Need Help With My Email Subject Line!

Hi All,

I need some feedback regarding my email subject line.

Would you be compelled to open this email with the following subject line?

"Billy, Permission to Mention Your Site On Good Morning America?"

Thanks,
Jim

DNO means Do Not Open because the subject contains the entire message

Would you open this one, then? I'm having a limited amount of success using a similar approach when writing to prospective contributors for the site at http://www.pabizz.com - and could do with some additional pizzazz!!!!!!!!

Thanks!

Maggie


2checkout - recurring billing option!

Absolutely not!

Unfortunately, since spam has become such a huge problem, if you're sending the message to me and I have not explicitly given you my email address or permission to send me email, I'd trash it. In fact, I'd bounce it back as undeliverable.

I have even gone to the trouble of establishing throwaway addresses to use in signing up for newsletters on the net. Once the publishers have proven themselves trustworthy in safeguarding my email address, and have shown they have something worthwhile to send to me (ads included), I unsubscribe the throwaway and subscribe with a good address.

Of the 35 messages I received today, only 7 were from people/newslists I wanted to receive. And while some had interesting Subject lines, it is my rule of thumb to ignore any message to me that I didn't invite.

Of course, if someone references a post of mine, or states his own name (From Dien at SOWPUB, From Boyd:, e.g.) then I download it and read it.

Anything else just gets dumped.

Marye

Marye - I guess I'm like you in that 99% of my mail gets deleted unread, because it's obviously not connected with me, my web business or my web interests; which does mean that occasionally I miss something which might have been useful to me. But you know, when researching topics of interest, surfing through web sites, there are a few gems which are worth contacting with a genuine invitation to joint venture. Using a contact form on a web site and sending a email using that, I don't want to waste time sending something which might be construed as spam when it is a real offer to do ethical business.

I don't build mailing lists of any old address; I don't send out multitudes of offers to the same address; if I have taken the time to write to someone with an invitation, I say on it that it will only be one contact unless they reply they want to deal with me.

I have a contact form on most of my web sites and if someone uses it to contact me, I try to reply. I'm not saying that I catch them all, because sometimes I have a mass delete of mails and I guess some good mail goes with the bad stuff. But that's why I have a contact form; to let people who are interested in my web site/business/ethics get in touch and introduce themselves.

Cheers
Maggie

It will automatically mark some messages as spam, probably spam, or as having a virus attached.

I recommend it because you can set it to flag messages, but give you the final option as to whether to delete it or let it through.

With what you must be receiving with your business email addresses, this might help keep you from deleting legitimate messages to you, while allowing wholesale spam to be bounced back and deleted.

Shame that what was a fine method of personally communicating has been usurped by unscrupulous sorts so that legitimate business people can't use it effectively.

Good luck.

Marye

Marye,

Thanks for the recommendation - I'll check it out.

I'm with you in wishing that emails weren't being used as a blanket marketing exercise to millions of potential clients. It makes genuine contact extremely difficult.

Cheers!
Margaret

Okay. So subject line doesn't make much sense. Although, I am sure, given time we could link it all together in a logical way...

Anyway. How long does it take you to make your mind up about an email?

Instant?

I look at the Subject and From while hovering over the Delete button. Developed an INSTINCT for what is and is not SPAM. From trial and error maybe.

Of course, anything with "xyzhbk lkfnid" anywhere - in the from or subject - is a dead give-away. So too any sex words, medication, loans, etc.

Sometimes. They try to trick you. Send email with "Hello" in subject line.

Getting a sixth-sense about those too.

Basically, if I didn't ask for it, don't know you, and the subject has no amount of genuine personalization (see my other post in this thread), it's nuked un-opened.

Don't bounce back stuff because the last thing I want is some spammer to think it's a dud address and start using it as a From address. Already get enough of that as it is. (It's spooky to get a spam with your own from address on it.)

As for BTU... that stands for Bandwidth Throttling Ubiquity.

Spam is like a pebble in a pond. Starts out from the middle and goes everywhere similtaneously. WOW, so my subject line does make sense after all hehe.

Michael Ross

It is still spam-like.

You are invited; you have been chosen; you've been selected, etc. Delete delete delete. Quick draw McGraw. Speedy Gonzaleze. Blue Racer. Road Runner. That's how fast I delete spam.

IF you have been to my website you would KNOW what kind of business it revolves around. I would expect a mention of that PLUS my name in any email header...

Margaret, regarding your Widget business

Requires TWO forms of personalization/identification that shows it was written by a real person.

Michael Ross


Great Ideas Here

Michael - thanks for your response; (I've been thinking about what you say and have indeed been to your web site on more than one occasion. It turns out I have previously downloaded the MIS report - and since I had a look this evening, I remember clicking the download link on your web page.)

Here are three headers from emails I received this evening

Margaret You can order Anti-depressants, weight loss meds,and pain relief meds online with NO PRESCRIPTIONN xcmlrq?pius.wfs:i?sdrduq.pbwjnsk? 5/30/2003

Margaret Viagraa, Soma, Fioricet, Prescribed Online for Free, Shipped Overnight ojvey:fw;omopiwg:cnwim;hwre?ycyy?es:cps. 5/30/2003

Hello Margaret, Rare Movie Site - Rare & Unique High Quality Hardcore Movies!!!

These were all addressed to [email protected] - and my name is indeed Margaret. However, I find it spooky and very offensive to be correctly mentioned by name in these email subjects; that's an absolute automatic delete for me. So, while I get the general ethos of personalising emails, as a woman it gives me a great sense of insecurity to be correctly addressed like this. I feel I'm being stalked.

I took a quick look at the other emails in my inbox this evening, and rather than delete everything out of hand, took the time to select a couple I felt didn't intrude into my "personal space" but were from total strangers. I can honestly say that I felt far more comfortable opening the one whose title is "Advertising Resources", which doesn't address me by name. However, the person who wrote it had been to one of my web sites and was requesting a link exchange. I guess that person might be glad this discussion provoked me into looking at the email at all, 'coz now I'm going to go and check out the link to the other website.

Like I said previously, I'm not in the market to mass mail millions of people. If I choose to contact anyone, it's with a genuine invitation and the email contact HAS been obtained directly from his/her website. In total, I probably have approached less than 25 individuals in this way; and a gratifying number of them have been able to help me in some way or another.

Thanks Michael

Margaret