Marketing email subject lines are, by definition, the first thing that your customers are going to see when it comes to your ecommerce emails. For that reason, they can literally determine your email campaign’s success or failure.
The well-crafted and best sales subject lines are effective at getting the recipient to click on your email, open it and engage with the content. If the subject line falls flat and fails to entice your customer, the email will be at best ignored and at worst marked as spam.
The Best Marketing Email Subject Lines
In this article, we’ll explore some of the best sales email subject lines to help you start writing your own. With an understanding of best practice and knowledge of our effective tips and tricks, you’ll be sure to see your email engagement increase!
1. Make It Personal
Personalization is one of the key fundamentals in email marketing. Addressing your subscribers by name can radically increase the chances that they’ll open your email. The more personalized you can make the subject line and the content of the email (such as referring to past purchases, their location, or other behavior-related information), the better!
Personal email subject line example: “Hey [Name], we’ve got a special surprise we know you’ll love!”
2. Use Questions
Turning your subject line into a question (rhetorical or otherwise) can spark a sense of curiosity in your customer and encourage them to open your email to find out more. Of course, the question needs to be easy to understand, relevant, and genuine.
Question email subject line example: “Would you like to increase your sales by 75%?”
3. Create a Sense of Urgency
Last chance email subject lines are highly effective as they create a sense of urgency by telling readers about the limited time in which they have to make a decision. This marketing tactic uses the exclusive offer or deadline to tap into a sense of Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) and can produce an increase in both clicks and conversions.
Last chance email subject line example: “Last chance to save 30% on your next purchase!”
4. Be Specific
The more specific the content of your email subject line the more apparent its relevance will be for your audience. We don’t want to dupe customers into clicking on our email only to disappoint or confuse them as they’ll fail to convert and likely unsubscribe. We want to set clear yet enticing expectations so that your customer is more likely to both open and want to find out what your email has in store.
Specific-content email subject line example: “Check out our 5 new products you won’t want to miss!”
5. Keep it Concise
Long subject lines are not only off-putting to customers, but can even be cut off visually on mobile devices or computer inboxes. The best sale subject lines for emails are short, sweet and to the point. As a general rule, we suggest aiming for 50 characters or less.
Concise email subject line example: “Want to save up to 50%? Shop online today.”
6. Include a Call-to-Action
Making your marketing email subject line actionable will not only make it more exciting and tantalizing to read, but also help direct your customers towards taking the action you want them to take. Action verbs and phrases add to the sense of urgency and will more effectively motivate your customers into actually acting on your email.
Actionable email subject line example: “Sign up before 30 June for the early bird discount!”
7. Make it Personable
The best sales email subject lines are not just personalized but personable! You want your brand to stand out as friendly, relatable and welcoming. The manner in which you turn your subject line personable is up to you, your creative team and your branding. (Of course, the SmartMail team can help you in this regard too!)
Two common ways of improving the personality of your subject line are humor and emojis.
Use Humor
Humor makes your email subject line more memorable and better encourage engagement.
Humorous email subject line example: “Got 99 problems? Finding the perfect Xmas gift is no longer one!”
Use Emojis
Emojis are a fun and effective way to both grab your customers’ attention and add a bit of a human-touch to the content.
Emoji in an email subject line example: “🎁Find the perfect Christmas present today!🎁”
8. Use Numbers
Incorporating numbers in a subject line for your email is a good idea for a few reasons. It will stand out in an inbox, break up the text, and is more easily digestible at a glance. It also allows you to make specific references to your offer.
Numbers in an email subject line example: “Explore the 10 best selling accessories today!”
9. Make it Seasonal
Seasonal and holiday email subject lines tap into a few of the above strategies. For one, referring to a summer sale or Christmas shopping is inherently urgent as everyone knows neither period lasts very long. It’s personable in that it relates to the everyday experiences of your customer. And lastly, it provides you with an understandable reason for making contact from the perspective of your customer.
Holiday email subject line example: “Hurry! Our summer line sale ends this week!”
10. Test, test, test
While this tip isn’t really related to the actual email subject line (and applies to all aspects of email marketing) it is essential for inclusion. Always test different versions of your subject line to see what works best for your customer base. A/B testing or similar strategies will help you determine based on real life results what is and isn’t effective in achieving your email marketing campaign goals and allows you to adjust accordingly in the future.
Let’s talk more about the best marketing email subject lines!
Email subject lines are crucial to the success of your ecommerce email campaign. Fortunately, there’s no reason to go it alone!
The SmartMail team is always happy to help you craft something brilliant, enticing, and effective to improve your ecommerce sales and conversions.
Want to start out with a free email audit courtesy of our team? Click here today to find out more!
