Using Enticing Subject Lines For Your Email Newsletter Part 1

June 23, 2009

Many real estate people overlook the critical importance of their subject line, especially when they send newsletters to their mailing list.  The subject line is very important because it’s the first thing a recipient sees and determines whether they’ll want to read your email or not.  So here are some guidelines for how to use your subject lines to entice your readers to open your emails.

I’m on many email based mailing lists.  So there are many different emails vying for my limited time and attention.  Frequently, these lists send me emails with subject lines that just aren’t interesting, though the emails themselves might have interesting content.  So if the subject line doesn’t grab my attention, I’m unlikely to read the email.  There’s a chance I might consider reading such emails at a later date, but by that time there’ll be lots more emails competing for my interest, many of which will have more interesting subject lines.  So any emails with bland subject lines are unlikely to ever get read.

So if your recipients aren’t reading your newsletters, you aren’t building relationships, and isn’t that the point of your newsletters?

Here are a few examples of bad subject lines commonly used by newsletters I subscribe to.

Subject: “June 2009 Newsletter”

If I signed up for a mailing list, then I already know this business is sending me newsletters or something like that, so telling me again in the subject line really squanders their shot at getting my attention.  This subject line also doesn’t tell me at all what’s in the newsletter.  If I don’t know what’s there, chances are I won’t risk spending valuable time when there’s a chance the content won’t interest me.  Conversely, if an email’s subject line is very specific, I’ll know right away if there’s anything in the email’s body I want to read. 

Here’s another bad subject line:

Subject: “Mortgage Trends Summer 2008?

Why tell me it’s summer 2009?  I already know this, and this subject line is wasting precious space.  This subject line is somewhat specific, but still doesn’t really tell me exactly what the email will explore.  It’s also not indicating very interesting information; it seems like the sort of info I can readily find on the web in many places.  If I’m on a mortgage broker’s mailing list and they use the same subject line, I’m more likely to open their email.

Find out more about what you should do with email subject lines in part two of this article.

Filed under: Attracting Buyers/Sellers With Email

Tags: email inquiries, email newsletter, email prospects, email subject line, email training tips, qualifying, real estate education, real estate educators, real estate email newsletter