Email communication is an indispensable tool for reaching out to potential and existing customers. However, there are so many messages hitting inboxes every day. And it's becoming increasingly difficult to cut through the noise and get your message opened, read, and acted on. 

This is where subject lines come in — they act as the "gateway" to your email content, enticing your audience to take notice and click through. A well-crafted subject line can mean the difference between getting ignored or getting re-engaged. In fact, nearly half of recipients open emails based on subject lines alone. 

In this blog post, we'll explore some key tips for creating subject lines that get results in reconnecting emails.

The importance of subject line for reconnecting email

Subject lines are one of the most important aspects of email marketing, especially when reconnecting with subscribers who have gone silent. A well-crafted subject line can make or break your email campaign, as it is the first thing your recipients will see and judge before deciding whether to open or delete your email. Therefore, it is crucial to pay attention to your subject lines to ensure that they are effective in building anticipation and encouraging opens.

The subject line is the digital equivalent of a book cover. It entices readers to pick up the book and dive into the story. In the same way, the subject line is the face of your email. If poorly written or misleading, it can lead to low open rates and negatively affect your reputation. On the other hand, a good subject line can grab your recipient's attention, evoke emotion and entice them to open and engage with your email.

Understanding your audience: the first step in crafting a winning subject line

When it comes to reconnecting with old customers or prospects, the right email subject line can make all the difference. However, one subject line doesn't fit all. 

The first step in crafting a winning subject line is to understand your audience. Your audience is composed of people with different values, goals, lifestyles, etc. You need to know their preferences, behavior, and pain points to appeal to them effectively.

To comprehend your audience's preferences, start by segmenting your contacts – divide your contact list based on the information you know about them, such as their demographics, location, interests, previous purchase history, etc. Then, leverage this information to personalize your networking email subject line. A recent study revealed that personalized subject lines increase open rates by 29% based on a comparison with generic subject lines.

Behavioral data is another crucial aspect to consider. What pages do your customers like to visit on your website? What type of content do they engage with the most on your social media platforms? Understanding your customers' behavior will help you segment your audience into actionable groups so that you can personalize your subject lines to resonate with each group.

Finally, take customers' pain points into consideration. What problems do they need to solve? What needs and goals do they have? Addressing these questions provides helpful insights into how you can craft a subject line that emphasizes how your offering can solve their problems. When you know your audience, it's easier to craft a subject line that gets a forgotten customer or prospect's attention, and ultimately, drives them to take action.

Using personalization to connect with your recipient

Crafting an email and sending it out without any personalization may not always guarantee that it will be opened or read. Personalization is one of the most effective techniques in email marketing, and this is especially important when reconnecting with potential customers or dormant clients. Personalization is more than just including the recipient’s first name and job title in the message. It involves segmenting and understanding your audience's preferences, interests, and behaviors. This is so you can create tailor-made content that resonates with them.

To personalize your email, start by collecting data about your target audience. Analyze your email list for commonalities such as age range, demographics, or preferences. Create audience personas to help you understand their interests, challenges, and goals better. Using this information, you can segment your email lists and create email content that is relevant to each group. In doing so, you will have a higher chance of creating a connection with each recipient, and they will feel that the email was specifically created for them.

You can also personalize your emails by referencing a specific action, networking events, or interaction that you previously had with the recipient. This could include sending an email to follow up with a potential client after a sales pitch or mentioning something you discussed in a previous interaction to make professional connections. Personalization is not limited to the email body but also extends to the email subject line. 

Overall, personalization in email helps build trust and enhances engagement with potential clients inside or outside your personal network. It creates a sense of importance and value in their minds. Using personalization techniques can also reduce the chances of the email being seen as spam, increasing your email deliverability and achieving your email marketing goals.

Crafting a catchy subject line with specificity and urgency

A specific subject line provides clarity and gives the recipient a better idea of what to expect in the email. For example, instead of using a generic subject line like “Update from XYZ Company,” use a specific subject line like “New service offering: Get 10% off your first purchase.”

