Subject lines for contest winner emails

2 replies
I'm looking for ideas on how to optimize open rates for emails that are going to contest winners. I often run legitimate contests, and find that it's very hard to get users to open their email and claim their prize, even when it's worth $500 or more.

I think my emails look like spam because their are so many email scams telling people that they've won things these days. I'm trying to figure out how to write the correct subject line to alert the winner that they 1. entered a legitimate contest 2. won that contest 3. should open the email to learn how to claim their prize.

So I put together a list of dos and don'ts and was wondering if there's anything that I'm missing for how to write a concise subject line that will get the user to open the mail.

Do:
Include the name of the contest operator (either business or brand) so that the user automatically recognizes it
Include the name of the contest to remind the user that they entered

Don't:
Include exclamation points
Include dollar amounts
Include the word "claim" or "sweepstakes" as they tend to sound spammy (is that true or not?)

Anything else? My company is trying to build out their winners page on our site, but unless I can get a lot of winners to claim their damn prizes, that's gonna be kinda tough.

Also, if you have the winner's name, is including their name in the subject line a do or a don't?

Thanks everyone.
#contest #emails #lines #subject #winner
  • Profile picture of the author bretski
    That's funny! Even the title of your post was a bit of turn off to me with the word contest in it. Sorry! Just being honest

    This is a tough one but I think that the last email that I opened that had anything to do with a contest was for a JV just to see if anyone that I knew had won. So, maybe a bit of a "soft sell" approach such in the subject line would work? "Winners list..." or "Contact me if you are on this list" or "You signed up for our contest..." or "Do you remember signing up for our contest?"

    Maybe others will have more ideas... tough problem though
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  • Profile picture of the author Trivum
    Duh ... Winning!
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