How to make your subject lines sing

Your best emails don’t accomplish a thing if they don’t have effective subject lines. That’s where you should spend a big chunk of your time.

Here are some things to focus on, from the Bloomerang blog, at 6 Considerations For Fundraising Appeal Email Subject Lines:

1. The law (the CAN-SPAM act makes it clear you can’t use misleading or deceptive subject lines)
   
2. Spam filter trigger words and characters (check with your service provider; there are different opinions on what activates spam filters to keep you messages out of inboxes)
   
3. Clean data
   
4. Words humans ignore (here are some words found in a recent study to decrease open rates: helping, fundraising, raffle, fundraiser, charity, and — worst by a lot — donate)
   
5. Subject line length and format (study what’s working — you might be surprised)
   
6. Expert advice only goes so far (pay attention to what really works for you)
   

My rule for subject-line writers: Always write at least 10, and narrow them down to the best ones.