Alchemy Worx: shorter is better for email subject lines

Quist delivered his information during MediaPost's Email Insiders Summit conference last week.

According to Quist, subject lines which are approximately 50 characters or approximately 80 characters have the best open rates. When subject lines are between 60 and 70 characters, however, open rates fall to the middle ground. Though this may seem counteractive, it is clear that subject lines are crucial to email marketers. The right phrase or headline could catch the consumer's eye while adding or subtracting the wrong word could decrease email open rates.

Quist created his suppositions after studying 250 million messages sent over a two year period with 660 different subject lines. He says a shorter, powerful subject line is better than a longer, less powerful subject line. For example, phrasing a message with a percentage or dollar off followed by what is being offered is more powerful than stating several offers or simply saying "Great Rates on Summer Vacation Packages". If a marketer must go longer, then don't worry about wordiness; tell the consumer exactly what they will be getting by clicking through, whether that is information on home improvements or shopping deals.

Tags: email marketing, email open rates, email subject lines