Email Marketers: Do you read the 'FROM' or 'SUBJECT' columns? Some food for thought...

by kswr123

Posted: 14 years ago 26 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hey there!

Well, this morning, I was looking through my emails, and I realised something:

I did NOT look at the 'subject' column, only the 'from' column. I was opening selected emails based on who they were from, as I am on a few lists, and I get regular emails from clients, etc. I don't generally have time to read everything, so I pick and choose.

Perhaps it's just me, but there are a couple of newsletters that I am on that I NEVER open. Heck, I should unsubscribe from them. If I looked at the 'subject' column I might open them...

Anyway, that's just some F4T (food 4 thought) - I wonder if the science of split-testing subject headlines should be replaced by split-testing the 'from' area.

Thanks,

Mubarak

#email #food #marketers #thought

Shaun Lee 14 years ago

Well, it's not only you. I read mails by scanning the "From" column.
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dsmpublishing 14 years ago

Hi guys

i have tunnel vision so i never make it across to the subject whatsoever apart from the phlishing emails as i find it so funny what they put down as the title.

kind regards

sam
X
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Riz 14 years ago

I'm exactly the same - but why oh why do we remain on the list when the From field is enuf for us to not open the email?????

Riz
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ILUVCA$H 14 years ago

Ok so everyone's reading the from line on their emails but if you are marketing something with your list and have the ability to change the from line should you ?
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Derek Allen 14 years ago

Email headlines will make or break you with email marketing. I like everyone else am on a lot of peoples list and I do read subject lines but, have the time don't open it anyways. I don't do email marketing but if I did I know enough to get going and I would definitely split test headlines.
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kswr123 14 years ago

Right! WE all sem to read the from column - and yet, there are $97 courses on the best subject line.

You know what I hate!! Its when people do this:

****Mubarak****

I guess it stands out, but something else that I discovered was that if you sort your emails by the name of the person who sent it to you (when I needed to find something that was support@.....com) they asterisks (***) appear top (above letters)

Mubarak
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Paul Hancox

14 years ago

Yes. The FROM column is far more important to me. It determines how quickly an email is going to get read. The SUBJECT column determines whether the email is going to get read.

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kswr123

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Paul Hancox

Yes. The FROM column is far more important to me. It determines how quickly an email is going to get read. The SUBJECT column determines whether the email is going to get read.

Right. So, why on Earth is it SO important to some marketers? Surely you should, by my quick show of hands here, focus on building your name as a trusted one first...

Mubarak

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Paul Hancox

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Mubarak Waseem

Right. So, why on Earth is it SO important to some marketers? Surely you should, by my quick show of hands here, focus on building your name as a trusted one first...

Well, for me, I always use a separate email address for subscriptions anyway, so my main business email account isn't bombarded with messages screaming for attention that just turn out to be the latest pitch that I MUST have or lose out forever!!! :rolleyes:

Personally, I recommend that everyone have a separate email address for subscriptions, so they can check those subscriptions when they're ready... and keep the important personal emails separate.

I also look at the FROM first because it's a good indication of the likely quality of the message.

For example, if I see the words "Paul Myers" in the FROM column, I know it's going to be pretty good content (or at least, an amusing rant

), and not usually a pitch-fest.

On the other hand, some names I just know are probably going to be pitches, and I just haven't got the time to read yet another pitch.

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Eric Graudins 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Paul Hancox

On the other hand, some names I just know are probably going to be pitches, and I just haven't got the time to read yet another pitch.

Or watch another 30+ minute mockumentary sales pitch video where they prattle on and on about something that could have been said in 2 sentences.

The recent round of biblical length sales pitches have been particularly chunderous - but I watched them for "research purposes" of advanced techniques in how to totally p*ss off your subscribers.

In future, if a video can't be controlled , goes for more than a few minutes or so, or basically orders me to "Watch This" based on some curiousity factor then I won't be watching it.

People complain about rip off merchants stealing your money.
These time thieves are much worse.

cheers,
Eric G.
Grumpy Curmudgeon.

P.S. To get back on topic, I decide what to open based on the "From" column, regardless of any killer subject lines.
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- Loren Woirhaye 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Eric Graudins
  
  The recent round of biblical length sales pitches have been particularly chunderous
  
  "chun·der·ous
  /ˈtʃʌndərəs/ Show Spelled[chuhn-der-uhs] Show IPA
  -adjectiveAustralian Informal: Vulgar.
  thoroughly unpleasant or nauseating; revolting."
  
  Great word. Never seen it used.
  
  The emails I open are mostly based on the criteria
  of whether I value what the sender has to say. Those
  I find tiresome, which varies from day to day, get
  deleted or ignored.
  
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  Eric Graudins 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye
  
  Great word. Never seen it used.
  
  Thanks.
  You were probably too polite to put it in your post, but to chunder means to vomit.
  So vomitous would also be a good translation.
  
  Older Aussies have got a LOT more expressions like that
  Younger Aussies make do with words like cool, whatever, and LOL.
  We've failed badly in passing on our unique idiom to them.
  
  cheers, Eric G.
  
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  kswr123 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Eric Graudins
  
  Thanks.
  
  Younger Aussies make do with words like cool, whatever, and LOL.
  We've failed badly in passing on our unique idiom to them.
  
  cheers, Eric G.
  
  LOL
  
  I dont think that idiom should be passed. You'll never hear me utter the word 'yuppie', but I'll ROFL and LMAO 'till the cows come home...
  
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  donhutchinson 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Eric Graudins
  
  Older Aussies have got a LOT more expressions like that
  We've failed badly in passing on our unique idiom to them.
  
