By Sean Tinney Might 17, 2024
The topic line is a very powerful a part of your advertising emails, bar none.
It’s so necessary that 47% of recipients solely take into account the topic line when deciding whether or not to open an electronic mail, whereas 69% report emails as spam based mostly solely on the topic line.
In only a few characters, you’ve acquired to seize the recipient’s consideration and provides them a compelling cause to click on. So that you’re probably questioning: “How lengthy ought to an electronic mail topic line be?”
To reply that query, AWeber’s in-house electronic mail specialists analyzed 1,000 topic strains from 100 prime entrepreneurs to grasp their method. Learn on to study…
- The common electronic mail topic line size
- One of the best size for a topic line
- How lengthy is too lengthy for a topic line
…plus we’ll share a bunch of concerns and finest practices that can assist you craft must-click topic strains each time.
Let’s get into it:
What’s the common size of a topic line?
AWeber’s evaluation of 1,000 topic strains from prime entrepreneurs found that the typical electronic mail topic line size is 44 characters (together with areas).
How lengthy is 44 characters? For perspective, the beneath topic line from theSkimm (a well-liked every day e-newsletter) is 43 characters in size:
Topic line: Every day Skimm: I’ve acquired the world on a string
Nevertheless, our analysis unturned a variety of character counts, with one in 9 topic strains measuring 20 characters or fewer, and about one-fifth clocking in at 61+ characters.
👉 Study extra: Email Subject Line Best Practices To Get More Opens
What’s the finest topic line size?
One of the best electronic mail topic line size is from 30 – 50 characters and as much as seven phrases.
Right here’s an instance that hits the mark courtesy of the Content material Advertising and marketing Institute, containing seven phrases and 38 characters:
Topic line: How To Put together for the Information Apocalypse
👉 Study extra: 100+ Amazing Subject Line Examples
Can a topic line be too lengthy?
Sure!
With most electronic mail suppliers, you possibly can technically create topic strains of as much as 988 characters.
Nevertheless, that’s waaaaaaaaay longer than the purpose at which the topic line will minimize off in your recipients’ inboxes. And if nobody’s ever going to learn all these additional characters, what’s the purpose in writing them?
Realistically, any topic line longer than ~100 characters will likely be truncated on the overwhelming majority of gadgets, whereas the Gmail app for iPhone doesn’t show something past 38 characters (extra on this within the subsequent part).
E mail topic line components to think about
Now that the specialists write 44-character topic strains, preserve yours to 44 characters and also you’ve acquired the right topic line, proper?
Clearly not.
There are just a few different components to think about when creating your electronic mail advertising topic strains. However don’t fear, we’ll cowl them right here.
The gadgets your prospects are utilizing
Does most of your viewers use an iPhone to learn their electronic mail? Or are they largely on desktops? The system your prospects use to open and examine their emails is extraordinarily necessary when crafting your topic strains.
The common inbox shows about 60 characters on a desktop whereas the typical cellular system shows solely 30 characters. The rest will get minimize off.
The e-mail supplier your prospects are utilizing
Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, or Apple? The platform your subscribers use for electronic mail impacts what number of characters seem in your topic strains.
Gadget + electronic mail supplier
Now let’s do the maths: Combining gadgets and electronic mail suppliers provides you a set of variables.
For instance, let’s check out the topic line character limits for Gmail on totally different gadgets:
App/system | Topic line characters |
Gmail app | 38 characters |
iPhone Mail app | 46 characters |
Gmail on a 15” laptop computer | 98 characters |
So why does this matter?
For instance, check out this instance displaying the identical electronic mail topic line from PersonalizationMall, displayed throughout totally different gadgets and mail apps:
They did an excellent job creating urgency with the topic line: “Sean Your Triple Low cost Coupon Expires As we speak”.
However sadly I view most of my emails on my iPhone Mail App and didn’t see that the provide expired the evening I acquired the e-mail.
What might they’ve carried out in a different way? You’ll discover out beneath after we discuss electronic mail topic line size finest practices.
Wish to know which suppliers to care most about? A research by Litmus analyzed the most popular email providers, apps, and devices, with the highest 5 being:
Supplier/app/system | Market share |
Apple | 51.4% |
Gmail | 33.0% |
Outlook | 5.2% |
Yahoo! Mail | 2.7% |
Google Android | 1.8% |
Finest practices for electronic mail topic line size
With so many various mixtures, how can anybody write a subject line that will stand out?
Let’s get again to our advertising specialists: 71.1% of the 1,000 topic strains we analyzed had been between 21 and 60 characters.
To face out from everybody else, as an alternative of specializing in size alone, take into account different components which will have an effect on your open charges.
1. Maintain your most necessary data within the first 30 characters
Over 50% of emails are opened on cellular gadgets. Most electronic mail purchasers, like Gmail and Yahoo!, cease displaying an electronic mail topic line on cellular gadgets as soon as it reaches between 33 and 43 characters. The precise quantity varies from one electronic mail shopper to a different.
