Tellem Email Marketing Systems
 

Why is the subject line always forgotten?

One thing that has long puzzled us is how little attention many companies pay to the lowly subject line. 

The Subject Line is one of the first things that recepients will see in their inbox.  Before your email even gets to their inbox, your subject line might be the culprit that gets your email blocked by the spam filters.  So why would marketers spend so little time on the subject line?

1. Lack of understanding.

Many companies pay plenty of attention to the body of the message, and far too little to the quality of the message in the subject line.

To illustrate this point, no offline direct mail agency would rush or hurry the writing of the text on the envelope of a direct mail promotion. Direct marketers understand that the envelope copy is crucial to the success of the whole mailing.

Companies online are yet to understand that subject line copy is just as important to the success of an email or newsletter.

2. Creative pride.

Writing subject lines is all too often seen as boring, uninteresting work. Such a short snippet of text may be seen as "beneath" the talents of the writers involved. Misplaced pride.

3. Lack of process.

Creative and production groups are often under incredible pressure to deliver the next email or newsletter. Because writing and testing the subject line is not carved in stone as a required step in the process, it simply falls between the cracks. A line is written quickly, without enough thought as to its potential impact on open rates and conversion rates.

4. Laziness.

Some writers know how important the subject line is. They also know that others in their organization may not. So they can get away with rushing the job. Pure laziness.

5. Lack of testing.

The first day you test different subject lines and see the results, you'll never be complacent again. When you do the math and see how much money you are leaving on the table with the second best subject line, compared to the best...that's when you start taking subject lines seriously.