The biggest obstacle to successful email marketing is getting your reader to click open. With email boxes overflowing with promotional offers, personal correspondence and spam, increasing your open rate is harder than ever. The key to convincing your prospects to take action is all in the subject line.

British advertising agency, Adestra has recently completed a study of the hot keywords marketers use to influence opens. We’ve compiled a summary for you, the results may surprise you!

For B2B Emails

Email subject lines are the gatekeepers to your email campaign. Unfortunately they often come last when developing content for B2Bs. Don’t leave your subject line to chance. Injecting some of these words into a compelling heading could dramatically improve your results.

• Breaking 35.4% variance on open rate.


• Alert 32.9% variance on open rate.


• Editor 28.7% variance on open rate.


• Update 26.8% variance on open rate.


• News 20.5% variance on open rate.

For B2C Emails

For B2C emails, the best subject lines are short, descriptive and give your prospect a reason to keep reading. Often B2Cs will try to stand out in the inbox by using over-the-top phrases and gimmicks, but these will generally be ignored. The best tip for improving open rates for B2Cs is to be clear about what your reader will find in the body of the email.

• Update 29.0% variance on open rate.


• Video 27.6% variance on open rate.


• Review 27.1% variance on open rate.


• Special 12.2% variance on open rate.


• Exclusive 11.3% variance on open rate.

Does your content deliver?

You can think up the most appealing subject line but if your content doesn’t deliver on the promise it makes, you’ll lose your prospect. That means producing fresh, informative content that your readers will value. By monitoring the success of each email campaign you can find out what content your target audience wants most. It might be shareable infographics, videos or fact sheets. Whatever it is, it’s a great idea to make it clear in the subject line and then deliver quality content.

Words to avoid!

Are your email campaigns falling casualty to a poorly worded subject line? Try eliminating these 5 words from your email subject and watch your results skyrocket.

• Forecast -34.0% variance on open rate.


• Newsletter -11.2% variance on open rate.


• Report -30.6% variance on open rate.


• Top Stories -11.2% variance on open rate.


• Latest -2.0% variance on open rate.

Do you need help with your email marketing and open rates?

Uber Marketing provides on-demand services for businesses looking to attract more customers. Our team of results-driven marketers will deliver a greater ROI for your marketing dollar. To get in touch with us click here.