The September issue of our Let’s Grow enewsletter discussed Best and Worst Subject Lines Compared. In it, I cited a somewhat counterintuitive study of open rates by email service provider MailChimp. Their survey suggested that non-descript email subject lines might actually be more powerful than traditional “teaser” or other sales copy. I decided to see for myself, and tested it on our own enewsletter, with a promise to report the results in this blog.
Through August of this year, our subject lines included the newsletter name, the month, and the subject of the email. For instance, our August subject line was Let’s Grow, Aug. Your emails: opened or trashed?
For September, we switched to Let’s Grow Newsletter, Sept 2009, and followed suit again in November.
The results were fascinating. Our average open rate this year through August was 33.5%, and it’s been pretty consistent from issue to issue. In September, it moved up to 35.2%. In November, it climbed further to 37.1% — 11% higher than our previous average, while making subject lines easier to write.
I still find it a little hard to believe, and I’m looking forward to seeing if the trend continues!
