Page 38 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

to park your car where you—and others—can see it. Second you
can do it quickly. That sounds like big results for basically no work.
(Because everybody’s lazy, right?)
If you’ve come from a direct mail background, you should be a
natural. The subject line is your outer envelope. But just look at the
height of the bar you have to clear. You’ve got no color, no paper,
no windows showing glimpses of the pack inside, no logo—just a
few characters.
And I mean a few. Some years ago now, Anne Holland of
MarketingSherpa was recommending 40. In fact with growing
numbers of readers opening emails on their BlackBerry, I’d say
even 40 characters was pushing it. As inboxes get more and more
crowded, people are actively looking for reasons not to open emails
of any kind, let alone promotional ones. So the secret is to give them
a reason to click. And that means giving them the benefit.

In practice

• Put the good stuff upfront, where people can see it. You can’t

guarantee your reader will go right to the end of your subject line
before deciding whether to open or not.

• Write your message first, then you’ve got a platform to create a

winning subject line.

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