According to Litmus, 51% of emails are opened on an mobile device.
But screen real-estate is limited on mobile devices. So how do we get people to open our emails?
Paying attention to the length of our subject lines is a great start. And crafting something called the pre-header text helps too.
This article by Listrak suggests keeping your subject line to 35 characters or less to make sure your message doesn’t get “cut off” on various mobile email programs.
Email subject in iOS mail app
The pre-header is a quick “preview” of the content of your message that shows up just below the subject line in many email programs, even before the email is opened. CampaignMonitor recommends your pre-header text be no more than 40-50 characters.
Email pre-header in iOS Mail app
Email Subject Line & Pre-Header Tips & Samples
With these guidelines in mind, here are some examples of subject lines and pre-headers that fit within the constraints:
Subject: Thank You (9)
Pre-header: Would you leave us your feedback? (33)
Subject: Thank you from Peachtree Farms (30, but your business name may be longer)
Pre-header: How was your experience with us? (32)
Subject: How was your experience with us? (32)
Pre-header: Your feedback helps us serve you better! (40)
Pro-tip: Here’s a handy letter counter tool for testing the length of your subject line and pre-header text.
We’re making changes to our default email templates in GetFiveStars to provide a nice starting point with these constraints. You should customize your email templates too. Here’s a UserGuide post that shows how to do it: Customizing Email Templates in GetFiveStars.
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!
