Will your Email Get Opened? Subject Fields Matter!

In today’s environment we all get too many emails that we prefer to not receive. Many are spam, while others are from people who have found us that we prefer to not communicate with.

When sending emails you hope that your email does not fall into either of those categories. This can increase the chances of your email not being opened.

All too often onliners misuse the Subject: field. By doing so they hinder the potential of their email being opened which then results in their messages being blocked, deleted or sent to trash.

A study I tripped upon reflects that 41.1% of recipients determine whether they open an email by virtue of the Subject: field. Don’t misuse this “first contact” opportunity.

Follow these simple Subject: field Tips

Follow these tips and you increase the chance of your emails being opened.

• Never confuse the Subject: field for the body of the email.
  Do not want to use the Subject: field to ask a question or make a point and leave the body of the email empty. This is the epitome of lazy and it is spammy. You also risk your email being blocked by spam filters.
• Always include an appropriate, short and accurate Subject:.
  Many email programs auto-delete subjectless email to Junk/Trash.
• Type your subject with appropriate capitalization and structure.
  All lower case or all caps gives the impression of being spam (not to mention lack of education or technology skills).
• Refrain from using common terms abused by spammers in your subject and/or first paragraph of your email. You know what they are – you see them every day. You also want to avoid using words such as hello, hi and help as these may trigger spam filters. Many spam filters track these terms and may inadvertently send your email right to Trash.

When using any sort of spam software or filtering system, always review your trash before emptying. Take a quick peek to see if any email is in fact from folks you know or recognize who didn’t follow the guidelines above.