By:  Marshele Scherrer

If you are anything like me, writing subject lines can be one of the hardest and most frustrating parts of crafting an email. When you only have 50 characters to get a point across, that is when things get tricky. Here are some things I like to consider when coming up with “must-read” email subject lines.

1. Be funny. If it is within your brand guidelines to add a sense of humor to your subject line, go for it! Everyone enjoys a good chuckle.

2. Make it personalized. Including customers names in the subject line of an email is a nice way to grab attention and give a personal touch to your marketing.

3. Self-Identifiers. An example of this would be, “Broke girl’s guide to travel” or “Cooking tips for the lazy chef.” Anything that helps people to identify and relate will ultimately build trust and intrigue to open your emails.

4. Create a challenge. Many people love competition--asking questions in the subject of your email is a great way to create engagement. Try something along the lines of, “What can you afford?” or “What is your real return on your investment?”

5. Pop culture. Using pop culture works for a few reasons. The first is that it creates a bond, a connectedness that we are both interested in the same things and can finish each other's sentences. The second reason it works is because people like nostalgia. Who doesn’t get a smile on their face when they hear the line, "I feel the need—the need...for speed!"

6. Create a sense of exclusion. Most people do not like feeling left out. One TV show coined the acronym, “FOMO,” the Fear Of Missing Out. It’s a great acronym for the feeling you get when you’re on the outside looking in. Creating a sense of exclusion can be as easy and simple as asking, “Are you missing out?”

7. Timing. You may have the right message but if you don’t reach your audience at the right time, your message is falling on deaf ears (or resulting in unopened emails). Be strategic about what time of day, week, or the month you will send your email out. If your business sells a commodity that needs to be refilled or replenish, send out an automatic email  5-7 days before you expect them to run out.

We hope that these few tips and pointers help you in creating engaging subject lines for future email campaigns. Do you have any email subject line tips? If so, please leave a comment below.