Over the past few months we have been experimenting with some, for lack of a better word, “provocative” and “attention getting” subject lines for our client’s mailings. For example…
“Before you go…”
“Have you ever lied on a reference check?”
“Shut up and listen???”
“You’re Fired!” (ok, we even admit we were worried about this one)
After testing these subject lines we were thrilled with the results. All themes saw an increase in opens and clicks. The best results came from our Candidate newsletter (Shut up and listen???). The average open rate and click through for the Candidate newsletter has doubled since June!
One interesting test that we did within the candidate newsletter involved a client who does not like to use provocative language in their emails and articles. So I changed their subject line from “Shut up and listen???” to “Talking=Unemployment”. This client actually had the second lowest open rate of the month, 5% compared to an average of 12% for clients who used the “Shut up” subject line.
Now the key here is to make sure you are not “pushing the envelope” every month. But you should still spend a good amount of time brainstorming attention getting subject lines. Think about what would make you stop what you were doing and open an email.
The best part of this test is that we really didn’t get much push back from our clients or their recipients. We even had a few funny responses to the “You’re Fired” subject line. It was so good to see most of our clients willing to take a chance with their marketing!
Todd Lewandowski has nearly 10 years of marketing experience in the staffing and recruiting industry. Todd has worked with over 100 staffing and recruiting firms in the development and execution of email marketing programs.
If you would like to discuss email marketing for your firm, please contact Todd at todd@haleymarketing.com.