In the opening of this post, I said I had no magic words for you. Well, maybe I do. Only two, though: "Free Shipping." According to Adestra's 2013 Email Subject Line Analytics Report (see), using the words "Free Shipping" in an email subject line will increase email open rates. 50.7%. “Free shipping” will also increase click-through rates by 135.4%. These metrics are for the overall sample of emails measured by Adestra – a pool of over 2.2 billion emails. Just to give you a little taste of some of the data from this study, here's the chart of top and bottom performing words for email subject lines from Adestra's general sample. Be sure to choose your keywords carefully as some can trigger SPAM content filters. Here is our list of spam words to avoid. What words work best in email subject lines? This is an interesting table to ponder. But just for a bit of contrast, and for proof that you shouldn't take what marketing studies say as gospel, here are the results of a very interesting test conducted by Marketing Experiments. Their test cells specifically used the words "free" and "home delivery" in the subject lines. But in the Marketing Experiments test, the email subject line "Home delivery" didn't win. An email subject line a/b split test from marketing experiences 3) [Brackets] Image Masking Service Some marketers use parentheses in their email subject lines, just like the Marketing Experiments example. Parentheses can highlight a word, phrase, or brand name in a way that makes a difference. Writer Joanna Wiebe was skeptical about the effect the brackets would have on her subject lines…until she tested them in two parts. For her test, she included her company name in parentheses. His tests show that it actually helps increase response. Joanna Wiebe's Subject Line Tests Here's another test run by Wiebe where the parentheses again don't beat any parentheses: More tests on Joanna's email subject line There's plenty of other anecdotal evidence that marketers get a boost with brackets in subject lines. Sometimes emails contain a call to action in parentheses. Other times it's the company name, like in this example. You probably won't see a massive 30% boost if you add hooks to your emails, but it's definitely worth some testing. 4) Subject line length: keep it short! Email subject line length is tested and discussed more than anything else. Almost all tests favor shorter subject lines.

Psychology of the email subject line Magic words for email subject lines back to you If you had to choose the most important part of an email, what would it be? Most of us would answer: the subject line of the email ! An email has many essential elements: the call to action, the body of the message, the pre-header text. But nothing is as influential as the subject line of the email. 35% of email recipients will open an email based on the subject line alone, according to the Convince and Convert blog. That's the good news. The bad news? 69% of email recipients will mark an email as spam based on the subject line alone. Ouch. Get your email subject line right and you're pretty sure to have a successful email. But rush it, and you might see an average spike in spam complaints. Psychology of the email subject line It's important to think about a subject line the right way. It's like a title, but not quite. The difference between a title and an email subject line really depends on how we interact with each. Headlines should grab and hold attention. Email subject lines do this too, but what they really have to do is survive your subscriber selection process. Every day, your subscribers receive a hundred or more email messages. If they are in a busy B2B environment, they may receive several hundred emails per day. Due E-Commerce Photo Editing Service to the rush of information entering our inboxes, we've all had to get really good at deleting what we don't need. Without a compelling, clickable subject line, your email will fail the split-second test your subscribers put it to. It will be deleted immediately. The subject line of your email should hook them enough that they just can't bear to delete it. This must make them want to know a little more. Magic words for email subject lines So how do you craft an email subject line that can survive that first cull? What magic words to apply to charm the hearts of your subscribers? Well, I'm no magician. I don't do hypnosis either. But I'm a split-testing scientist. So I've found some interesting email subject line split-testing experiences for you, as well as lots of research studies. Maybe they won't act like pixie dust, but consider them the next time you need to add some sparkle to an email subject line. 1) Personalization matters You'll hear about personalization time and time again in email marketing – it's one of the biggest opportunities for email marketers to improve their bottom line. Subject lines are the most likely place to test personalization and get the kinds of results we all want so badly. Marketing analytics firm Retention Science knew personalization would make a difference. So they studied 267 million emails in 543 retail email marketing campaigns. They found that email campaigns with a subscriber's first name had 2.6% more opens than emails without any personalization.

The first tip is to use a proven signup method to collect email addresses on your website and other web and social properties. But don't stop there, make sure to email your subscribers once in a while. Don't let your mailing list become inactive. If your email list is more than two months old and you haven't sent an email since, setting up a re-engagement campaign might be a good approach. Why? Because some of these email addresses may no longer be used, hence the likelihood of a high number of bounces, which we want to avoid! A simple re-engagement campaign should clearly state and establish: Who is the sender. Let your followers know this is your business. Explain why you contact your subscribers and how you collected their email address. Highlight your value proposition and why your email is relevant to your subscribers. For ideas, check out these sample re-engagement campaigns and learn how to set up a re-engagement campaign in MailUp in this help article. How do you handle email bounces? Did you find this blog post helpful? Let us know in the comments below! And tell us how you handle email bounces. Learn more about the confirmed registration method. The E-Commerce Photo Editing Service level of subscriber engagement . Active subscribers who have opened and clicked on emails in the past are a good indication of their engagement. Recent active subscribers are much less likely to bounce compared to inactive subscribers on whom you don't have previous opens or clicks data. These three parameters should be considered as a guideline when deciding on unsubscribe or non-rejected email addresses. There isn't necessarily a one-size-fits-all approach and you should use your best judgment when managing rebounds, especially with hard rebounds versus soft rebounds.