Posted by Gareth Cutter on 11th July 2008 to
Best Practice It's one of Life's great questions: is bigger better?
We're referring to the length of your subject lines of course. The DMA have published findings in their July Newsletter that contrary to popular belief, longer subject lines optimise click to open rates.
Shorter subject lines of up to 50 characters might get people reading your message but proportionally, fewer take the communication any further than those that click on longer subject lines. There is an inverse relationship between opens and both 'click' and 'click to open' rates, and even a 'dead zone' between 60 to 70 characters (6-10 words) where neither open rates nor click to open rates are optimised.
We're of the opinion that it's not the size of your subject line but what you do with it that counts. If you can load as much information into as fewer words as possible, do it: readers will be able to quickly assess the suitability of your message and not be put off by a lengthy subject line that looks suspiciously like spam.
But the best way to find out what subject line works for you is to send out a test email to a small segment of your list beforehand. See what percentage of recipients actually click to open your email. Use the findings to adjust your subject line accordingly. But don't duplicate the message for your test audience - no one wants to receive the same message twice!
