Are you looking for outdoor outfitter subject lines to stand out? Want to make your next outdoor retailer email marketing campaign eye-catching? How do you stand out in your customers’ inboxes amidst a flood of other promotions and messages?
We’ve got 6 tips for your outdoor retail email subject line, as well as a game-changing tool to help you simplify the process.
6 Tips for Your Outdoor Retail Email Subject Line
- Divide and conquer - Segment your email messages so that you’re personalizing your message for your reader. To get their attention, show them all of what they like, and none of what they don’t. Customize your subject line to reflect that personalized message.
- Follow up - Let your email software do the work for you and send triggered emails for events like abandoned cart, birthdays, site browsing history, and more! Provide your customer a catered experience and make them feel like they’re the most important name on your list. Each triggered email will have its own subject line relevant to its goal.
- Funnel to your CTA - Set a clear goal for your email marketing campaign and measure the results. Your end goal is conversion through clicks in the email, so make sure everything funnels to that: your subject line, your email content, and even the text on your CTA button.
- Test a lot - Utilize techniques like A/B testing to see what subject lines perform best with your audiences and improve your conversion rates.
- Add value - Don’t always sell; give your customers value that is free to them and will keep them coming back for more. Tutorials, classes, information resources…let them know you’re around to help them, not just sell them stuff! Your subject line will be the first clue that you’re offering that value.
- Be memorable - The best companies become brands - a name and ideals to unite behind. How are you standing out in your customers’ inboxes as a distinct brand?
Why Is Email So Important for Outdoor Brands?
Email marketing is crucial to any online retail business. As an outdoor retailer, you probably use email campaigns to reach your customers about new products, sales, industry information, and more.
According to a report released in June 2022, “overall sales across core outdoor industry retail ran up ahead 19 percent in the twelve months through March 2022 on top of historic gains the prior year.”
As an outdoor retailer, you want to ride that growth wave, and email marketing is a huge tool for accomplishing that. From your email message to its design to its subject line, you want one cohesive message that drives a customer to your website and ultimately to purchase.
How can you increase your conversion rates? It all starts with the subject line.
Customize Content In Subject Lines
You’ve probably heard that market segmentation is important. That is absolutely true, especially as an outdoor retailer. Why? Chances are, your market is wide. You probably sell items for a range of activities, from running shoes, to camping supplies, to swimwear, to mountain bikes. Even if you are more specialized, you cater to different genders, ages, and preferences. Personalizing the subject line is a great way to grab the attention of multiple segments while saving the work of completely separate email campaigns.
Running a sale for Memorial Day? Instead of sending “Memorial Day Sale” in the subject line to everyone on your contact list, try catering to your audience. Send something like “15% off Mountain Bikes” to your cycling enthusiasts, “Time for New Running Shoes” to your marathoners, or “Suit Up for Summer” to paddlers and swimmers. The email body itself may be the same for all recipients and highlight all sales, but a personalized subject line will more likely merit an open.
Mad Fish Digital found that “Open rates on personalized emails are 29% higher than non-personalized digital mailings. Outdoor brands using custom emails also receive 41% higher unique click-through rates.”
People love a personalized touch, and the subject lines in their inbox should be no exception. Understanding your customers' exact intersts certainly helps to increase open rates, but AI can also help. It identifies trending subject line copy, phrases, and emojis within your own industry.
