Do you make this subject line mistake?

Let’s talk e-mail. I’ve seen it again and again—even done it myself when I was less experienced. You craft the perfect e-mail to your donors and supporters, taking time to make it clear, brief, and most of all, compelling. And when you’re finished, you take a moment to think of a subject line, type it in, and you’re done.

That last part is a mistake.

The entire purpose of an e-mail subject line is to get people to open the e-mail.  If someone doesn't open it, there is literally no point in that person getting it at all.  If few people open it, basically all the time you spent crafting the message will be wasted. You would be better off spending twice as long coming up with your 65 character subject line (the length suggested here) than your e-mail, which is much longer than that. Never use a subject line like "September Newsletter."

In my next post I’ll discuss specific ways to create a subject line that makes people want to click. But for now, the lesson is: spend a lot of time crafting it! Really put yourself in the reader's shoes and think about what would make her want to open it.