Subject lines; pre-headers, footers
7. Subject lines -- this is only a test
Did you know only 25 percent of marketers are testing subject lines on a regular basis? If you're not constantly testing, you're missing opportunities to find out which ones maximize opens and conversions.
Before you test, make sure that your subject line is relevant to the call-to-action in your email. Subject line studies by Alchemy Worx and other groups have shown that using a subject line with 72 or more characters gives added relevance, increasing click through and conversion. Likewise, by going with a subject line that's 60 characters or less, the open rate will tend to increase.
The area between 60 and 72 has been shown to be a "dead zone."
8. Pre-header and footer: Do you have one? Is it working?
The pre-header and footer are two of the most important elements of your email. The pre-header is located at the very top of your email, and is what your reader is going to see before scrolling down into the body of the email.
Currently, one-quarter of companies do not use any type of pre-header, and 80 percent do not use white list instructions. Surprisingly, snippet text is only used by about 13 percent of marketers. Again, it's crucial for campaign optimization to test using the pre-header a few different ways in order to find out what works best for different campaigns and audiences.
With the footer, make sure that you include an option for readers to view the email by mobile device. Currently, 75 percent of marketers are providing a good user experience by having links for profile and subscription management, yet fewer than 10 percent create a mobile version of their email.
Don't be a statistic! Get ahead and grab those customers who want to view your emails on mobile devices.
