Shoppers receive dozens (more like hundreds) of emails every day. Are you in department store marketing and wondering, “How can I make sure these subscribers open my email . . . Then come in and shop?”

Well, numbers never lie. Following data-driven trends increases email open rates. Data can also help you write better email subject lines. Here are some tips on how to write eye-catching subject lines that pay off in big ways for your brand. 

5 Tips to Improve your Email Marketing Subject Lines

1. Tell subscribers the benefit they will receive if they open your email. If the subject line can make your customer feel that the content of the email could impact them, it’ll likely get more opens. For example, change something like “News from Suits Company” to “100 Ways to Look Cool & Comfortable This Summer”

2. Emote with emojis. If you put emoji in an email subject line, it will more easily catch customers’ eyes. Something bright and colorful surely stands out in an inbox full of text.

3. Make subject lines concrete and easy to understand. If you can, use numbers to convey real, concrete information, such as “15% our 5 trendiest shirts” or “the first 100 people get 10% off!”

4. Tell them of timely offers. The right email subject line can make a customer think, "Oh! I gotta open this email right now.” Use this opportunity to mention restocking or limited time offers.

5. Personalize your subject line. Do whatever you can to personalize your subject lines. Include the recipient’s name, mention a previous purchase, whatever you can to make your subject lines focused on the individual. 

What Should You Avoid in Retail Marketing Subject Lines?

While the aforementioned tips boost email open rates, the following points are retail marketing mistakes to stay away from. 

• Ask questions, but not too many. You don’t want subscribers scratching their heads.
• Use emotional words. Use eye-catching, loaded words that subscribers don’t see every single day, week, whatever! Emojis aren’t the only eye-catching way to stand out. 
• Stay away from spammy language. Familiarize yourself with what sets off spam filters. Then stay away from those practices. 

Subject Line Characteristics in Emails with High Open Rates 

For buyers who receive a lot of emails every day, checking emails is not the most important task. Many people simply don’t pay great attention to their inboxes! If a subscriber does not find an email subject line interesting enough, your email will not be seen.  

So when a target customer opens their email app, what subject line characteristics will most likely catch their attention?

• Ensure they quickly understand your email’s entire message, just by looking at the subject line. Make sure your subscribers can understand the point of your email before opening it. If the customer can get a sense of what is inside, simply from the subject, the customer can understand why it’s beneficial to open it.
  
• Fits the right character count. Simply put, keep your subject line around 41 characters, max. Yes, that’s short, but you need to get your point across in a small amount of space.
  Of course, the number of characters in an inbox view does depend on the screen size of the email tool or the device someone is using. You may see that your subject line is truncated, but this can be ok, so long as your messaging is relayed early on in your writing.
  
• Put the Important words at the beginning. If a customer checks an email on a smartphone, the first view can only hold about 6 to 12 characters. Put the words that pack the most punch there.
  
• Don’t always discuss products; discuss how they’ll improve a lifestyle. This is especially true if you’re targeting email lists that haven’t purchased from you or are lapsed customers. Discuss a benefit to subscribers’ lives, such as, “Shimmer and shine at every holiday party.” As you nurture these potential customers, your messaging can start to get more forward with product promotion.

Get Email Marketing for Retail Examples 

It may be difficult to create a perfect email subject line from scratch. This is where data-driven creative insights can help! Combining insights gathered from across 10k+ email marketing programs is a great place to start. Try our free AI subject line generator to get started. 

You can customize subject lines to reflect campaigns, such as: 

• Welcome emails
• General sales
• Specific sales
• Product promotions
• Newsletters
• Win-back campaigns
• Oops emails

You can also select specific intentions for each of these campaign types, making it easier than ever to get started writing the best email subject lines. All AI-generated email subject lines take timeliness into account too, so you can know what will perform best tomorrow, next week, or next month.

Take Backstroke for a spin and generate 15 free creative email subject lines now!