The subject line of your email is the most important part of your emails. I guess we all know that by now. It’s what makes people open your emails (together with other elements such as what recipients see in the preview pane of their email client).
Earlier, I explained why it is important that you test your subject lines and even why you should do it in real-time.
What is sometimes forgotten is that there also has to be a clear link between the subject line and the email copy. Things should be consistent. Just like the messaging, content, style and many other aspects of the landing page should be consistent with the email.
The subject line of the emails relates with the headline of the email and the message explains the point illustrated in the headline.
Look at email copy as a flowing conversation
This maintains the flow of the mail and makes it appear logical and cohesive. The message in the mails carries a conversational touch which appears as if someone is talking to the recipients.
The message also appeals to the emotions of the reader which enhances its prospects. The role of the subject line is not only getting your emails opened, it is also engaging recipients to start the conversation the email copy invites them to.
Now, don’t think that with a ‘conversation’ I mean a conversation as I often use the term in a social media context. It’s another kind of conversation: one that happens in the minds of the recipient while reading and interacting with your copy.
Copy and content in general have no value if they don’t become a story in the heads of the readers. And if you’re really good, your email copy becomes a story that people want to spread and share.
That narrative, conversational and engaging copy is like a short story that has a happy ending: the click and the landing page where all that is promised and told becomes true.
Remember that after every single email address there is a real person that doesn’t like negative surprises and wants things to fit with his needs and be true, valuable, cohesive, conversational and precise.
All that starts in the subject line, is continued in the header and copy and ends on the landing page, that is the start of yet another adventure.
This post is spot on.
The subject line has a dramatic filtering effect on the people on your list who open the email.
For example, from testing, its clear that if the subject line is too vague you may see a good open rate, but the click and conversion rate suffer as you find the wrong people open.
There must be clarity in the subject line and a clear connect from subject line to email body copy to marketing objective.