Email newsletters need to stand out to be effective and that starts with your Subject line, reveals new research from Lead Galaxy.

The latest report from the real estate lead generation specialist reveals some of the secrets to building the best subject line, from the long to the short of it.

Go Long or Go Short?

Length is one of the most important factors in a subject line’s success. Analysing hundreds of email campaigns sent in 2016, across a wide variety of audiences and product types, Lead Galaxy found that the average email subject line was 59 characters long. Subject Lines that were shorter than this had an average open rate of 4.2 per cent, higher than the 3.7 per cent open rate for longer-than-average subject lines. Shorter subject lines also enjoyed a click-through rate (CTR) of 6 per cent, higher than the 2.5 per cent CTR for longer-than-average subject lines.

“Size matters in email marketing,” comments Dan Johnson, CEO of Lead Galaxy. “With mobile devices increasingly prolific, many of the people receiving your campaign will be doing so on the move, which means that their mobile device will be unable to display as many characters as a desktop email client. With such a high percentage of emails being opened first on mobile, this is an increasingly important consideration.”

The Price Isn’t Always Right

The other key decision when writing a subject line is whether to include the price of the product being marketed.

Lead Galaxy’s comparison of campaign data found that mentioning prices in a subject line generated a click-through rate of 3.5 per cent, compared to 2.5 per cent for subject lines that did not specify a price. Subject lines mentioning yields, on the other hand, resulted in a higher open rate (3.5 per cent) than those that did not (2.4 per cent), but generated a lower click-through rate.

“Open rates and click-through rates are both important, but they indicate different types of engagement from your audience,” explains Johnson. “The open rate indicates the percentage of people who open your email to find out more, while the click-through rate is the percentage of people who click on your call-to-action to visit a landing page. Whether you target stronger open rates or click-through rates depends on your objectives for the campaign and whether you want awareness or responses. But either way, you need to start by ensuring that your subject line is interesting, well-crafted and reflects the content of your message.”

For more information on Lead Galaxy’s high-impact email marketing campaigns, visit www.leadgalaxy.com or call 0044 207 952 7653.