Roger & Tom, Thanks For These ‘Top 10’ Funny Subject Lines

March 4, 2016      Tom Belford

My subject line today incorporates the findings of this recent study of email subject lines reported in Nonprofit Pro.

According to the study, the most effective email subject lines have these characteristics:

  • Personalization — we all know what that means.
  • Numbers — the article suggests this is about urgency (e.g., 3 days until our matching gift lapses); I can buy that, but I also think people are simply addicted to lists.
  • Have a little fun — “the study makes a compelling case for punching up subject lines with a bit more humor and informal tone.”
  • ‘Thank you’ messages — “Don’t overthink your ‘thank you’ message subject lines. Simple and direct works best here.”

Now, to totally confound you, here are the real subject lines in the ‘top 10’ Agitator posts of the past 12 months:

American Cancer Society Flops

Top 5 Innovative Fundraising Ideas

Why Is Direct Mail Seeing A Resurgence?

2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Report: Read It And Weep

Donor Trends For 2015

Striking Back

The Future Of Fundraising: Bright Or Bleak?

Direct Mail Will Outlive Us All

Don’t Ask. Don’t Thank.

Raise More, Ask Less — Part 1

See, we violate all the rules most of the time. That’s why we’re The Agitator!

Tom

P.S. OK, my subject line was a spoof on the findings. But I’ll be watching the open rate very closely!

 

2 responses to “Roger & Tom, Thanks For These ‘Top 10’ Funny Subject Lines”

  1. Lisa Sargent says:

    Direct mail isn’t contentious or anything, huh? Pretty solid for a dead/dying channel. It’s like a voice from the grave! Happy Friday, guys. 😉

  2. mike says:

    I mailed a political appeal with two sentences: “Please send $35.00 as soon as possible. I’ll explain later.”

    A week later, letter #2 was mailed explaining the urgency.

    Huge success!!!!