We do a lot of subject line testing around here at emfluence, so we recently took a very unscientific poll among our staff to see how well we, professional email marketers, can choose the best performing subject lines. The simple quiz asked which of the subject lines tests got higher open rates and which got higher click through rates. And we, the professional email marketers, only consistently got 1 out of 8 correct.
In our defense, most of us picked a subject line that was close to the winner, but two of the top performing subject lines weren’t guessed by a single emfluencer.
So, why is it so hard to pick the highest performing subject line? Because every audience is different. What appeals to a retail audience isn’t necessarily the same as to what appeals to a banking audience or a business supply audience. And, very important to note: the results of the subject lines weren’t always “statistically significant” — the variance between the winners and the not winners was just .5 to 2% in our client tests.
So, what is the secret to great subject lines? The answer that you’ve been waiting for? (You know where this is going, right?) Test your subject lines! Try to test 2-4 subject lines quarterly or even once a month. You won’t know what really works until you do. And if you don’t get a pretty clear difference (.5% between winner and loser isn’t probably a clear difference, no matter your list size), test the same concepts in subject lines more than once.
Think you could guess the best performer in our tests? Take our Subject Line Quiz and see how well you do! Then fess up in the comments. (Bragging and lamenting both welcome.)
