LENGTH DOES MATTER!

Dear Readers:

Have I gotten your attention?

The brief study which follows was originally undertaken and published by EPSILON, at http://www.epsilon.com/. This reprint has been edited by TNNW to accommodate posting guidelines.

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Friday, January 23, 2009

Line Length Matters

According to a new study by Epsilon on the importance of the subject line in an Email promotion, shorter subject lines do generally perform better than longer ones, but the relationship between subject line length and response is weaker than previously thought. Though the research showed that, overall, shorter subject lines correlate with higher open rates and click rates, subject line word order, word choice, and brand and audience awareness are also critical success factors.

A subject line is often the first opportunity an email marketer has to capture a consumer's attention, says Epsilon. Multiple analyses have shown that the subject line is the most important factor in driving overall response, from initial Epsilon clients the subject line is almost always the factor most responsible for open and click to eventual conversion. In more than 20 multivariate tests with triggering opens and clicks. Common sense also underscores the vital importance of the subject line; it is one of the few factors consumers consider when deciding whether to open an email.

Thane Stallings, Senior Analytic Consultant, Epsilon Strategic Services, says that "Companies are spending little time thinking about and testing subject lines, compared to the resources and time devoted to creative development. The reality is that more people will see a subject line than its accompanying creative."

However, the superiority of shorter subject lines (SLL) isn't solely a function of consumers' busy lives and short attention spans, says the report. In fact, SLL is often predetermined by technical constraints.

The Epsilon Whitepaper reports that Email domains often limit the number of subject line characters displayed by default in the inbox:

AOL, which is responsible for approximately 22% of the U.S. email market, limits subject lines to roughly 38 characters.

Yahoo!, with 21% of U.S. email, has a approximate limit of 47 characters per subject line
Hotmail, which has 14% of the U.S. email market, uses word wrap to display subject lines on multiple lines, allowing approximately 45 characters per line.

Therefore, 57% of U.S. email recipients see only the first 38 to 47 characters of a subject line when making the decision to open an email. Additionally, the growing reliance on mobile devices, and their smaller screens that display even fewer characters, affects this trend as well.

The report says that, given that most U.S. consumers see only the first 40 characters or so of a subject line, marketers should be careful to construct the subject line in such a way as to include the most vital information first. Epsilon calls this technique "pole position" writing. For one email campaign, the vital piece of information may be the brand name. For another, it may be the consumer benefit. Only systemized testing can reveal what works best in each situation and for each consumer population.

From an analysis of the impact of the more than one billion emails over nearly 20,000 separate campaigns sent out by a selection of US-based clients in the retail and consumer services industries, Epsilon concludes that because higher open and click rates depend on the optimum combination of SLL (subject line length) and content, marketers should keep in mind the following rules of thumb:

Front load subject lines with the most important information.

Keep the subject line as short as possible to convey the message.

Use longer subject lines only when there is a compelling reason to do so.

When in doubt, test.
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I hope you enjoyed the article.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle