Any email marketing knowledge base will tell you that subject line is one of those innocuous elements of an email that typically can ensure whether the mail is read or not. Subject lines that are properly thought of and framed are usually good enough to bypass the scrutiny of a spam filter as well. Spam filters are an especially thorough software check that are placed in the user's mailbox to ensure that no spam mail ever gets into the user's field of view.
The mistakes that people make when they try to create subject lines are that they either go too far with trying to catch user attention or they end up making it too boring. Here are some guidelines that you can follow the next time you write the subject line to any bulk email marketing mailer.
- Do not try to mislead. Spam mail usually does this quite a lot with subject lines like 'you owe me money' or ' your credit card has expired.' Both of these are classical examples of how sometimes people tend to go overboard in trying to ensure that their mail is read. These are the first things to avoid. In a nutshell, you cannot try to mislead the user. Most of recipients of spam mails just have to take one look at the subject line before deciding the fate of the mail.
- Any email marketing knowledge base will tell you that the biggest problem that exists is not just misleading subject lines but also the fact that many subject lines do not reveal the true nature of the content in an email. This can be especially a problem when children are spammed with adult material and there is no indication or label that prevents them from opening the mail. Also, as part of the CAN SPAM guidelines, it is illegal to make mistakes like these.
- The last mistake that one could make with respect to a subject line is to be too boring. This kind of mistake will not get one in trouble with a spam filter but rather would not catch the eye of the recipient. Therefore, a good guideline to follow is to use a newsreel tone when drafting out a subject line. Also remember that if you are sending newsletters then all you have to do is port the headlines into the subject line of the mail.
Most email marketing knowledge bases will have the information that will help you identify what constitutes spam mail and what doesn't, just based on the subject line. These information repositories will also tell you how to write correct subject lines. Take some time to also understand how spam filters work, as this will go a long way into ensure that your mails don't end up in the wrong folder. These software used extremely complex mathematics to decipher which mail is spam and which mail is not, based on the content that is in the subject line and the body of the email.
