Also, keep in mind that no matter how awesome your subject line is, the quality of your email list is even more important. If you don't have a quality permission-based email list, your email will more than likely have a low open/view percentage.

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