He may be a Spuds Spurs fan, but Red C Account Director Steve White is not completely useless. He knows an awful lot about Email Marketing for one thing. So when he gave me a 700-page document from MarketingSherpa called Best Practices in Email Marketing I thought to myself, this is probably worth reading.*

MarketingSherpa is a research firm that specializes in tracking what works in all aspects of marketing (and what does not.) Their goal: to give marketers of the world the stats, inspiration, and instructions to improve their email marketing results.

According to their Research Manager Stefan Tornquist this guide was written “to provide one-stop guidance on building a ‘best in class’ email program, whether you’re managing an enterprise level marketing department or a small business.”

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Loadsa Money!!!

I have some good news and some bad news.  The good news is you are only a few short words from success in your next email campaign.  The bad news is that establishing what those “few short words” should be is a task that takes a great deal of deliberation and consideration.  Well, it certainly should be. Subject lines can literally make or break an email’s performance – influencing everything from the opening rate to the click through rate. Obviously there are other contributing factors – the day and time of send to name but two – but without a doubt the key influencer has to be those “few short words”.

Now, I’ll be up front with you.  I’m not going to give you a magic formula for “can’t fail subject lines.” For one thing I don’t believe such a one-size-fits-all solution actually exists.  However, what I am going to give you is a series of tips and factors that you should always consider, when trying to establish what works for your audience.  Bear in mind this is not a something you will complete in an afternoon.  It will take a great deal of time and patience, but the rewards can be substantial.

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