Are You Insulting Readers? Subject Line Lessons from Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail

Author:

Mark Brownlow

Source:

It’s hard to imagine there’s much new to say about subject lines, yet most of us fall into two traps once we’ve settled on a particular approach.
 
Our first mistake is to assume all that matters is how the subject line looks in the inbox.
 
Our second mistake is the tendency to assess each potential subject line in its entirety, irrespective of how long it is. Which can lead to some accidental embarassment…
 
Inboxes are not everything
 
The main purpose of your subject line is to get attention and encourage the reader to explore further…starting the chain of events that leads to (hopefully) some desired response, like a sale or download.
 
Its big chance is in the inbox, where people are reviewing subject lines to see what to delete, read now or read later. That’s what all that subject line advice focuses on.
 
But the subject line’s impact does not stop there.
 
Here’s my Yahoo inbox...