The Finest Size for Your E mail Topic Traces

By Sean Tinney Could 17, 2024

The topic line is a very powerful a part of your advertising and marketing emails, bar none.

It’s so necessary 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 just some characters, you’ve obtained to seize the recipient’s consideration and provides them a compelling cause to click on. So that you’re doubtless questioning: “How lengthy ought to an e mail topic line be?”

To reply that query, AWeber’s in-house e mail specialists analyzed 1,000 topic strains from 100 high entrepreneurs to grasp their strategy. Learn on to study…

• The typical e mail topic line size
• The very best size for a topic line
• How lengthy is too lengthy for a topic line

…plus we’ll share a bunch of concerns and finest 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 high 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 preferred each day e-newsletter) is 43 characters in size:

Topic line: Day by 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.

👉 Be taught extra: E mail Topic Line Finest Practices To Get Extra Opens

What’s the finest topic line size?

The very 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

👉 Be taught extra: 100+ Wonderful Topic Line Examples

Can a topic line be too lengthy?

Sure!

With most e mail suppliers, you possibly can technically create topic strains of as much as 988 characters. 

Nonetheless, that’s waaaaaaaaay longer than the purpose at which the topic line will reduce 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 shall 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 components to contemplate

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

Clearly not.

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

The gadgets your prospects are utilizing

Does most of your viewers use an iPhone to learn their e mail? Or are they largely on desktops? The machine your prospects use to open and consider their emails is extraordinarily necessary when crafting your topic strains.

The typical inbox shows about 60 characters on a desktop whereas the typical cellular machine shows solely 30 characters. Anything will get reduce off. 

The e-mail supplier your prospects 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.

System + e mail supplier

Now let’s do the mathematics: Combining gadgets and e mail suppliers offers 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? 

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

They did an important job creating urgency with the topic line: “Sean Your Triple Low cost Coupon Expires At the moment”. 

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

What might they’ve finished otherwise? You’ll discover out under once we discuss e mail topic line size finest practices.

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

Finest practices for e mail topic line size

With so many various mixtures, how can anybody write a topic line that may stand out?

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

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

1. Maintain your most necessary data within the first 30 characters

Over 50% of emails are opened on cellular gadgets. Most e mail purchasers, like Gmail and Yahoo!, cease displaying an e mail topic line on cellular 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 have a robust supply, you shouldn’t be pressured to restrict your e mail advertising and marketing topic line size. To optimize it for cellular readers, put a very powerful data within the first 30 characters. This fashion, this message gained’t get reduce off within the inbox.

2. Use the preheader to boost 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 reduce off on the finish of a topic line.

👉 Be taught extra: E mail Preheaders: Tricks to Growing Your Open Charges 

3. Don’t be too wordy

Simpler stated than finished. 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: Stand up to 50% off Athletic Sneakers 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 Sneakers on Saturday

This train lowered my topic line characters to 40.

4. Check your topic strains

Each viewers is totally different. Strive quick and lengthy topic strains together with your subscribers to see what works finest to your distinctive viewers.

Arrange an A/B cut up check, sending 10% – 20% of the viewers the check with the successful variation receiving the remaining 80% – 90%. This fashion you maximize your open charges by making certain the strongest topic line will get despatched to the vast majority of your viewers.

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

5. Personalize your e mail topic strains

Emails with personalised 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 quite a lot of various things, from including the recipient’s title to your topic strains, to providing them a personalised low cost or product suggestion primarily based on their searching or buy historical past.

So which strategy is finest?

Right here’s the reply:

👉 Be taught extra: From Vanilla to Wow: Utilizing Personalised Emails to Converse to Your Viewers 

6. Check emojis in topic strains

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

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

👍 One research discovered that manufacturers utilizing topic line emojis see a median 56% improve of their distinctive open charges…

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

For that cause, we suggest A/B testing emojis to see how they play together with your viewers.

👉 Be taught extra: Every thing You Must Know About Utilizing Emojis in Your Topic Line

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

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

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

The issue with that?

“It gave folks no cause to truly open my e mail,” he stated.

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

“After a number of testing, I’ve discovered that quick topic strains get a lot larger open charges,” Dean stated.

He attributes this to 2 components:

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

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

They provide the recipient a transparent image of what the e-mail is about, with out gifting away any details about the precise contents.

After all, for those who’re going to undertake this technique, you’ll nearly actually need to repeat a few of your topic strains, so they might lose their affect.

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

Write must-click topic strains with AWeber

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

However that may not be the proper size to 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 prone to click on for those who offered some additional context?

The one technique to discover out is to check, check, and check some extra.

With AWeber, you possibly can A/B check nearly any factor of your e mail, from topic strains and calls to motion to colours, templates, preheaders, and extra. So that you don’t need to depend on guesswork or trade benchmarks to jot down topic strains your viewers loves.

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