The Greatest Size for Your E mail Topic Traces

By Sean Tinney Could 17, 2024

The topic line is crucial a part of your advertising emails, bar none.

It’s so essential that 47% of recipients solely take into account the topic line when deciding whether or not to open an e mail, whereas 69% report emails as spam primarily based solely on the topic line.

In only a few characters, you’ve obtained to seize the recipient’s consideration and provides them a compelling motive to click on. So that you’re probably questioning: “How lengthy ought to an e mail topic line be?”

To reply that query, AWeber’s in-house e mail consultants analyzed 1,000 topic strains from 100 prime entrepreneurs to grasp their method. Learn on to be taught…

• The common e mail topic line size
• One of the best size for a topic line
• How lengthy is too lengthy for a topic line

…plus we’ll share a bunch of concerns and greatest practices that will help you craft must-click topic strains each time.

Let’s get into it:

What’s the common size of a topic line?

AWeber’s evaluation of 1,000 topic strains from prime entrepreneurs found that the typical e mail topic line size is 44 characters (together with areas).

How lengthy is 44 characters? For perspective, the under topic line from theSkimm (a well-liked day by day e-newsletter) is 43 characters in size:

Topic line: Every day Skimm: I’ve obtained the world on a string

Nonetheless, our analysis unturned a variety of character counts, with one in 9 topic strains measuring 20 characters or fewer, and about one-fifth clocking in at 61+ characters.

👉 Study extra: E mail Topic Line Greatest Practices To Get Extra Opens

What’s the greatest topic line size?

One of the best e mail topic line size is from 30 – 50 characters and as much as seven phrases.

Right here’s an instance that hits the mark courtesy of the Content material Advertising Institute, containing seven phrases and 38 characters:

Topic line: How To Put together for the Knowledge Apocalypse

👉 Study extra: 100+ Wonderful Topic Line Examples

Can a topic line be too lengthy?

Sure!

With most e mail suppliers, you’ll be able to technically create topic strains of as much as 988 characters. 

Nonetheless, that’s waaaaaaaaay longer than the purpose at which the topic line will lower off in your recipients’ inboxes. And if nobody’s ever going to learn all these additional characters, what’s the purpose in writing them?

Realistically, any topic line longer than ~100 characters will likely be truncated on the overwhelming majority of gadgets, whereas the Gmail app for iPhone doesn’t show something past 38 characters (extra on this within the subsequent part).

E mail topic line elements to contemplate

Now that you understand the consultants write 44-character topic strains, maintain yours to 44 characters and also you’ve obtained the right topic line, proper?

Clearly not.

There are a number of different elements to contemplate when creating your e mail advertising topic strains. However don’t fear, we’ll cowl them right here.

The gadgets your clients are utilizing

Does most of your viewers use an iPhone to learn their e mail? Or are they largely on desktops? The system your clients use to open and think about their emails is extraordinarily essential when crafting your topic strains.

The common inbox shows about 60 characters on a desktop whereas the typical cell system shows solely 30 characters. Anything will get lower off. 

The e-mail supplier your clients are utilizing

Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, or Apple? The platform your subscribers use for e mail impacts what number of characters seem in your topic strains.

Machine + e mail supplier

Now let’s do the mathematics: Combining gadgets and e mail suppliers provides you a set of variables.

For instance, let’s check out the topic line character limits for Gmail on totally different gadgets:

So why does this matter? 

As an instance, check out this instance displaying the identical e mail topic line from PersonalizationMall, displayed throughout totally different gadgets and mail apps:

They did a fantastic job creating urgency with the topic line: “Sean Your Triple Low cost Coupon Expires At present”. 

However sadly I view most of my emails on my iPhone Mail App and didn’t see that the provide expired the evening I acquired the e-mail.

What may they’ve performed in another way? You’ll discover out under after we speak about e mail topic line size greatest practices.

Wish to know which suppliers to care most about? A examine by Litmus analyzed the most well-liked e mail suppliers, apps, and gadgets, with the highest 5 being: 

Greatest practices for e mail topic line size

With so many alternative combos, how can anybody write a topic line that can stand out?

Let’s get again to our advertising consultants: 71.1% of the 1,000 topic strains we analyzed have been between 21 and 60 characters. 

To face out from everybody else, as an alternative of specializing in size alone, take into account different elements that will have an effect on your open charges.

1. Preserve your most essential info within the first 30 characters

Over 50% of emails are opened on cell gadgets. Most e mail purchasers, like Gmail and Yahoo!, cease displaying an e mail topic line on cell gadgets as soon as it reaches between 33 and 43 characters. The precise quantity varies from one e mail shopper to a different.

