The email subject line is so important to email or list marketers
because much of the success of their campaigns depend on it. Maybe you've heard
copywriters say that headlines are the most crucial part of the copy because if
people don't read it, they won't read the rest of the copy. Such is the case of
the email subject line. And frankly, some SEO resellers struggle to get clients
not because they are not good marketers or managers. Sometimes, it's just
because they use poor subject lines.
Good thing we stumbled upon a recent study on the most effective and
least effective email subject lines. According to British marketing agency
Adestra, the keywords "breaking" and "alert" perform well
for B2B marketing. (We'll focus on B2B since this is the category resellers
likes us fall into.) On the other hand, "reports" and
"forecast" performed poorly.
See the full table below:
B2B Email Subject Line Keywords
(Source: The 2013 Adestra Subject Line Analysis report)
Best, Worst B2B Email Subject Lines
As you can see, the word "breaking" registered a high open
rate variance vs. the average at 35.4%, leading all keywords in this category.
"Alert" also performed well with 32.9% open rate vs. variance. No
other listed keywords fared in the 30's although editor (28.7%), weekly
(27.5%), and update (26.8%) fared well with late 20's percentages. Broken down by objective, "breaking" was best performing for
B2B content emails. For date, it was "weekly" while for
subscriptions, the pound sign ranked highest.
On the other side of the fence, the keyword "forecast"
registered the worst open rate variance at -34.0%. Take note the variance is
against the average, thus the negative open rate percentage. Report was another
word in the negative 30's at -30.6%. This week (-18.5%), newsletter (-11.2%),
and top stories (-11.2%) also fared poorly.
What the Subject Lines 'Say'
If anything, B2B email recipients have most probably gotten tired at
seeing the word "report," which is pretty much one of the most abused
terms in the history of Internet marketing. Saturation point, as they say.
On the brighter side, B2B email recipients seem to appreciate timely
matters, at least based on the subject lines they open. The top two performing
keywords, alert and breaking, convey some sense of immediacy or urgency and
business owners seem to appreciate urgent or timely matters. The other top
performing word, editor, conveys a sense of authority. Here at SEO reseller
tips, this only means business owners want to receive timely messages from
people with authority.
What About Free, Deals, Exclusive?
Breaking: Use Breaking for B2B emails.
Common keywords like free, deals, and exclusive were lumped into the B2C category and for a good reason. These are keywords that are indeed targeted at consumers. If you're curious, the word free registered a -10.3% open rate variance vs. average. Deals was surprisingly good at 7.3% while exclusive was even better at 11.3%. The biggest performers in this category were the words review and iPad, which registered 37.1% and 37.3% rates, respectively. On the worst performers, trial (-45%) and discount (-38.8%) were the leaders.
Perhaps this says a lot on how we should treat customers. The most striking was the word review,
underscoring the importance of online reviews. Some studies suggest that majority
of surveyed consumers now trust online reviews as much as they trust personal
recommendations. And the iPad? Well who doesn't want one!
How to Use this Survey to Get Clients
First and foremost, if they signed up to your mailing list, use the
words "breaking" and "alert". That's obvious because these
words generate great open rates. Also, ensure that if you use these keywords,
you actually have an "urgent" message for your prospects.
Second and more importantly, remember the word "reviews."
Online reviews matter today and the best way to optimize reviews is to use
correct search engine optimization methods. We highly recommend Endlessrise SEO Reseller Programs for you to use. They have basic, advanced, and custom
packages so you can choose which ones suit your clients best.
Another reason why we recommend these guys is because they are experts
in Online Reputation Management. Remember reviews? You want positive reviews
but you also want negative reviews to sink down on search results. Endlessrise
are experts at SEO so they can help you push down negative reviews using
positive reviews, articles and blog posts, videos, and other relevant types of
content.
Finally, if you are not using list marketing but have clients who do,
share this report to them. A good SEO reseller isn't just a service provider to
business owners; he is also a partner who is after the welfare of his client.
You may think it's a very small thing to do, but "sharing timely
information from authoritative sources" to your clients is one great way
of building rapport and nurturing them for the long haul.
