If you have a mailing list of subscribers for your art and you’re not seeing your desired results, have you considered that your subject lines may be the culprit behind low engagement? It won’t matter if you’ve crafted the perfectly designed message if nobody even bothers to open your email! So let’s start with your subject lines and a few simple tips to make sure you’re making the most of them whether you’re looking for more sales, inquiries, or other interactions with your audience. 

Email Subject Line Tips

1. Remember your audience. 

I once tried out a subject line that I thought was clever for a new product launch. It was short, punchy, and grabbed attention. I thought for sure it would be a winner, but it flopped compared to one that shared the information about the product in a simple, direct way. In this case, I was thinking too much about what I thought would be interesting rather than what my audience would actually find most relevant to them. Always work backwards from who your clients or potential customers are to know the tone of voice and style of language that will work best to engage them.

2. Test as often as you can. 

In the previous example, the reason that I knew my direct option outperformed my clever option was that I used an A/B test to compare them. I sent out the same email to my subscriber list that had been randomly split into two equal groups, each segment receiving a different subject line. If you have a tool like this available to you with the email service provider you use, why not take advantage of it? In reality, once you get the hang of it, it doesn’t take that much longer than creating one of your normal newsletters. What’s even better is that you can test more than subject lines and find out the best times to send your emails, if different images or copy are more appealing to your audience, and so much more.

3. Incorporate words that build excitement or create urgency. 

If appropriate in your situation, include words to let people know that your content is time-sensitive and they should act quickly or they will miss out (e.g. hurry, last chance, final hours). Specific words can also get people to click by intriguing them or making them feel like they have access to something exclusive. Consider using phrases or words such as only, VIP, or first. What other words can you come up with that sound exciting to you? 

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you found this quick blog post useful. If so, you can find over 15 more tips for subject lines in my 100+ Email Subject Lines for Artists template. 

Cheers,

Alicia