Have you
ever come back from vacation, opened your email and simply had too many emails
to go through? Many, probably most, of us would simply hit DELETE. If you’ve
ever requested information online, entered a contest, received a free book or
even had your email exposed on someone’s mass mailing, you are probably receiving
a literal ton of emails — and let’s not forget all of those emails from foreign
attorneys who are just writing to let us know how much money we’re inheriting from
some relative we never knew we had and all have to do is send our private
banking info…
Anyway, back
to the subject (sorry), the email you sent to a busy executive with your
finished manuscript, query letter or resume is probably sitting in a jumble of
emails. There’s a strong chance that the only emails she’ll open have either
come from a name she recognizes or a subject line that interests her; hopefully
she won’t simply delete the rest and she’ll trudge her way through most of them
in the next week or two.
Email
subject lines should be eye-catching but ON TARGET, it has to allude to the
subject. Don’t be purposely misleading just to get attention. If you use a
simple “Hi there” you might have lots of company; there is nothing to set you
apart from the rest.
Which subject line would seem more interesting to you: “Sinkhole Swallows Man” or “Hole Under House” — either heading is
accurate for the 2013 tragedy that made newspaper headlines, but the first paints
more of a picture and therefore will draw the reader’s attention better. A headline such as “Lost in Sand Trap” is both vague and misleading;
it’s possible that someone clicking on this title is expecting something about
golf and will be disappointed when he begins to read. Disappointing someone you
are trying to pitch to is not an auspicious beginning.
Apply the
same principle to blog post headings — keep it on topic. Story headings and
book titles allow a little more leeway but should still be indicative of the
content. Use powerful and descriptive words to make your headlines a bit
catchier. Notice which email subject lines draw your attention first and
emulate the proven success to see if it works for you. If you Google the term “email
subject keywords” you can come up with some attention getting words and
phrases.
Writing
Exercise: Open your (unopened) email list and choose any ten email
subjects. Write down the subject and BEFORE you open the email to read it grade
each 1, 2, or 3 with 3 being the most intriguing and 1 being the least
interesting. Next write a sentence or two of what you THINK the email is about.
Finally open each email and check which email content meets your expectations;
note the subject words used and how apt or inappropriate they were.
Writing
Prompt: Make a list of titles (up to 12) for blog posts you can
write. Make sure that what you want to write will be well represented by the
heading.
Challenge
Assignment: Using the list of titles you made, actually write a blog
post (up to 350 words) for each and post on your blog; space them out by a few
days to a week each. After you’ve posted a few of the blogs check the SITE
STATS (most blogs have these in the administrative page) or comments to see if
you are getting a response.
