Email Subject Lines: Keep Names Out!
In today’s e-mail world we are bombarded in our in-boxes. For most of us it is becoming a challenge to keep up with it all. That is why the subject line of an e-mail is becoming even more important than ever. Sometimes you have to give the recipient a reason to open your e-mail…something to peak their attention a little bit.
You have to be careful though. Some people will recommend that you include the recipient’s or your name in the Subject line. I strongly disagree. Many spammers use this tactic and it often gets your e-mail tossed right into the recipient’s SPAM filter. If by some chance it does not head there, more and more people are becoming suspicious of e-mails with their name or any name for that matter in the Subject line. I for one will often send them straight to the trash.
Janine Popick of Vertical Response wrote a recent article encouraging this practice. I actually like some of the reminders she provides early on in her article:
If you exchanged cards with someone, try to make sure you email them pretty quickly.
And, she is right, it is a good practice to e-mail new contacts soon after meeting or being introduced. You make a stronger initial impression that way. However, further in the article she talks about personalizing the subject line by including either her name or using the subject line to introduce two new people.
Example of a Subject Line: Janine told me to contact you…
Example of a Subject Line: Introduction: Elliot Meet Ashley, You’ll Hit It Off
This is a dangerous practice. It may not be what Janine intended, but it is something to be cautious of. If the people receiving the e-mail know the sender, it probably is not as big a deal. If they do not, you are increasing the risk factor that your message may never be received. Personalize your subject line as much as you can to make it relevant and interesting to the recipient, but my advice…keep names out!
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http://www.verticalresponse.com Janine Popick
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http://www.MarketingIntegrity.ca David
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