6 Mistakes to Avoid on Email Subject Lines

If you are a online employee, site owner, SEO/SEM or blog a lot, you probably need to contact people via email all the time. On some occasions you will also be the one starting the conversation and looking for a reply. Like, you might want to offer a guest article for a particular blog, or you might want to propose a business partnership to someone. Unless you craft your email messages smartly, though, there are good chances that the other person won’t even read them. Spam filters are the first obstacle, but even if your message goes though the other person might just delete it.

The subject line is probably the most important part of your message, and in this post I wanted to cover six mistakes that I see people making:

1. Creating one word subject lines

Have you ever received an email with the subject line “Hi”? If you have, you know how annoying it is. One word subject lines are terrible because they fail to communicate what the email is about, where it is coming from and the like (more on that later). Additionally, they might also reveal laziness or carelessness from the sender’s part, which might lead the receiver to ignore the email.

2. Making requests

People want to receive, not to give. If your subject line makes a request right away, the receiver will be less likely to open it. Examples include link exchange requests, voting requests and so on. A better approach to get the conversation going is to start by offering something.

3. Using spammy keywords

Using spammy keywords in your subject line is a no-no. Even if you get lucky and the spam filter does not block your message, there are good chances that the receiver will tag your message as spam as soon as he reads the subject line. Here is a short list of words to give you an idea of what should be avoided:

* free
* money
* win
* degree
* gift
* deal
* sign-up
* survey

4. Begging for attention

Using “Please Read This” as your subject line will not help convincing the receiver to open your email. Quite the opposite. The same is true for using words like “urgent,” “important” and similar.

5. Making it sound too good to be true

Real business or joint venture opportunities usually come from people you already have a relationship with. If you are going to email someone for the first time, therefore, avoiding using these terms, else you might be seen as a scammer.

6. Making it look like an automated message

If your subject like looks like an automated message from a website or online service, well, people will assume it indeed is. Just take a look at the automated messages you receive and avoid crafting your subject lines in the same fashion. One example is the “Invitation to…” subject line. Usually those come from social networks, and people tend to ignore them.

By now you might be asking yourself: “OK I understand the mistakes I need to avoid, but how should I craft a good subject line then?” For me a good email subject line should have two elements: a relevancy hook (i.e., a keyword that will assure the receiver that the email message is indeed for him, like his name or the name of his website) and a brief description of the content of the email (because even if the receiver knows your message is a legitimate one, he might not read it immediately or at all unless he knows what it is about).

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Adobe purchased Web platform builder Business Catalyst / GoodBarry

Business Catalyst's technology was built with Web designers in mind.

Adobe Systems has acquired Business Catalyst, which provides a platform for Web professionals to build online businesses, and its GoodBarry subsidiary, Adobe confirmed on Monday - Augist 31, 2009.

Business Catalyst offers an all-in-one Web site platform for Web professionals to build online businesses for clients at a fraction of the time and cost, without requiring any programming, Adobe said in a statement.

Business Catalyst "is a great complement to Adobe's existing tools and services for Web professionals, who are increasingly looking to hosted services to deliver Web sites and online businesses," the company Web site states.

GoodBarry, meanwhile, features an integrated system for running Web sites and offers email marketing. GoodBarry has been around since 2004.

"There are some changes we'll be making to GoodBarry in the coming months," according to the GoodBarry site.

"Most importantly, we'll be refocusing our marketing and sales efforts on the Web professional market (via businesscatalyst.com), as opposed to Web-savvy DIYers such as you. In other words, this means that eventually we will cease 'retail' operations and focus on our wholesale operations and we will only be selling subscriptions to our software via our partner and reseller network."

The site also says GoodBarry soon will be only for Web designers. The GoodBarry brand will be shut down on 1 October.

"You'll be able to create free trials until 1st October 2009, and you'll be able to upgrade those sites until 1st of November 2009. After that date, no sites will be able to be upgraded via GoodBarry," the site states.

The current Business Catalyst team is expected to remain largely intact at Adobe, Business Catalyst said.

The company also expressed a continued commitment to partners and customers. Adobe did not provide information on the cost of the acquisition.

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WebXpress developers have built hundreds of Adobe Business Catalyst websites from the ground up and we will find a solution to any requirements you have with the system.

Business Catalyst (BC) is intended for online businesses and consists of the essential tools required for companies that focus on design and web development.