Share what you know with millions of people
Focus is the best place to turn what you know into remarkable content
0
Email Marketing: Are you less or more likely to open an email if the subject line is personalized?
As a subscriber to email programs from companies, would you say that you are more or less likely to open up an email if in the subject your name or something personalized is put into it?
Events
- Dos and Don'ts of Small Business Marketing May 29 @ 11 am PT
- Lead Nurturing 202: The Next Generation May 31 @ 11 am PT
- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
- Display Advertising for Brand Awareness June 20 @ 11 am PT
Related Activity
10 Answers
Most of the time, my mind is 95% made up (as to whether I'll open an email) before I even see the subject line. The from line tells me whether or not this is likely an email I want to spend time on right now (or at all). In particular, I'd say name personalization has little to no effect.
As you point out in the question, though, there's more to personalization than the recipient's name. A subject line can include a lot of personalized information. Here are just a few examples:
* The order number for something I've recently purchased.
* The name of a product I've purchased, viewed on a company's website, or added to a cart.
* Answers I gave to a survey.
Note that in each of these cases, you would expect the email body to also be personalized accordingly; in other words, it's not about creating a given email and then "tacking on" some subject line personalization to get more opens. (Effective) personalization doesn't happen in a database field; it happens when you tie together what you know about who your subscriber IS with what you know about what they DO.
Andrew, for me it truly depends on how well the personalization of the subject line is executed. Does the personalized "touch" feel natural or forced?
For instance, I like the personal touch CWDkids.com uses in their subject line for a Birthday Trigger: "Kimberly, Save Big for Your Little One's Birthday - Limited Time Only!" This subject line without question entices me to open.
However, I too often see personalization in a subject line that just doesn't engage me and actually may even disengage me like this one from SwimsuitsForAll:
"NewsSplash for kimberlya...(they included my email address in the subject line)".
Personalized subject lines when executed thoughtfully can be very compelling. The key is making sure you don't create a forced impersonal subject line by trying to hard to be personal.
Kimberly Snyder
@kimberlysnyder
Less likely, because it has been abused till infinity by spammers. A quarter to half of all the spam I receive contains (part of) my name, which runs against the good guys personalizing emails.
I'd save the precious subject line space for what it's meant for: what is the subject?
Leave the personalization to the content of the email: there are so many better things you can do with a subject line than put someone's name in it. Be it using the content as headlines, a (humorous) play on current events which tie in with the content or a campaign header subject line: so many options.
Seeing as how first names are abused by Spammers, I think "less likely" would be my initial answer.
That being said, even if I recognize the email as non-Spam, "canned" personalization has zero impact on whether I read the email. For example, a popular job recruiting website sends me "personalized" emails with a from title of the CEO. Because I've already assessed that the emails are junk and most definitely not from the CEO, I delete them immediately.
The moral of this story is that sincerity and perceived value matter way more than a merge field provided by an email service provider.
Less.
My friends and business partners don't write subject lines with "Matt, you should really look at this", they just write "Look at this thing that is relevant to you".
Personalization doesn't make an e-mail relevant. Making an e-mail relevant makes it relevant. Focus your efforts on being relevant in the subject line and you will get more opens.
Personalization in the subject line is always a touchy-subject. Before you decide based on anyone else’s view, you should test. I agree with most the sender line is important, but we've seen open rates increase dramatically with subject line personalization for email from Doctors and health professionals.
I would suggest doing tests to 10-20% of your list.
It really depends on your relationship and your connection to your list that will be the determining factor. If they look forward to your email then it's probably okay once in a while. But if your list is really engaged it shouldn't matter much. If they're not engage and your trying to up your opens, then you might be barking up the wrong tree.
Better to ask why are they unresponsive? Too much frequency? Content not valuable or targeted? Like I said, always test. Changes are the subject line is the least of your problems.
Cheers, Chris
Personalization in a subject line can be an effective attention grabber to the call to action subject line, if my behavior is in the mood for it at that instant.
Name personalization - no. Subject line that appeals to my likes and interests - yes.
This is an excellent question - love the answers provided thus far.
For me, from a consumer's perspective and not from a marketing perspective, the subject is always less important than the From field. Once I assess the sender, I'll look at the subject.
When it comes to the subject itself, though, if a marketer abuses it (misleading subjects, incorrect personalization, all caps, etc.), it's a fast path for me to seek out the unsubscribe link.
Personalization in a subject line makes me suspicious if the email is from a company I don't have a relationship with yet. It actually often stops me even opening the email.
If, however, I trust the company and respect it, and if I have received informative, useful emails from them in the past, I am much more likely to respond positively to a personalized subject line.
On the whole though I agree with Remy Bergsma in his response above - personalization is most effective within the content of the email, not in the subject line.
Answer This Question