Email campaigning is still one way in which companies are trying to get their customers attention as it represents a great return on investment. On the other hand consumers receive so many emails that attention to detail is crucial. The most important thing that needs to be right is the ’subject’ line. A good, ethical email campaign one encourages people to open the email but a poor one can send it straight to the trash, or worse still the spam list.

It takes a few seconds for people to decide whether to delete an email. Here are some tips to make sure your email is read:

What is the goal?
Create your subject line with the end goal in mind. That’s what should dominate the subject line. If your email goal for example, is to sell a product then your subject line should reflect that in some way.

Stand out and entice
Subject lines are a bit like headlines. They need to stand out in order for people to want to read any further. Make sure your subject line catches people’s attention. If you read two subject lines:

‘Read this email’ and
‘25% off for this week only’

Which one would you open first?

Be honest
Don’t say anything in a subject line that the email cannot deliver.  Loss of trust will ensure future emails will not get opened.

Create urgency
Creating urgency ensures that your email is read promptly. The longer an email stays in the inbox the more likely it is that it will be deleted. The subject line that reads: ‘25% off for this week only’ creates urgency. It means that if they want the offer then they are going to have to do something about it this week. The email cannot be left unread for an indefinite period of time.

Avoid being seen as spam
If your email address is sent to a customers spam list then you have lost them forever. Spammy subject lines include too many exclamation marks and using all capital letters.

Personalise
Adding peoples names into a subject line can help to create rapport. However your database needs to be completely accurate as rapport will be broken if you are sending out incorrect personalised emails.

Research
Test everything. It is the only way to know what is working and what isn’t. If you create a control group and then measure any changes against them by analysing the effects of the different subject lines.

Email marketing is currently being used as a cheap and convenient way to get messages across to existing and potential customers. Recent research presented by Smith-Harmon, an agency providing email marketing strategy services, suggests that email navigation bars can be tweaked in order for them to achieve their best potential.

A horizontal navigation bar
65% of companies that include a horizontal navigation bar in their emails found that they were more effective in driving clicks onto their sites than the main content of the email. Also 65% found that this method also had a better conversion rate than the main content.

Aaron Smith, co-founder and principal of Smith-Harmon said,
‘An email designer I know once half-joked that he wished he could send out emails that were just a navigation bar. That’s how effective they are at driving engagement.’

A navigation bar that fits
Emails are usually narrower than websites therefore using a navigation bar that fits is important to maintain the usability and aesthetic appeal of your email. Using smaller bars means that you should use fewer navigations links.

Pick five or six of your top-performing site destinations. If you have lots of areas for exploration you can consider adding a link to ‘more places’ which enables the user to look at everything you have to offer without an overcrowded email.

Highlight important areas
Navigation bars can be adapted depending on your current needs. For example during a sale you can highlight relevant tabs. According to Smith-Harmon, ‘We’ve found that rendering the ‘sale’ link in red is an effective trick for driving sales.’  Additionally seasonal changes can be reflected in new navigation buttons.

Use HTLM in navigation bars
50% of users block visual content automatically from email and you could loose potential custom if you ignore this. Using HTML ensures that all readers can access your material easily.