Urgency is another effective way to make your networking email subject lines attention-grabbing. By creating a sense of urgency in the subject line, you can create a fear of missing out (FOMO) in the recipient's mind. For example, “24-hour flash sale: Get 50% off” or “Last chance: Limited coaching program slots available” are great examples of creating urgency in subject lines.

It’s important to strike a balance between specificity and urgency. Using too much urgency can come off as pushy or spammy, leaving a bad impression on the recipient. Similarly, being too specific can sometimes make the subject line too long or boring. Therefore, it is crucial to find the right balance to create an effective subject line that will grab the recipient's attention without being too pushy or boring.

Optimizing for mobile: subject line tips to ensure your emails get opened on any device

In today's fast-paced world, people rely heavily on their mobile devices to manage their personal and professional lives. Therefore, it is essential to optimize subject lines for mobile to ensure maximum email open rates. 

Keep subject lines short

With the rise of mobile usage, the need for shorter, more concise subject lines has become more critical than ever before. It's vital to keep your subject line brief, clear, and to the point. Anything more than 50 characters should be avoided.

Make them visually appealing

In addition to keeping subject lines short, it's essential to make sure they are visually appealing on mobile devices. Use emojis, punctuation, and capitalization to make your subject line stand out. Remember, mobile screens are smaller than desktop screens, so it's crucial to create something compelling that will grab the reader's attention with just a glance.

Make them scannable 

Another critical factor in optimizing subject lines for mobile is making them scannable. People don't read emails word for word on their mobile devices. Instead, they skim over the text to get the gist of what's being communicated. The subject line must be scannable, meaning it should be easily digestible at a glance. So try to keep it to a maximum of five or six words.

Consider the platform you’re using

Lastly, when optimizing subject lines for mobile devices, consider the platform or email client. Some clients like Gmail truncate the subject line beyond a certain length, so you need to make sure the most critical information is at the beginning of the subject line. You don't want the reader to miss out on anything vital. Keeping in mind the email client and its formatting limitations can help you create subject lines that work on any smartphone screen or email platform.

Testing and measuring: how to continuously improve your reconnecting email strategies

To ensure that your reconnecting email campaigns perform well, it is vital to understand your audience and even more vital to test them out. Your audience's behaviors, interests, and preferences are constantly evolving. And it is important to keep up with those changes. Performing A/B testing is one of the most effective ways to understand what drives your recipients into opening a professional networking email. A/B testing involves sending two different versions of an email to small segments of your audience and measuring which one gets opened more.

Analyzing data

Data analytics can be an essential tool to enhance your rebuilding email campaigns. Data can help you examine your email open rates, click-through rates, sending frequency, and more. With careful data analysis, you can understand what works and what doesn't. Consequently, this helps you avoid future mistakes. The data will reveal whether your target audience prefers text-heavy, visual-heavy, or text-and-visual content. You can come up with a further strategy to optimize email campaigns in the future with insights from data analysis.

Testing

It is important to test various subject lines with different copy, images, CTAs, and design layouts. To ensure your campaign is performing well on all devices, especially when it comes to the subject line, you need to test it out. When personalizing your subject line and email copy, always ensure that your recipient's name and other information are correct. Also, make sure that the text formatting, whether it is bold, italicized, or underlined, is consistent with your brand guidelines.

Experimenting 

To keep learning, keep trying new creative ideas and testing new strategies. Never stop experimenting with email campaigns. This means finding new ways to make use of customer data, and AB testing different elements of your campaigns with each email sent. A successful rebuilding email campaign program depends on constant learning, testing, and updating. Ensure that you always analyze your email campaign metrics after every test and continue to compare the success of each test to your campaign's overall benchmarks so that you can continuously improve.

Craft the best subject lines with B12 

Need help coming up with compelling subject lines? B12 is the all-in-one platform that helps you boost your email marketing efforts. Leverage pre-written email messages or write new copy yourself or with help from AI. With B12, all of your emails automatically match the look of your website. You can also track email metrics from within B12, gaining insights to more effectively engage your audience. Get started for free.