In case you have a powerful provide, you shouldn’t be pressured to restrict your email marketing topic line size. To optimize it for cellular readers, put a very powerful data within the first 30 characters. This fashion, this message gained’t get minimize off within the inbox.
2. Use the preheader to boost your message
The preheader is the extra textual content that seems subsequent to or beneath your topic line in an inbox. Preheaders assist praise your topic line and can be utilized as that additional piece of textual content which can in any other case get minimize off on the finish of a topic line.
👉 Study extra: Email Preheaders: Tips to Increasing Your Open Rates
3. Don’t be too wordy
Simpler mentioned than carried out. I’m personally somebody who rambles on and infrequently makes use of extra phrases than wanted when speaking about one thing.
How do I overcome this when writing topic strains?
I begin by writing every thing I wish to say in my topic line, then I scale back it by eliminating or changing sure phrases.
Right here’s an train:
Topic line thought: Rise up to 50% off Athletic Sneakers this Saturday solely
This instance is 51 characters lengthy. How can I modify this to scale back the topic line?
How about: As much as 50% off Athletic Sneakers on Saturday
This train decreased my topic line characters to 40.
4. Take a look at your topic strains
Each viewers is totally different. Strive brief and lengthy topic strains together with your subscribers to see what works finest in your distinctive viewers.
Arrange an A/B cut up check, sending 10% – 20% of the viewers the check with the successful variation receiving the remaining 80% – 90%. This fashion you maximize your open charges by guaranteeing the strongest topic line will get despatched to the vast majority of your viewers.
👉 Study extra: Stop Guessing and Start Testing: Improve Your Emails with A/B Split Testing
5. Personalize your electronic mail topic strains
Emails with personalised topic strains see an average open rate of 35.69%, in comparison with simply 16.67% for non-personalized electronic mail topic strains.
However “personalization” can imply a variety of various things, from including the recipient’s title to your topic strains, to providing them a personalised low cost or product advice based mostly on their shopping or buy historical past.
So which method is finest?
Right here’s the reply:
Kind of topic line personalization | Common open price |
Including recipient’s first title | 43.41% |
Including recipient’s firm title | 35.65% |
Including personalised ache factors | 28% |
👉 Study extra: From Vanilla to Wow: Using Personalized Emails to Speak to Your Audience
6. Take a look at emojis in topic strains
Emojis add a pop of colour to your electronic mail topic strains, which may help them stand out in a crowded inbox:
Or a minimum of, that’s the speculation. In observe, entrepreneurs have seen blended outcomes from together with emojis in topic strains:
👍 One study discovered that manufacturers utilizing topic line emojis see a mean 56% improve of their distinctive open charges…
👎 …however separate research found that topic strains with out emojis see barely larger open charges (at 52.94% vs 47.06%)
For that cause, we suggest A/B testing emojis to see how they play together with your viewers.
👉 Study extra: Everything You Need to Know About Using Emojis in Your Subject Line
Case research: Must you take into account shorter topic strains?
You may wish to experiment with even shorter topic strains.
Brian Dean, founding father of search engine marketing firm Backlinko and one of many 100 prime entrepreneurs whose emails we analyzed, used to ship emails with longer topic strains. These topic strains instructed his subscribers precisely what they’d discover contained in the message.
The issue with that?
“It gave folks no cause to really open my electronic mail,” he mentioned.
Now, he sends topic strains with a mean of 15.1 characters.
“After numerous testing, I’ve discovered that brief topic strains get a lot larger open charges,” Dean mentioned.
He attributes this to 2 components:
- Brief topic strains attain the inbox extra continuously
- Brief topic strains are extra mysterious
Listed below are just a few of Dean’s brief electronic mail topic strains. All are below 15 characters lengthy:
Topic line: New Method |
Topic line: E mail Outreach |
Topic line: Weblog Posts |
They offer the recipient a transparent image of what the e-mail is about, with out gifting away any details about the precise contents.
In fact, should you’re going to undertake this technique, you’ll nearly definitely should repeat a few of your topic strains, so they may lose their impression.
Brian will get away with it as a result of his subscribers know he all the time offers distinctive, actionable insights — so his topic strains don’t should do an excessive amount of heavy lifting.
Write must-click topic strains with AWeber
Our evaluation reveals that the typical electronic mail topic line size is 44 characters, whereas the really useful size is between 30 and 50 characters.
However that may not be the right size in your model.
As we’ve seen, Backlinko boosted their open charges by slicing the size of their topic strains. Possibly your viewers will favor shorter topic strains, too — or maybe they’d be extra prone to click on should you offered some additional context?
The one approach to discover out is to check, check, and check some extra.
With AWeber, you possibly can A/B check nearly any factor of your electronic mail, from topic strains and calls to motion to colours, templates, preheaders, and extra. So that you don’t should depend on guesswork or business benchmarks to write down topic strains your viewers loves.
Get started by signing up for your free AWeber account today!