by Tony Vidler       

We all hear about nthe importance of the subject line in a message, and then spend hours carefully constructing messages and marketing campaigns and thinking that we’ve come up with a winning subject line.  Often however we make the mistake of including one of the words or phrases in the subject line that is a killer.

All that effort wasted as the message more often than not simply gets deleted without being read at all.

For example; Any email or message that arrives with the word “winner” in the subject line gets kicked into touch by me immediately.  It is an instant delete without any further consideration.   I realise that I have quite possibly missed out on several billion Euro’s and/or US Dollars by not claiming my many lottery wins, but then I haven’t let in any identity thieves yet either.

In any single day I get a lot of emails, and I send a lot…there are literally hundreds in and out.  So I see a lot of subject lines and I write quite a few too, and I’ve learned a whole bunch of words that are a very quick turn off and just shouldn’t be used in subject lines.  I’ve been keeping track of a lot (mostly as a checklist for myself so I don’t fall into the trap of using them), and I’ve listed the biggest offenders below.

Before heading to the list of Killer Subject Line Words it is worth sharing some research from Mailchimp. We often hear that implying there is time sensitivity – the “limited time” or “urgency” rush – helps influence open rates on messages…..but does it?

It doesn’t appear to affect open rates significantly does it?

‘The other big one that often gets touted as being a great and compelling word in a subject line is FREE!

….and I am guilty as charged….I’ve used it a few times myself.    But it is really another killer in financial services.

Clearly I am still learning what works and what doesn’t, but the following are words and phrases that I am sure do not work well at all:

…and the number 1 killer (for me) is
“Wait!”

These are all words and phrases that can and do have legitimate use perhaps, however they are deadly in a subject line as they will reduce the engagement rates.  Combining several of them will probably get your message isolated in a spam filter before it gets anywhere near the addressee…

So Don’t Delete this Dear Friend…You should Urgently Act Now on this Amazing Opportunity to Lose your Competition and achieve Financial Freedom For You.  So Open Now and Take A Look – just Click Here ….

…or maybe not.

The subject line or heading of a message or advertisement is undoubtedly critical to the level of engagement, so even if you are not a great copywriter, then at least check to make sure the Killer Words and phrases aren’t there.  Give your message a chance to get through.

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