Your email subject line is the difference between an opened email and a deleted one. A good subject line tells the reader that the e-mail isn’t spam, that it’s from someone who knows about them and their interests, and that it offers a benefit that makes readers want to learn more.
Here are 5 tricks to better your affiliate email subject lines.
Subject Line Should Be Concise
Make sure you write a subject line that clearly describes your email and its intention. You can make an announcement or give news; i.e. Gaming Promotions Available Here; and/or state something that will make the reader curious; i.e. Learn Gaming Strategies to Improve Your Game. And keep your subject lines short—don’t let them run longer than 60 characters.
Subject Line Should State Benefits
Your email subject line should clearly state a benefit. Always consider your service from your customers’ point of view; i.e. how will they benefit from reading your e-mail? Is your service going to save them time and money, or otherwise improve their gaming experience? What will they learn? As a gaming affiliate, you should know your audience and your subject lines should cover these questions.
Missed the video interview with email marketing expert Jason Saleno? Check out the full video!
Subject Line Should Never Be Salesy
Avoid using words in your subject line that sound too salesy, such as free, bonus, $ signs, or even “this is not spam.” Not only do such words trigger spam filters, they will completely turn the reader off. Your email is as good as junk at this point, even if it contains legitimate information.
Personalize the Subject Line
Whenever possible, personalize the subject line with the recipient’s first and last name to encourage opening. Not only will the recipient assume you know them, but they will appreciate that you have their full name on file and that they’re not just an unidentified number on your email list.
Test Your Subject Lines
Even if you think you’ve crafted the perfect subject line, if it fails to convert, it’s useless. Testing, tracking and tweaking your subject lines is critical for email success, and autoresponders make it a breeze. For each email you send out, test your open rates (do a split test), your clickthrough rates (do a split test) and your user-feedback (run a survey). Then you will know what subject lines are working, and what needs to be worked on.
One a scale of 1 to 10, how well do you think your email subject lines convert? Do you test them? Do you use these email tricks, or others that aren’t listed here? Let us know in the comments below.