How to Write Effective B2B Email Subject Lines

       B2B email subject lines are critical for your email marketing campaigns. They can make or break your marketing efforts, so its important to understand and follow benchmarks in writing effective B2B subject lines, which can help you generate leads.

Why are B2B Subject Lines Essential?

       Your prospective client’s first line of interaction with your email is the subject line. If they open your email and read it, is based on the effectiveness of your Subject line. So, remember if your email is left unread or pushed to the junk folder, it is all because of how you framed your subject line. so, lets find out a little more about how to make it work.

Tips to make your B2B Email Subject lines work

      1. Avoid Ending in The Junk Folder – First rule of writing good B2B email subject lines, is to never write them in a way that they end up going to the spam folder. Never do the mistake of using all caps subject lines and never indicate fishy terminologies such as “Free Offer”, Lowest Cost”, “Sign up”, and other such obvious words and phrases. Email clients across the world, have strict algorithms which identify and filter, any emails coming in with shadowy words in the subject line. It is advisable that you can, use one of the many free subject line tester tools available, just to be sure of the authenticity of your B2B email subject line, before you send out the email campaign.

      2. Emotions Connect with People – Remember, we are all humans, emotions and powerful words connect with people. Your email subject line has one job to accomplish and that is to decisively grab the attention of the reader, so find words which can evoke emotional triggers. Also, you are writing a B2B email, so stick to power words that can evict an emotional trigger on a professional level. Use power words which can build trust, and reliability. Some examples are words like, “Approved”, “Exclusive”, “Guaranteed”, “Authentic”, “Scientific” etc.

      3. Examine Different Formats – One solution never fits everything, so it is prudent to research multiple subject lines which can be customized to different kinds of customers you may have. Some of the key elements you have to consider while doing this research are; what will make your client open your email- A Solution or A Fact? Most often than not, simple and direct email subject lines have the best conversions, however every client is different, so deep dive in understanding your clients and their needs before deciding on your subject lines. Some things that tend to work are, using humor, using factual expressions and statistics, test them with your prospects!

      4. A/B Testing is Critical – One of the simplest and proven methodology for any form of B2B marketing is using the A/B test approach. Even, when you are experimenting with your subject lines, use two different versions of your B2B email subject line for one particular email campaign and test which works better. Run a creative subject line campaign with a simple subject line campaign and measure the metrics to identify which worked better. Also, never mix too many premises at the same time, if needed split you’re A/B test into multiple different email campaign sub sets. Eventually, you will have metrics to support your decision on what works best.

      5. Personalization Always Works – Personalization is not just limited to using the name of your email receiver. Personalization is all about connecting with your audience with a more customized and focused approach. Use a reference to their goals, their pain points in the email subject line to garner attention. Do not overlook the fact that your subject line should always be relevant to the actual content of your email. Which means, what ever you are claiming to offer to the reader of your email, should be supported by an actually customized offer to your prospects.

      6. Keep it Concise – Shorter the better is the mantra when it comes to B2B email subject lines. There are character limitations on devices from which people access emails, ranging from 60 characters to 30 characters across desktop/laptop or mobile devices respectively. In today’s technology savvy age, 80% or more of audiences check their emails on smart phones, so keep your email subject lines as short as possible. Absolutely no point writing long subject lines, when your audience can’t even read them in its entirety.

      7. Remember its Not About You, It’s About Them – No one wants to know about your successes or your milestones. Just as much as you are invested in your own goals and challenges, so are your prospective clients. They are keen on achieving their goals and mitigating their problems. So, it is necessary to talk about them and what they need. Connect with them through questions, about their goals, their business and what they want to accomplish. Align your email subject lines around their vision and facts. You need to genuinely show that you are concerned about their business issues. Keep this in mind, and you will start getting positive results with your campaigns.

      8. Click baits Are a Big NO – As mentioned earlier in the first tip, no fishy and shadowy words please! Your email subject lines should be totally relevant to the actual content of your email. Never write subject lines which portray tall claims and promises which are too good to be true. Click baits are not a good long-term strategy, you should focus on building a long-lasting relationship with your B2B client. Simple, straight forward and non-esoteric subject lines work the best. Stay true to what best you can offer. Hype gets you nowhere.

      9. Use Facts, Figures & Statistics – People understand numbers, figure and facts. What you are offering or showcasing in your subject line can be supported by facts and figures, this will give you an edge. As we all know, every one trusts data, facts and statistics, so make the best use of whatever available data or facts you may have to back your offers. This is not just limited to discounts; it may well be data about the percentage of clients who are satisfied with your service or products. Impressive data never fails, use it if you have it! Having said that, don’t cook up numbers or facts!

      10. Differentiate Based on The Type of Email – Every email campaign that you send out may be focused on a different stage of your readers journey, so customize your email subject lines based on the type of email you are sending. Some examples of the type of emails are as follows;

      >>> Cold Emails – First line of approach, the Email Subject line has to be effective, impressive and engaging. Stick to personalizing and address their pain points

      >>> Collaboration Emails – Sometimes, we send out campaigns to attract collaborations, in this type of email, subject line needs to focus on the reader’s goals and how you can help them achieve them.

      >>> Follow- Up Emails – Conversions are all about follow ups, hence this is a very essential form of email. Your Email subject line for follow ups should be critically focused on next steps, addressing questions, and personal.

      >>> Sales Emails – The most common and the most important type of emails are B2B sales emails, I mean we all drum up email campaigns for what? To generate leads and improve revenue, right? Yes! Sales email subject lines should be creative as well as informative. They should outline offers, solutions to the prospects pain points, and backed with facts.

Key outcomes

       To summarize, focus on writing B2B email subject lines, which are aligned with the content of your email, don’t come up with over-the-top offers or promises which you can’t keep. B2B emails, need to be simple and straight forward and should be focused on the receiver’s goals, ambitions and pain points.

      You can reach out to us to learn more about how you can enhance your B2B marketing strategy and come up with a more effective long-term strategy. Our diversified B2B database can help you with your B2B email marketing campaigns.