August 28, 2017
Most marketers are sending emails with subject lines that are far too long. Image credit: Yes Lifecycle
Email marketing is still a viable tool in most marketers toolsets, but shorter subject lines are key to making them effective.
According to new research from Yes Lifecycle, marketing emails with subject lines fewer than 21 characters generated a 31 percent higher open rate. Unfortunately, only 5 percent of all email subject lines from marketers met this criteria.
"While shorter subject lines can sometimes stand out in the inbox, especially on mobile, length is only one of the many email components marketers should take into account when developing their campaigns," said Michael Fisher, president of Yes Lifecycle Marketing, Chicago. "The key is still to give subscribers enough information up front to encourage them to open – either through a relevant, personalized subject line or through one that piques interest and appeals to consumers' curiosity."
Shorter subject lines
While digital marketing has taken on many new forms since its inception, email has remained a solid part of any marketer’s toolset.
Email marketing may not be the most versatile, but it is reliable and something most customers can be expected to have and check regularly.
For that reason, Yes Lifecycle released a new report on the efficacy of email marketing called Subject Line Benchmarks: How Length and Personalization Impact Email Performance Across Message Type and Industry.
The top 10 email marketing brands. Image credit: Dotmailer
In the report, Yes Lifecycle found that shorter subject lines performed noticeably better than emails with longer subject lines. Short and to the point is 31 percent better than long winded in terms of getting people to actually open and read the emails being sent.
In fact, even shorter subject lines, such as those that are fewer than 10 characters, are almost twice as effective as the average email campaign.
Despite this, the majority of emails from marketers and brands have subject lines that are far longer than what is most effective.
Email marketing
Email can be a powerful tool, but it needs to be handled correctly. A variety of research has shown some of the best ways to handle email marketing.
While some retailers are taking full advantage of email marketing, many are lacking basic tenets such as abandoned cart reminders.
This data comes from Dotmailer, an email marketing firm, which released a report surveying email marketing tactics from a large number of retailers to determine what methods they were using and misusing. The data found that while many brands had the most basic email setups, far fewer were making full use of what a simple email can do (see story).
While standard email campaigns have become stale, kinetic email marketing optimized for mobile devices and with interactive elements can enhance click rates by almost 20 percent, according to a report from Experian.
ASOS is one of the most effective email marketers. Image credit: Dotmailer
The report looked at the difference between static emails and more kinetic, interactive email marketing to gauge how much more effective the latter is than the former. The data found that kinetic emails performed significantly better than static in terms click rates and engagements from consumers (see story).
With this data in mind, along with the research from Yes Lifecycle showing that shorter subject lines are key, marketers have everything they need to create memorable, worthwhile email campaigns that stick in customers’ minds.
"Strategic marketing communications partners like Yes Lifecycle Marketing can help marketers craft messages that resonate with customers, and ultimately lead to higher ROI," said Michael Iaccarino, president of Infogroup, parent company of Yes Lifecycle Marketing.
"Marketers should listen to data, particularly how their customers respond to tweaks in communication," he said. "Ultimately, what customers do is more telling than what they say they want from marketers."
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