When you’ve got a powerful provide, you shouldn’t be compelled to restrict your e mail advertising topic line size. To optimize it for cell readers, put crucial info within the first 30 characters. This manner, this message gained’t get lower off within the inbox.

2. Use the preheader to reinforce your message

The preheader is the extra textual content that seems subsequent to or under your topic line in an inbox. Preheaders assist praise your topic line and can be utilized as that additional piece of textual content which can in any other case get lower off on the finish of a topic line.

👉 Study extra: E mail Preheaders: Tricks to Rising Your Open Charges 

3. Don’t be too wordy

Simpler mentioned than performed. I’m personally somebody who rambles on and infrequently makes use of extra phrases than wanted when speaking about one thing.

How do I overcome this when writing topic strains? 

I begin by writing every little thing I need to say in my topic line, then I scale back it by eliminating or changing sure phrases.

Right here’s an train:

Topic line concept: Rise up to 50% off Athletic Footwear this Saturday solely

This instance is 51 characters lengthy. How can I modify this to scale back the topic line?

How about: As much as 50% off Athletic Footwear on Saturday

This train diminished my topic line characters to 40.

4. Check your topic strains

Each viewers is totally different. Attempt quick and lengthy topic strains along with your subscribers to see what works greatest in your distinctive viewers.

Arrange an A/B break up take a look at, sending 10% – 20% of the viewers the take a look at with the successful variation receiving the remaining 80% – 90%. This manner you maximize your open charges by guaranteeing the strongest topic line will get despatched to nearly all of your viewers.

👉 Study extra: Cease Guessing and Begin Testing: Enhance Your Emails with A/B Break up Testing

5. Personalize your e mail topic strains

Emails with customized topic strains see an common open fee of 35.69%, in comparison with simply 16.67% for non-personalized e mail topic strains.

However “personalization” can imply a whole lot of various things, from including the recipient’s identify to your topic strains, to providing them a customized low cost or product suggestion primarily based on their looking or buy historical past.

So which method is greatest?

Right here’s the reply:

👉 Study extra: From Vanilla to Wow: Utilizing Personalised Emails to Communicate to Your Viewers 

6. Check emojis in topic strains

Emojis add a pop of colour to your e mail topic strains, which can assist them stand out in a crowded inbox:

Or at the least, that’s the idea. In observe, entrepreneurs have seen combined outcomes from together with emojis in topic strains:

👍 One examine discovered that manufacturers utilizing topic line emojis see a mean 56% enhance of their distinctive open charges…

👎 …however separate analysis found that topic strains with out emojis see barely greater open charges (at 52.94% vs 47.06%)

For that motive, we advocate A/B testing emojis to see how they play along with your viewers.

👉 Study extra: Every part You Have to Know About Utilizing Emojis in Your Topic Line

Case examine: Must you take into account shorter topic strains?

You would possibly need to experiment with even shorter topic strains.

Brian Dean, founding father of website positioning firm Backlinko and one of many 100 prime entrepreneurs whose emails we analyzed, used to ship emails with longer topic strains. These topic strains instructed his subscribers precisely what they’d discover contained in the message.

The issue with that?

“It gave individuals no motive to truly open my e mail,” he mentioned.

Now, he sends topic strains with a mean of 15.1 characters. 

“After numerous testing, I’ve discovered that quick topic strains get a lot greater open charges,” Dean mentioned.

He attributes this to 2 elements:

1. Quick topic strains attain the inbox extra continuously
2. Quick topic strains are extra mysterious

Listed here are a number of of Dean’s quick e mail topic strains. All are beneath 15 characters lengthy:

They offer the recipient a transparent image of what the e-mail is about, with out giving freely any details about the precise contents.

In fact, when you’re going to undertake this technique, you’ll nearly actually should repeat a few of your topic strains, so they may lose their impression.

Brian will get away with it as a result of his subscribers know he all the time gives distinctive, actionable insights — so his topic strains don’t should do an excessive amount of heavy lifting.

Write must-click topic strains with AWeber

Our evaluation reveals that the typical e mail topic line size is 44 characters, whereas the really useful size is between 30 and 50 characters.

However that may not be the right size in your model.

As we’ve seen, Backlinko boosted their open charges by slicing the size of their topic strains. Possibly your viewers will favor shorter topic strains, too — or maybe they’d be extra more likely to click on when you supplied some additional context?

The one approach to discover out is to check, take a look at, and take a look at some extra.

With AWeber, you’ll be able to A/B take a look at nearly any ingredient of your e mail, from topic strains and calls to motion to colours, templates, preheaders, and extra. So that you don’t should depend on guesswork or business benchmarks to put in writing topic strains your viewers loves.

Get began by signing up for your free AWeber account right this moment!