20 May 2010
According to Ogilvy & Mather founding director, David Ogilvy, FIVE TIMES as many people read the headlines as read the body copy of an email. And added to that, more recent research suggests that it’s the FIRST TWO WORDS of this opener that determines your success. And did you know that according to advertising great John Caples stated that in a print ad, 75 PER CENT of buying decisions are made at headline level? We’re sure he’d view emails in pretty much the same way. So, if your headline sucks, you may as well pack up and go home.

You know how it works. You’ve been away from your desk for a day, maybe even longer. And as you approach your PC, you’re already experiencing a rise in stress levels as you prepare to plough through your in-box, which is approaching something close to melt-down.

After booting up and settling down with a piping hot cuppa, what’s the first thing you do?

With your index finger poise purposefully over the mouse, you ruthlessly zap all emails from people and companies you’ve never heard of, and any that sound salesy and not of interest.

And that’s exactly what we don’t want to happen to your important sales communications and corporate announcements. But there’s a little-known knack to it. Want to know what it is? (all copy below to read as part of link
When I was working as a journalist, I was always taught to write the story first, headline second. And so it follows with emails and their subject lines.

Adopt the simple, failsafe tactics of a newspaper journalist:

Just like a headline on a news story, your subject line will be the first thing your reader will notice. This will make it will the crucial factor in deciding whether to read on.

In other words, make it good! Start by writing as many subject lines as you can on a blank sheet of paper, exploring every idea possible. Then try out some combinations of some of your more favourite ones. Don’t look at them for a few hours, better still until the next day.

What should be in a headline?

For starters, it should answer the universal question: “What’s in it for me?” either through point out a negative the reader has experienced, or a positive. My subject line invites you to think of all those emails which never made the “worth reading” pile.
For example, I could have said: “Get your emails read every time”, to approach from the opposite angle.

What other tricks can I use to persuade?

• Contain a promise: “Get your emails read every time – guaranteed!”
• Better still, offer security and demonstrate confidence: “Get your emails read every time – guaranteed or your money back” (I’m not actually promising this, as it would be a very difficult thing to prove or disprove)
• Highlight benefits: “Get your emails read and see your sales figures go through the roof!”
• Explain the benefit in detail: “Learn how to get your emails read in less than 5 minutes – guaranteed!”
• Bring emotion into play: “Doesn’t it frustrate you when your emails get ignored?”
• Use statistics and real figures to back up your opening gambit: “How I got 50 per cent more of my emails read”
• Provoke curiosity: “Want to know the secret to getting your emails read?”
• Ask a question, as above: People instantly engage more whenever they are asked a question, regardless of whether it’s rhetorical.
• And last but not least, although this list is by no means exhaustive, try and avoid these spam-triggering clangers in your subject lines: advertisement; free; ££ or $$