1. The Importance of Subject Lines
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The Importance of Subject Lines
The second most important part of your email is the subject line. It's what people look at and a
well thought out, clever and interesting subject line will help people decide if they should open
your email or not. The subject line can be regarded as one of the most important parts of your
promotional email.
There's not a lot of space for your subject line, so you need to use the space wisely - keep it short
and concise. If you can provide a summary of the contents of the email (tall order!) in your
subject line, you are in effect pre-selling the reader about the contents of the email. Think of the
subject line as a very mini sales page! Ensure that your subject instantly grabs the attention of
your reader and intrigues them enough to open up your mail. Just because someone is subscribed
to your mailing list does not mean they will actually open your emails!
You subject line must make it an absolute must to open the email! They just can't resist it!
However you want to make sure you don't create a misleading subject line otherwise this will only
serve to annoy the reader once they open your email and find that there is something other that
what they thought contained in the email. You must create a desire and emotion strong enough to
make the reader open the email. Remember many people simply scan the subject lines, so those
that don't make the grade won't be opened!
Think about subject lines that begin with the persons first name, as this makes the email more
personal. All autoresponders allow you to put the first name of the subscriber. Then consider
using powerful words like, discover, how to, find out. Remember that certain words will not get
past spam filters, such as free, price, cost, etc. Your autoresponder will most likely have spam
detection software and will help you identify if your email message may be regarded as spam.
Another effective method is to ask a question, for example Richard, “Are you sick and tired of
your job?quot; Or “Is your boss always on your case?quot;. When reading those questions it's very easy to
subconsciously answer yes. Now make sure the content of the email reflects the answer or
solution to the question posed.
It is of course possible to write in a style that commands your reader to do something, for
example - “Act now and get this once in a lifetime opportunityquot;, or “Double, triple and even
quadruple what you are earning in one yearquot;. A subject line like this will show the benefits of your
product or service and also add urgency. Be creative with your subject lines but remember to
ensure that what the subject line says relates to the body of the email.
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(C) Richard Butler www.richardbutlerthesuccesscoach.com
2. The Importance of Subject Lines
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Richard Butler provides life and business coaching services to individuals and
companies. He provides face to face, phone and email coaching.
Richard is a qualified life and business coach and practitioner of NLP. He has
written a number of articles on NLP and life coaching and has spoken at business
seminars.
He can be contacted on 087 636 1907
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(C) Richard Butler www.richardbutlerthesuccesscoach.com