Playing around with subject lines - 14/10/09

It's odd that I would speak about work on my blog considering I've considered it to be a more personal and chilled side to me but I'm going to give it a bash, much like the topic I'm chatting/debating out - technically to myself if no one responds - in my head.

I always remember when my Content Managers were sorting out the Wednesday newsletter; aside from being terribly stressed and wanting to kick Lirus the Virus (stand to be corrected) that there was always talk about subject lines. Spam Wilson (@SamWilson1) was always saying never use words like 'sex' in your subject line because it would go straight to the spam box and I'd always wondered what would happen if we had used those words, even though it's much more fun thinking about synonyms.

Even from the time when I was there - probably making coffee for the bunch but yeah - the topics to subject lines to overall design of the newsletter is really engaging and what it's all about. If you can get the users to open up that email; put a foot through the door, then your first job is done and now it's about keeping them there with good content and call-to-actions.

I read a really interesting article from iMedia Connection this morning while going through my feeds with a cuppa coffee about 7 fixes for terrible subject lines by Wendy Roth. It bought up a little debate/chat/do we have the resources and time?/I think we should do this argument that my old boss/work colleague/friend (@HelenaB) - who decided to move to Malawi - and I were having at the time.

Article highlights:

• Personalization in subject lines can cause problems in several ways
• Make your call-to-action clear, and let readers know if an offer will expire soon
• Funky punctuation and cryptic language is not clever -- it's annoying

We had been doing the newsletter for 8 months at the point when the topic was bought up; "do we change the subject lines"? It was a really cool idea considering our subject line is very simple and doesn't add much call-to-action as the people who have subscribed to our newsletter know what they are getting. We aren't in much competition with other companies nor do we have sales targets to hit other then to make ourselves happy that the newsletter is still in it's growth stage and is growing steadily every week without much promotion (aside from every page on the website) around it.

For us, it was a matter of time and putting a plan around it and thinking back, if we had the time it would have been a great test to do. Our sign up page allows us to collate all the information that the user wants to hear about and it gives us the opportunity to use our data appropriately. Our aim was to see what our click-through rate was like with different subject lines and I think we would have had success in trying something new, especially by engaging with our users and start targeting their preferences more precisely not only making their experience better but also by enhancing our digital experitse.

Big words, I know but email marketing is part of this so-called 'digital expertise' and getting it right only means good things in terms of exposure about your business and/or product (which you know anyway). Despite only having 6 weeks left at my current job (contract, she is ending), I'm quite looking forward to the future. Who knows, hopefully one day, you'll be reading and clicking through some of my work.

Side dish: I'm relatively new to actually blogging about what I'm passionate about and finding my feet with how I write and get ideas across. I tend to keep my professional interests on Twitter but this is something I am quite interested in and well, I just decided to word vomit on the page.