Newsletter subjects: The best tips for good opening rates
Discover useful tricks to optimise your subject line in only a few steps!
Maximum length for subject lines in different e-mail clients:
- Gmail: 70 characters
- Outlook: 73 characters
- GMX: 63 characters
- Thunderbird: 66 characters
- iPhone: 41 characters
- Android: 38 characters
- T-Online: 54 characters
Write short, catchy subject lines that make it easy for the recipient to see what your newsletter is about. We recommend a length of 40 to 60 characters. This should be enough to say what you need to say. Most newsletter tools offer a convenient preview feature that allows you to see what your subject line looks like in different e-mail clients. What's true for web copy is also true for newsletter subjects: What's important comes first. Everything else follows.
Make moderate use of emojis in subject lines
Depending on the context and your industry (think tourisms vs. manufacturing industry), emojis can give an additional boost to your subject line. Unicode symbols and emojis attract attention and can encourage readers to open your newsletter if you use them correctly. There is a wide range of different symbols, including everything from simple arrows → to smileys ? and more unusual icons such as the umbrella ☂.
A well-placed symbol makes it even easier for your recipients to understand your subject and also adds a nice touch. However, don't go overboard with your emojis! Only use them where appropriate and make sure that they are not essential to understand a sentence. In other words: Don't use emojis to replace entire words as not every e-mail client displays special characters!
Our favourite symbols for newsletters:
- tick ✓
- arrows ⇒ ⇨→
- stars ☆ ★
(And we don't mind if you copy them!)
Play with emotive words, superlatives & numbers
Let's be honest, we're only human, and we react to certain words just like Winnie the Pooh reacts to honey. Make use of this psychological effect in the subject line of your newsletters! Certain emotive words have the power to trigger a reaction. Highly attention-grabbing, they are something like the fairy dust of your newsletter subjects. What emotive words are we talking about and which of them have the power to boost your subject?
Examples of emotive words that work well in B2B & B2C mailings:
- secret
- trick
- success
- discount
- save
- simple
- free
- and many more!
As you can see, these words are powerful. They evoke exactly those emotions that you want readers to connect with your newsletter. We're sure there are special words that are irresistible for your target group as well!
And who doesn't want to be the best? Who doesn't want to get the best deal or be the first to hear about the latest news? If your newsletter offers an added value (which it should do anyway), superlatives are an effective way to increase your opening rate.
Popular superlatives in e-mail marketing:
- the easiest way
- the best solution
- the fastest delivery
- the greatest attraction
- and many more!
And that's not all! For instance, why not make use of numbers? Numbers in subject lines not only help you to cut down on character length, they also have other advantages. For instance, they make information easier to understand in a shorter period of time. What's more, they automatically make the sender appear more professional – and that's what we want, right? Especially when it comes to prices ("25 % discount") or urgency ("Only 3 more days!"), numbers are a great way to boost your opening rate.
Use stylistic devices for maximum attention
It's the small things that can make the biggest difference – and that's also true for effective newsletters. Stylistic devices and catchy headlines are not just powerful tools in print journalism, they also give your e-mail marketing an extra edge.
- Questions: A well-placed question is something like a click magnet for your newsletters. On the one hand, it immediately makes your recipients desperate for an answer, on the other hand it makes your conversation more personal and direct.
- Requests: Calls to action are a popular technique in designing website buttons because they are a simple way of telling users what to do. They also work great in newsletter subjects, so just tell your recipients what to do (to test, to download ...) right in the subject line!
- Punctuation marks: !, :, - or ?: Punctuation marks are a feasible way of dividing your subject line and making it more varied. However, don't use too many of them in a row!