Marketing Tips – Subject Lines that Won’t Ban Your Mailing List
Posted on March 27, 2009
Filed Under Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Promotions | 1 Comment
Mailing lists are a great way to reach out to potential customers. Such a great way, in fact, that most of us have become inundated with both junk and valid emails. 
The average consumer is a lot more wary of emails than they used to be. Your subject line is a one-shot opportunity to convince the consumer that not only are you a valid business, but that you have something that they need, and should open the email to find out more. In this day and age when people are more likely to trash an email than open it, the subject line is crucial to making sure your mailing list doesn’t get banned.
Make it relevant to your target
You obviously picked your mailing list with something in mind. An age group, socio-economic group, people who love Italian food, or, if you’re lucky, people who’ve requested more information from you. Keep these people in mind when writing your subject line. If you were them, what would make you open the email? An email subject line that has nothing to do with your recipient, or seems to have been written without any forethought at all will buy you a trip straight to the garbage bin.
Don’t use excessive punctuation. (But use it where’s it’s necessary)
Using lots of exclamation points (!!!!) and question marks (???) are a sure-fire way to get you mailing list banned before it even reaches the consumer’s inbox. Search engines will often automatically interpret emails with this kind of punctuation in the subject line as spam. There are words to be avoided as well, such as “exclusive”, “free”, “limited time”. Combine those phrases with excessive punctuation and you’re pretty much guaranteed that your mailing list is going to get banned. On the other hand, make sure you use proper punctuation, spelling, and capitalization; it will go a long way towards making you look professional and legitimate.
Don’t send too many, or the same one over and over
We’ve all had it happen before; ten emails in one day from the same person. This is annoying when it’s someone you know, much less a stranger who is trying to get you interested in their product. Practice absolute discretion when using that send button. Send emails out to your mailing list sparingly; and for the love of little puppies, make sure you don’t just send them the same emails over and over. By putting thought and effort into each and every email you send to your mailing list, you increase your chances of getting them to open it and click through to your site.
Don’t try to sneak it past them
Writing a subject line that alludes to a previous connection to the recipient? Trying to come across as an email from a friend? Most people can spot these from a mile away, and will immediately send it to the trash and mark it as spam. If you do manage to catch someone and they open it, once they start to read the email they will realize right away that it’s not what it seemed to be, and it will also go straight to the trash and get your mailing list banned. So while you may get a certain open rate, it certainly won’t be quality prospects who have any intention of clicking through. Deception is never a good way to reach out to a potential customer.
Treat your mailing list like the potential gold mine it is; with deference and respect. By putting as much thought into the subject line as you do the rest of the email, you’ll establish a better connection with your prospective customers and avoid being banned.
If you are intereted to learn the best ways to handle an effective email campaign have a look at Portal Feeder and see what they have to offer.
Comments
One Response to “Marketing Tips – Subject Lines that Won’t Ban Your Mailing List”
Leave a Reply
I discovered your homepage by coincidence.
Very interesting posts and well written.
I will put your site on my blogroll.