By Sean Tinney Could 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 think about the topic line when deciding whether or not to open an electronic mail, whereas 69% report emails as spam primarily based solely on the topic line.
In only a few characters, you’ve bought to seize the recipient’s consideration and provides them a compelling cause to click on. So that you’re seemingly questioning: “How lengthy ought to an electronic mail topic line be?”
To reply that query, AWeber’s in-house electronic mail consultants analyzed 1,000 topic strains from 100 prime entrepreneurs to know their strategy. Learn on to study…
- The typical electronic mail topic line size
- The perfect size for a topic line
- How lengthy is too lengthy for a topic line
…plus we’ll share a bunch of issues and finest practices that will help 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 under topic line from theSkimm (a well-liked day by day e-newsletter) is 43 characters in size:
Topic line: Every day Skimm: I’ve bought the world on a string
Nonetheless, 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.
👉 Be taught extra: Email Subject Line Best Practices To Get More Opens
What’s the finest topic line size?
The perfect 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
👉 Be taught extra: 100+ Amazing Subject Line Examples
Can a topic line be too lengthy?
Sure!
With most electronic mail suppliers, you may technically create topic strains of as much as 988 characters.
Nonetheless, 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 units, whereas the Gmail app for iPhone doesn’t show something past 38 characters (extra on this within the subsequent part).
Electronic mail topic line elements to contemplate
Now that you realize the consultants write 44-character topic strains, preserve yours to 44 characters and also you’ve bought the proper topic line, proper?
Clearly not.
There are a number of different elements to contemplate when creating your electronic mail advertising topic strains. However don’t fear, we’ll cowl them right here.
The units your clients are utilizing
Does most of your viewers use an iPhone to learn their electronic mail? Or are they largely on desktops? The machine your clients use to open and consider their emails is extraordinarily necessary when crafting your topic strains.
The typical inbox shows about 60 characters on a desktop whereas the typical cellular machine shows solely 30 characters. The rest will get minimize off.
The e-mail supplier your clients 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.
System + electronic mail supplier
Now let’s do the maths: Combining units and electronic mail suppliers offers you a set of variables.
For instance, let’s check out the topic line character limits for Gmail on totally different units:
| App/machine | 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?
As an example, check out this instance displaying the identical electronic mail topic line from PersonalizationMall, displayed throughout totally different units and mail apps:
They did an important job creating urgency with the topic line: “Sean Your Triple Low cost Coupon Expires Immediately”.
However sadly I view most of my emails on my iPhone Mail App and didn’t see that the provide expired the night time I obtained the e-mail.
What might they’ve finished in another way? You’ll discover out under after we discuss electronic mail topic line size finest practices.
Wish to know which suppliers to care most about? A examine by Litmus analyzed the most popular email providers, apps, and devices, with the highest 5 being:
| Supplier/app/machine | 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 alternative mixtures, how can anybody write a subject line that will stand out?
Let’s get again to our advertising consultants: 71.1% of the 1,000 topic strains we analyzed have been between 21 and 60 characters.
To face out from everybody else, as a substitute of specializing in size alone, think about different elements that will have an effect on your open charges.
1. Hold your most necessary info within the first 30 characters
Over 50% of emails are opened on cellular units. Most electronic mail shoppers, like Gmail and Yahoo!, cease displaying an electronic mail topic line on cellular units as soon as it reaches between 33 and 43 characters. The precise quantity varies from one electronic mail consumer to a different.
If in case you have a robust provide, you shouldn’t be pressured to restrict your email marketing topic line size. To optimize it for cellular readers, put a very powerful info within the first 30 characters. This manner, this message gained’t get minimize off within the inbox.
2. Use the preheader to reinforce your message
The preheader is the extra textual content that seems subsequent to or under 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.
👉 Be taught extra: Email Preheaders: Tips to Increasing Your Open Rates
3. Don’t be too wordy
Simpler stated than finished. 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 part I need to say in my topic line, then I cut back it by eliminating or changing sure phrases.
Right here’s an train:
Topic line thought: Stand up to 50% off Athletic Footwear 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 Footwear on Saturday
This train diminished my topic line characters to 40.
4. Check your topic strains
Each viewers is totally different. Attempt brief and lengthy topic strains along with your subscribers to see what works finest to your distinctive viewers.
Arrange an A/B break up check, sending 10% – 20% of the viewers the check with the profitable variation receiving the remaining 80% – 90%. This manner you maximize your open charges by making certain the strongest topic line will get despatched to the vast majority of your viewers.
👉 Be taught extra: Stop Guessing and Start Testing: Improve Your Emails with A/B Split Testing
5. Personalize your electronic mail topic strains
Emails with customized 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 number of various things, from including the recipient’s identify to your topic strains, to providing them a personalised low cost or product advice primarily based on their shopping or buy historical past.
So which strategy is finest?
Right here’s the reply:
| Kind of topic line personalization | Common open fee |
| Including recipient’s first identify | 43.41% |
| Including recipient’s firm identify | 35.65% |
| Including customized ache factors | 28% |
👉 Be taught extra: From Vanilla to Wow: Using Personalized Emails to Speak to Your Audience
6. Check emojis in topic strains
Emojis add a pop of colour to your electronic mail topic strains, which may also help them stand out in a crowded inbox:
Or at the least, that’s the idea. In observe, entrepreneurs have seen combined outcomes from together with emojis in topic strains:
👍 One study discovered that manufacturers utilizing topic line emojis see a median 56% improve of their distinctive open charges…
👎 …however separate research found that topic strains with out emojis see barely greater open charges (at 52.94% vs 47.06%)
For that cause, we advocate A/B testing emojis to see how they play along with your viewers.
👉 Be taught extra: Everything You Need to Know About Using Emojis in Your Subject Line
Case examine: Must you think about shorter topic strains?
You may need to experiment with even shorter topic strains.
Brian Dean, founding father of web optimization 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 truly open my electronic mail,” he stated.
Now, he sends topic strains with a median of 15.1 characters.
“After a lot of testing, I’ve discovered that brief topic strains get a lot greater open charges,” Dean stated.
He attributes this to 2 elements:
- Brief topic strains attain the inbox extra incessantly
- Brief topic strains are extra mysterious
Listed here are a number of of Dean’s brief electronic mail topic strains. All are below 15 characters lengthy:
| Topic line: New Method |
| Topic line: Electronic mail Outreach |
| Topic line: Weblog Posts |
They provide the recipient a transparent image of what the e-mail is about, with out freely giving any details about the precise contents.
In fact, when you’re going to undertake this technique, you’ll nearly actually must repeat a few of your topic strains, so they may lose their influence.
Brian will get away with it as a result of his subscribers know he at all times gives distinctive, actionable insights — so his topic strains don’t must do an excessive amount of heavy lifting.
Write must-click topic strains with AWeber
Our evaluation exhibits that the typical electronic mail topic line size is 44 characters, whereas the really helpful size is between 30 and 50 characters.
However that may not be the proper size to your model.
As we’ve seen, Backlinko boosted their open charges by slicing the size of their topic strains. Perhaps your viewers will favor shorter topic strains, too — or maybe they’d be extra more likely to click on when you offered some additional context?
The one strategy to discover out is to check, check, and check some extra.
With AWeber, you may A/B check nearly any aspect of your electronic mail, from topic strains and calls to motion to colours, templates, preheaders, and extra. So that you don’t must depend on guesswork or trade benchmarks to jot down topic strains your viewers loves.
Get started by signing up for your free AWeber account today!
