A great subject line will give your email a chance. The subject is the first thing your readers see.

It's been said that you should spend up to 80% of your time crafting your subject line. This might sound excessive but if your readers don't open your email then they certainly won't click and they certainly won't convert.

THE NEW SUBJECT LINE

Email clients are smart. Here is what an email looks like in Gmail.

Here is what an email looks like in Mailbox.

You'll notice that in both cases there is more to the subject line than just 'the subject line'. The new subject line encompasses the 'from address', the actual subject line and, in nearly all modern email clients, the first few lines of the email.

This is important as it gives you more to work with when it comes to getting the all important open.

A few pointers to think about: - Don't put you company name in the subject, using valuable characters. Put it in the from name, e.g. 'Chris from Vero'. - Make the first few lines and the title of your email content count: don't have 'View in browser' right at the top. - Preview your email and think about the subject line as a whole.

THREE QUICK TIPS FOR A GREAT SUBJECT LINE

You could spend hours thinking about the psychology behind a good subject line and there are hundreds of examples out there but here are three quick tips you can put into practice straight away:

1. GENERATE CURIOSITY, FEAR OR GREED

Fear, curiosity and greed are all emotions that will get your customers opening. Asking questions, making them feel like they are missing out or telling them how they can double or triple something are all things we relate to. THey're effective.

Take this example from Kiva:

Wouldn't you open that?

2. USE CONTEXTUAL DATA, NOT JUST A NAME

A lot of subject lines employ readers' first and last names. This makes sense and it's a good practice but, if you really want to improve opens, think about what other contextual information you have on hand that you can use.

This example from LinkedIn has a lot of context. This particular campaign has been extremely successful for LinkedIn and a part of the reason for this is the great subject lines. If you see a friends name then you are likely to respond. Likewise, if you see someone you don't know has been checking you out, you want to know who they are.

3. IF EMAILING IN SERIES, LINK THEM TOGETHER

When emailing in series it can be very effective to link together your email campaigns using the subject line. This helps build momentum and, ideally, gets your reader to a point where they are waiting for your next email.

This helps build your open and click rates as your series campaign progresses. Here's a great example of the success you can achieve, straight from Kareem over at SocialWOD.

This example from GetResponse is a great example of literally tying together emails via the subject line and it's a really effective part of their welcome series.