WhichTestWon The Live Event: Subject Line Optimization Masterclass

Subject Line Optimization Master class:

What To Test, When To Test, And What To

Look For

Dela Quist: CEO Alchemy Worx

uk.linkedin.com/in/delaquist @delaquist & @alchemyworx

Why You Should Listen To Me?

When It Comes To SL’s People Are People

B2B B2C

Without A Goal Or Methodology Testing Is Of

Limited Value

Optimise For Opens Or For Clicks?

Optimise For Opens Or Clicks?

50%

30%20%

8%

Top SL Tip For Selecting KPI’s

Forget about open rates and to a lesser extent

clicks focus on total opens, clicks and most of all

total $ £ €

Long Or Short?

Mailer Mailer Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Does length Matter?

If That Were True then SL 1 Would Always Beat

SL 2

1. Rock it up with these Great Looks, High

School Musical and 50% off selected

items!

2. Majestic's Winter Offers are Here!

Subject Line Length – No. Of Characters

Subject Line Length – No. Of Words

What’s Going On?

Short - Ambiguous or Misleading

“Summer starts here”

CTO Rate = 7%

Open rate 75%

Relevant Customers

10%

Click Rate 5.25%

Subject Lines Filter Or Pre-Qualify Your Openers

Long - Multiple Proposition

“50% off Nike trainers; the latest from Wimbledon, Plus your chance to win a spa weekend”

CTO Rate = 28.5%

Open rate 35%

Relevant Customer Group A

10%

Click Rate 10%

Relevant Customer Group B

10%

Short - Strong Single Proposition

“Nike trainers - 50% off”

CTO Rate = 60%

Open rate 15%

Relevant Customers

10%

Click Rate 9%

Gilt – Masters of the Looong SL

Top SL Length Tips

Our research shows that subject lines under 60 or more than 70

characters generate the highest response – but that the

response is actually different at each end of the spectrum

• shorter subject lines generate higher open rates, a measure of

wider interest, but much lower click rates

• longer subject lines earn a much higher click rate, an

indication that the more openers find the content relevant to

them

• the open rate and click-to-open rate curves intersect at about

60-70 characters, a “neutral zone” where neither metric is

optimised

What About Branding?

There Are 2 Kinds Of Marketing

Demand Response Marketing

(Giving You What I think Or Know You Want)

V

Demand Generation Marketing

(Making You Want What I have)

In The Inbox The Subject Line

Gives A Guaranteed Brand

Impression

Lets Play Pretend – Who Wins?

Familiarity Builds Trust

Familiarity Builds Trust

Familiarity Breeds Trust & Trust Sells

Occasional Change Delivers A Temporary Lift

Mixing It Up – Using Names

Mixing It Up – Special Characters

Top Tips For Promoting Brand Values In Your SL

• Focus on a values you wish to be identified with

• Branding is about repetition – once identified keep repeating your core values

• Emails do NOT have to be opened for your brand values to register

• Discounts do not build your brand but they sell so you need a balance

The Vast Majority Of The Emails

You Send Will Not Get Opened

No Matter Who You Are Or What

You Do

The Good News Is You Can’t Ignore Email Without

Processing The SL

The Nudge Effect

The Nudge Effect Subject Lines Influence

Non-Openers Too

The Nudge Effect Subject Lines Influence Non-

Openers Too

Top SL Tips For Promoting Sales In Other

Channels

• Attribution Attribution Attribution – who holds the power in your organisation?

• Send times should aim to coincide or influence peak sales in that channel

• SL should acknowledge the channel “Great deals in store this weekend”

• You can still promote specific products and great offers

3 Problems With Current Method Of A/B

Testing SL’s

Subject Line A

Sent To Entire List

Subject Line B

Group A15% Open Rate

Group B12% Open Rate

Subject Line A

Purchase From Time Of Deployment

Purchase From Time Of Last Click

The Only SL Tool That Accurately Predicts Results

www.subjectlinegold.com

How To Create An Effective SL Methodology

• Have a clear sense of what you want to improve or optimise -

Are you interested in improving opens, clicks or sales? It is not

uncommon for the SL with the least opens to generate more click

and/or sales.

• Own the results – Make sure that whoever conducts the tests

goes on the record and documents which SL they predict will win

(or lose) and, more importantly, why.

• Aim to develop a methodology for creating subject lines – Do

not reinvent the wheel every time you send an email out, which is

what happens if you focus on creating the “perfect” subject line;

you are much more likely to deliver consistent results if you have a

proven and well tested methodology.

Spanner In The Works?

Further Reading On Subject Lines

Most popular articles:

How to get special results from special characters http://bit.ly/1mOSVNS

What’s the best way to separate items in a subject line? http://bit.ly/1mOSZNI

How to create emails that sell – even unopened http://bit.ly/1gHannM

How to create an effective subject line methodology http://bit.ly/1wxst0j

Subject Lines – Length does matter http://bit.ly/1rnCf51

Thank You & Stay in Touch

uk.linkedin.com/in/delaquist

alchemyworx.com/delaquist_ebook

[email protected]

@Alchemyworx

@delaquist

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