These subject lines are sure to boost your senior care emails
The subject line is the most crucial link in the chain when it comes to how well-read your newsletters will be.
Whether it’s a phrase short or long, the subject line is your eye-opener, your elevator pitch, or your conversation-starter at a party, if you will.
The famous “pope of Madison Avenue,” David Ogilvie, said that he would work a headline over for his print ads 18 times until he got one that he liked. So it pays to spend time in worthwhile agony over this part of your email.
When you think of it, there are only two factors that determine whether your audience will open your email: the subject line, and your reputation for quality content. We’ll tackle the first one in this article.
Three subject line themes to improve your agency’s marketing
Our findings in this article will likely help senior care agencies who need to bolster their email popularity. In other words, if you follow the principles here, and stay true to the top types of subject lines, you will gain credibility and loyalty with your seniors and stakeholders.
We at Savvy Senior Marketing wanted to find out which of our own email subject lines worked well. So we looked over the first 27 newsletters in our automated system of emails. We categorized them into various topics. There were three categories that scored an open rate of 40% or more. In our data-gathering, we allowed a single email to fall into more than one of the three categories.
The three top subject line types that gained 40% or more are below. (An open rate of 30% is considered very good. Our average rate of 41% for these 27 newsletters is excellent.)
The three winning types of subject lines:
- Number in Subject Line. Those that mentioned a number in the subject line, whether it was “Four top email tips to boost your home care service,” or one that mentioned “this one big flaw” were counted. Numbers indicate certainty, and evoke an idea of scientific credibility. Our open rate average for this: 50%.
- Fault-Finding. This one, like the late comedian Don Rickles, criticizes its audience. Its attraction is based on the revelation of a shortcoming in the home care agency’s marketing. The reader may fear he is guilty with a flaw in his approach. He is motivated in part by fear. Open rate average for us was: 44%.
- Expert Cited. Everyone respects the knowledgeable professional, and thus newly-published books, scientific studies and respected news outlets are part of this lure. This is tied in closely with news appeal. Everyone wants to know the latest discovery. Open rate average here was: 40%.
The percentages for each of the three categories represent the average open rate of several newsletters in each category. We admit that this is a small study, but it shows some helpful data.
There were also several types of subject lines for which there was only one email. We mention them here since, even though they are statistically less significant, they are nevertheless also winners. Please refer to the chart below for the full subject lines.
Other subject line winners
- Welcome (first) newsletter: 50%
- Mastermind newsletter: 46%
- SEO newsletter: 46%
- Good Friday newsletter (seasonal): 41%
- Internet hype newsletter: 40%
The chart below shows the actual sequence of emails in our system. In other words, the first email a subscriber receives typically gets the highest open rate, since you get the merely curious readers. Marketers know that the open rate tends to taper off as time goes on. (There are ways to remedy this, but that is a subject for another article.) Thus, you see that the open rate drops to the 30’s toward the end of the chart. But a good subject line, as you can see, regains reader loyalty.
The home care company should tailor their subject lines to the interests of their readership. Articles on aging gracefully, safety, how to choose a senior care agency, family relationships and so on will attract readers’ attention.
The above three types of subject lines show that it’s important to:
- Convey scientifically-based material (number in subject line)
- Explain fearful things to avoid (fault-finding), and
- Portray knowledgeable professionals who can help us (expert cited).
Let us at Savvy Senior Marketing help you in crafting meaningful emails with attention-getting subject lines. Call us at the number above, or contact us.
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