How the Subject of Your Email Will Get You in Trouble

Will the emails you send delight the recipient, or will they be deleted? What shows up in the subject line can make all the difference.

When you invest time, talent and finances in developing a carefully devised marketing plan, you count on a healthy return. It is essential that the words in the subject lines of your emails work for you, not against you.

Here are a handful of suggestions to help your offers receive the consideration your hard work deserves.

1. Don’t do this anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excitement about your product or service is a wonderful thing. Using a series of exclamation points to express your excitement? Not so much. Don’t try so hard. It makes your email look more like a note passed during your seventh grade Social Studies class than important information you your clients can use to be more successful.

2. A tired line won’t get you a date or make your reader open your message.

Using slang or pick-up-type sales lines in your subject line is just cray-cray. Wouldn’t you show up for a business meeting dressed for success? Shouldn’t your message arrive addressed for success? Your subject line should create a positive first impression.

3. “Re” is not just a sound between do and mi; in your subject line, it may stand between your email being read or hitting a sour note.

People are wary of email senders who use “re:” in the subject line to try to trick them into thinking an email is part of an ongoing conversation. They are too savvy to fall for that, and they don’t necessarily trust businesses that underestimate them.

4. Promises. Promises. “Guarantee” will turn off your clients or customers almost as much as “Pinkie Swear.”

Let them read what you have to offer. Inform them, educate them, inspire and encourage them. That’s your job. That’s your goal. They don’t need or want a guarantee before they understand why they need you. Get them inside your message. And then, be sure you fulfill any promise you make.

5. Your going too need to bee sure to check your spelling punctuation and grammar.

That first impression we talked about in the second suggestion will be irreparably damaged if your subject line reads like it is just screaming for some heavy red pencil work. Your email will earn an immediate “D” for Delete.

Knowing what not to do in a subject line will take you one step closer to showing your prospect what you can do for them.