Many of us are using email marketing as a crucial part of our overall marketing effort. The biggest challenge is in getting our clients and prospects to simply open our email. Once opened, most will read and often respond to our message.
So how do we get people to open our email marketing messages? The secret is in having a killer headline (subject line) that is compelling enough not to be ignored.
I recently ran across ten great headline ideas on the selling-through-writing website called www.copyblogger.com. Here they are:
1. Who Else Wants [blank]?
Starting a headline with “Who Else Wants…” is a classic social proof strategy that implies an already existing consensus desire. While overused in the Internet marketing arena, it still works like gangbusters for other subject matter.
2. The Secret of [blank]
This one is used quite a bit, but that’s because it works. Share insider knowledge and translate it into a benefit for the reader.
3. Here is a Method That is Helping [blank] to [blank]
Simply identify your target audience and the benefit you can provide them, and fill in the blanks.
4. Little Known Ways to [blank]
A more intriguing (and less common) way of accomplishing the same thing as “The Secret of…” headline.
5. Get Rid of [problem] Once and For All
A classic formula that identifies either a painful problem or an unfulfilled desire that the reader wants to remedy.
6. Here’s a Quick Way to [solve a problem]
People love quick and easy when it comes to solving a nagging problem.
7. Now You Can Have [something desirable] [great circumstance]
The is the classic “have your cake and eat it too” headline — and who doesn’t like that?
8. [Do something] like [world-class example]
Gatorade milked this one fully with the “Be Like Mike” campaign featuring Michael Jordan in the early 1990s.
9. Have a [or] Build a [blank] You Can Be Proud Of
Appeal to vanity, dissatisfaction, or shame. Enough said.
10. What Everybody Ought to Know About [blank]
Big curiosity draw with this type of headline, and it acts almost as a challenge to the reader to go ahead and see if they are missing something.
It should be fairly simple to plug your own ideas in to these ten headline formulas and come up with a compelling subject line that no one would dare ignore. I hope that you'll give some consideration as to how you might integrate email marketing into your existing marketing mix. If you're new to email marketing, the one thing you ought to be aware of is that sending mass email yourself can be a huge mistake.
If you stuff your "To:" field on your email with a long list of addresses you'll not only make everyone on the list angry, but you'll likely get yourself banned from a variety of mail servers--not to mention the trouble you may get into with your own email service. To do this right, you need to sign up with one of the many direct email marketing services that do this efficiently and within the guidelines of current mass emailing protocol.
There are many services out there--here's a link to a comparison of some of the best: http://email-marketing-service-review.toptenreviews.com/
Please allow me to wish you all the best as we start into our "busy" season. Many of you report that this year is shaping up to be a great year. Best of luck!