  G'day Eric,
  I heard a lot when visiting my Mum and Dad (they spent 13 yrs in NSW) ... and of course Barry Humphries did his bit in passing them on to a wider audience in the 60's and 70's.
  
  I remeber LMAO when I first heard about the one-eyed trouser snake; pointing percy at the porcelain; chundering, etc
  
  Strewth, sorry about the thread hijack cobber!
  
  She'll be right,
  Don
  
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  Eric Graudins 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by donhutchinson
  
  Strewth, sorry about the thread hijack cobber!
  
  No Wuckas mate
  
  Eric G.
  
  (Lets see if the drongos can translate THAT without using Google! :p )
  
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  kswr123 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Eric Graudins
  
  No Wuckas mate
  
  Eric G.
  
  (Lets see if the drongos can translate THAT without using Google! :p )
  
  No Worries mate
  
  Lets see if the (foreigners, non-autralians?) can ....
  
  anyhoo, I get the feeling this is off topic. But only slightly...
  
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  donhutchinson 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Mubarak Waseem
  
  ...
  anyhoo, I get the feeling this is off topic. But only slightly...
  
  Too bl**dy right mate.
  
  Thinking bout the question, I think I now look at 'From' first whereas when I was 'greener', I was more interested in the 'Subject' line.
  Am I wizened and cynical now?
  
  Or do I assume attributes of content to known senders, so glancing at 'From' is my mind trying a shortcut?
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  kswr123 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by donhutchinson
  
  Or do I assume attributes of content to known senders, so glancing at 'From' is my mind trying a shortcut?
  
  Yep - Its part unconscious conditioning IMHO
  
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SuzanneR

14 years ago

I think it's human nature (and smart self protection) to view the "from" field first.

But I'm going to guess many--if not most--are like me: I check the subject line right after I check the "from" line to get a hint of what might be coming.

I guess the best way to approach this is to forget about the fact 89% might junk your email before opening it. That's going to happen on any given day.

What you want is the small percentage most likely to buy from you. Keep your focus on them.

And yeah...that doesn't negate the need to test what works best on that smaller target.

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kswr123

14 years ago

Originally Posted by SuzanneR

I guess the best way to approach this is to forget about the fact 89% might junk your email before opening it. That's going to happen on any given day.

If I did that that my I would lose a good few hours every day. I honestly open about 10% of what comes through my inbox, and about 50% of stuff that is NOT newsletters. I just pick and choose.

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SuzanneR

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Mubarak Waseem

If I did that that my I would lose a good few hours every day. I honestly open about 10% of what comes through my inbox, and about 50% of stuff that is NOT newsletters. I just pick and choose.

I was talking from the email marketer's perspective. It's a given that many recipients on any given day will delete your email without reading it.

unless your list is REALLY that well targeted, I suppose.

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Nightengale 14 years ago

Interesting topic.

I, too, look first for who it's from and then at the subject line. Like most people, I just don't have time to read e-mail and the e-mails I DO open are 1) order confirmations/receipts for something I've bought, 2) e-mail invoices and 3) e-mail from people I know and already have some sort of an established relationship with.

Even for those people who I DO know... It depends on my relationship with them and how important they are to me. And it's THEN that the subject line is important. If I'm only so-so interested or if the strength of their relationship with me is iffy...if I'm on the fence, then the subject line does make a BIG difference.

And that's a good point to remember: it really IS all about building relationships. And your integrity with your audience is paramount. You can spend a lot of time building trust and a relationship with your list, but if you start sending out junk stuff or wasting people's time, you'll destroy your relationship with them.

I know Jason Moffat is a big star on the WF. I don't really follow him although I've seen some stuff I like. I'm on one of his lists and though I rarely open his e-mails, I opened one today which asked me to go watch a video.

I rarely do that, but today I did. And I regretted it. It was a screen-capture video by some guy who I still don't know the name of pitching some business opp. But I still have NO idea what it was! It ran on FOREVER. I watched for several minutes, but I eventually clicked away. It was just some guy, who never gave me his name, building up a to a big pitch about how he quit some dead-end job and made $65,000/mo online.

I hate these "blind" pitches. You have NO idea what type of product/service he's selling and he spent waaay too much time saying stuff like "I know this sounds like a lot of hype and if I were you, I would too..." blah blah blah. There was no way to stop, start or pause the video and NO indication of how long it would run. Grrrrr!

I felt like my time was wasted.

....And I'm not as likely to open one of Jason's e-mails again. I know he's a stand-up guy, but I didn't like him recommending an affiliate product (I could see his affililiate id in the URL) that was pitched that way.

Make sure that if you're recommending something, you don't turn off your audience in the process.

Michelle
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faizanutd 14 years ago

I always read the From line first. There are some people whose e-mails I mostly never miss. If I have time, only then I read the subject line. Many E-mail marketers' subjects drive me crazy as they are copied off a pre-written e-mail and resemble spam. Can't they make an effort to write something themselves. So sometimes a subject line can force me not to read a e-mail.
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donhutchinson

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Paul Hancox

Yes. The FROM column is far more important to me. It determines how quickly an email is going to get read. The SUBJECT column determines whether the email is going to get read.

^^^ What he said.

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Jacer 14 years ago

This goes back to what many have said. Building a solid relationship with your list should be priority #1, and then product quality. i.e. I have to get you to open my email, read my content before I ever have the chance to sell you anything
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Email Marketers: Do you read the 'FROM' or 'SUBJECT' columns? Some food for thought...

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