How important is it to keep mixing up your subjects and froms. I already know the answer but when I think about it almost any relevant from or subject that would work for the offer has probably been mailed to a billion+ emails already. So even if you loose a little delivery are you better off having a from and subject that sell the offer instead of being 100% unique?
Isn't it possible to do both though, make your subject unique AND still appealing? Even subjects with all the correct key words in them can still be boring... I wouldn't worry about the subject you choose if you feel it's enticing, and you should certainly be testing the subject through all the major filters before you send. So bottom line is, use the best subject you can muster, just check it first to make sure it inboxes before you send. If it doesn't, and it's due to a keyword you need in there, improvise...
Make sure it is short and straight to the point, avoid adding the receiver first name or even worse, their email address in there. I have seen something like this. "[email protected], would you like to go back to school with a scholarship?"
I certainly agree with not adding the email address in the subject but what is wrong with personalizing with the first name? I have heard pros & cons over the years. Do you have good reason for recommending to not use it. I am only questioning to learn not your wisdom. I have always personalized my campaigns.
When I would do single-recip mailing and had personal information on the recipients I would personalize the subject and message body.. I even got all fancy with the images passing their name and using geoip to get their City, pass that off to createimagefrompng and imagettf to make a personalized image from the advertiser's creative. People went all clicky clicky with it.
What happen with my experience is, when you inject your mail to the mta, it will create a shitload of work for the server to sort out from the database to prepare the mail. Not only that, in some data, the first name goes missing in some record.
"People went all clicky clicky with it" That's what I wanted to hear Nick. It definitely catches more openers with the first name in the subject line as you know. Mrlucky, I thought you had a different reason. As for missing fields, I filter any missing fields out regardless of how good the email is.
I would always send with the most effective copy you can create. If the filters start acting up, then edit it.
Sounds like a poorly designed system.. Why would you have an MTA communicate with a database? You should have a generator that does all the heavy lifting, an MTA should be "dumb" in the sense it's fed everything it needs and just sends.
In order to use firstname properly, you have to be very thorough checking your database out. How do you handle blank first names? Or fnames with "sdfsdf" or other erroneous characters? Not just that, but the whole personalization thing doesn't work like it used to. There was a post here most likely lost in the crash that showed how personalization of the subject caused less engagement then non-personalized, because the end user is used to spammier emails personalizing. Quick look found this, take it for what it's worth, it's out-dated, I'll try and find more recent stats. Source: http://www.dmnews.com/subject-line-personalization-doesnt-impact-click-rates-study/article/207840/
If the fname is missing, pull everything from the left of the @.. or you can not use a comma in the subject... [firstname] You Have Qualified looks way better as a blank than [firstname], You Have Qualified
From my own experience, personalized names don't do much for "extra" clicks. However, what Nick did above, and that's geo-targeting based on optin IP, is amazing for clicks. e.g. the difference between: Subject: 2.5% Fixed Rates in your area and Subject: 2.5% Fixed Rates for Bumblefuck residents is a world of difference in engagement.
I always love it when IM "gurus" (I had the misfortune to get on some of those lists awhile back) send me emails addressing an "Oakdale" resident. Most IP geolocation DBs suck and would often give your location around ~50 miles off where you actually are. That's usually the location of residential ISP's router and it could change a few times during the day. Be careful with personalization, a lot of user profiles are total crap and I would not be too suprised if stuff like that actually increases complaints.
Zip code can easily be less accurate than the city, still too granular... In practice the reliable mapping starts at DMA level, but it does not sound very usable / personal in the creative (Dear ALBANY-SCHENECTADY-TROY Residents)... State identification also does not always work very well as many DMAs cross the state lines...
