Chamber News & Views

When you send an email to a friend or family member, chances are probably good that the email will get opened, read, and there will be a response. However, if you’re sending emails out to customers, board members, customer service departments or maybe even an elected official, your chances are only as good as your email subject line. Yesware.com has some good suggestion for getting your emails to accomplish what you need them to do.
Let’s start with those phrases that are non-starters: Trying to connect; Join us for; Quick request/question; Webinar. I must admit “quick question” gets me, too. There are no quick email questions – ever.
Next we move up to the “try not to use” category. These include: Checking in; Catching up; Status of; Confirming; Next steps. Yikes! That includes every email subject line I use every day. I apologize to all of you who’ve been subjected to my subject line ignorance.

I was looking forward to being told next about what magic words and phrases work. Got nothing from yesware.com, so l moved on to hubspot.com. Their first tip is to keep your email subject line short and sweet. They recommend using fewer than 50 characters. Next, they recommend using concise language. So, short and sweet.
It helps to make people feel special. Consider a subject line something like: “An exclusive offer for you.” Or: “My gift to you.” Now, don’t you feel special?

A compelling question can work. Zillow sent out an email with the subject line, “What Can You Afford?” And it linked to a website showing apartments for rent. It worked. The click-through rate was awesome.

And puns are deemed okay in your subject line. That is great news for the future of my emails. But we get a big no-no for anything in ALL CAPS and an overuse of exclamations points!!!! See what I did there?

This next tip I learned in a marketing class: You need to time your email correctly. Let’s say you own a restaurant, and your Tuesday lunch crowd is a little light. Sending out an email to your mailing list on Tuesday at 11:30 highlighting a Tuesday lunch special will probably get the attention from workers sitting at their desks counting the minutes until lunch! Even better, if it’s raining, you could offer a rainy-day Tuesday special. Even if it’s a personal email, timing still needs to be considered. If your mom’s birthday is Monday, getting that Tuesday birthday wish probably won’t go over well.

Action verbs help also. What would get you into your local pub more quickly: “Where to Drink Beer Now.” Or “We have a beer special tonight.” Although when talking beer, probably both would work.
Bottom line is, if your emails aren’t getting opened, they are not getting read, and you’re wasting your time. Judging from what I remember about my emails today asking for updates, my email box will remain empty.

Lynne Conlan is Executive Director of the Sun City Center Area Chamber of Commerce. Call her at 813-634-5111, or email lynne@sccchamber.com.