| Being able to write compelling, effective subject lines | | | | email clients limit you to a certain number of |
| is an art form some email marketers have yet to | | | | characters, but this is only one of many factors. |
| master. There is so much that goes into the process | | | | While a short subject line might be effective at |
| and so many individual variables that must be | | | | getting customers to open a message that contains |
| considered. One variable you need to take into | | | | a single offer, it may not be enough to convey the |
| account is length and the character limits that are | | | | value of opening your newsletter. Irrespective of the |
| enforced by the most popular mail clients. You have | | | | email client, the main factors that will determine |
| to keep in mind that messages are not displayed | | | | length are the type of message your are sending |
| consistently across different services, meaning your | | | | out, and the audience you are sending it to. |
| subject line may be displayed differently in AOL, | | | | When it comes to subject lines, a good rule of thumb |
| Outlook and Gmail. Most of the major email clients | | | | is to use as few characters as possible. This will keep |
| have a limit of 50 to 60 characters, which is not a lot, | | | | you in compliance with the many clients and mobile |
| but more than enough to work with. | | | | devices that limit the number of characters that are |
| The Great Debate: Shorter vs. Longer | | | | displayed. If you have a compelling reason to go |
| Over the years, numerous reviews on email | | | | longer, remember to keep the most important |
| campaigns have shown that shorter subject lines | | | | information at the beginning of your headline. |
| work best for marketers targeting the major email | | | | Whatever the length, the key is making sure you |
| clients. Short and sweet is generally viewed as the | | | | convey the value of your message. Never |
| smart move, but on the other hand, there are also a | | | | compromise its effectiveness for the sake of |
| good number of studies that show longer is more | | | | keeping your subject line short, or trying to cram in |
| effective at yielding higher open and click through | | | | more characters than you need to. |
| rates. So which is better? Shorter or longer? The | | | | Conclusion |
| easy answer is that there is no one set length for | | | | The best way to come up with the right character |
| subject lines. This is the very reason email marketing | | | | length is to get the answer through testing. |
| statistics have such wide ranging results on what | | | | Surprisingly, this is something that is only done by a |
| constitutes optimal length. | | | | very small percentage of senders, so by committing |
| The true effectiveness of a subject line is dependent | | | | to it, you will be the marketer who understands |
| on a number of factors. However, if length is your | | | | when to use which to subject lines, thus giving |
| main concern, understand that you may be making a | | | | yourself the opportunity to maximize opens and |
| sacrifice that hinders the potential of your campaigns. | | | | conversions. |
| You must keep it short to an extent because most | | | | |