Great Subject Lines!

[Kelly Wilson]

Aww Jeff a hat on that hair?! My DP is still convinced it's illegal in IL. BUT I do think it would have made the numbers better - so if you want to use it/them, I'm OK with it!

But I'm sure there are even better one out there others haven't posted yet! - come on guys we're all friends here in the DR community- What's your Best Subject Line?

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Aww Jeff a hat on that hair?! My DP is still convinced it's illegal in IL. BUT I do think it would have made the numbers better - so if you want to use it/them, I'm OK with it!

But I'm sure there are even better one out there others haven't posted yet! - come on guys we're all friends here in the DR community- What's your Best Subject Line?

Isn't someone being funny!!

So many DP's and GM's have the most nonsense excuses for getting in front of themselves. That's another conversation though.

 

[JesseJ]

Old thread but I have a question related to subject lines. I work for a Ford Dealer and Ford's Digital Team is absolutely adamant that all subject lines should include the dealership phone number. I've heard a wide array of explanations for this but I've never seen anyone else advocate this. Does anyone have thoughts on that practice?

 

[Alex Snyder]

Old thread but I have a question related to subject lines. I work for a Ford Dealer and Ford's Digital Team is absolutely adamant that all subject lines should include the dealership phone number. I've heard a wide array of explanations for this but I've never seen anyone else advocate this. Does anyone have thoughts on that practice?

Interesting concept. Adamant huh? Give it a try and let us know how it goes - don't see how it can hurt anything. It certainly falls in line with my favorite email best practice of writing emails that can fully be read at a red light.

 

[SeanWoodruff]

Old thread but I have a question related to subject lines. I work for a Ford Dealer and Ford's Digital Team is absolutely adamant that all subject lines should include the dealership phone number. I've heard a wide array of explanations for this but I've never seen anyone else advocate this. Does anyone have thoughts on that practice?

This is absolutely correct. They say every subject line should be: "Dealership Name - Phone Number"

We have done that on many of our emails for a while but I haven't noticed any type of increase in how many were opened. I think some of the suggestions in this thread would be much more effective.

One thing that I do that I think works very well, is when they send in a "trade-in form" lead or a KBB lead to see what their car is worth, we send a 1st response email with the subject line "Re: Your trade rocks!".

Gets their attention, especially if their trade DOESN'T rock in the slightest.

 

[Mike Robbins]

There are some really great ideas here!

One that works for me all the time, gets a high open AND reply rate is one that I use for unsold prospects who I'm having trouble contacting after a while. Funny, I'll call them, no answer. Send the email, two minutes later, they're on their phone opening and responding.

Subject line is "The suspense is killing me"

Body goes like this:

Hello <{TitleCase}><{CustFirstName}><{/TitleCase}>,

I've tried to contact you several times and the suspense is killing me. It's important to me to know that you have received my emails and phone calls. I want to make sure that I am getting you everything you need to make an informed decision, however I don't want to bother you with endless emails and voice messages.

Please simply reply to this email with just one of the following words typed in the subject line to help me understand how or if I should continue to follow up with you:

1) IN

(I am still "in the market", I just haven't had time to call or email back. Feel free to contact me ASAP)
2) INFO

( I may be interested if I could get more information and details)
3) DRIVE

( I am interested in taking this vehicle for a Test Drive)
4) OUT

(I have decided NOT to buy at this time, so, I'm "out of the market" for now)

5) BOUGHT

(Tough luck, I bought a vehicle elsewhere)

6) JUMP

(Leave me alone, go jump in a lake, and don't contact me again unless you are giving away cars)


Thanks for your time!!!

 

[Ryan Thompson]

Love the multiple choice emails. They work great with prospects, co workers, and even management. Do you get many that reply with #6?

 

[Jeff Kershner]

There are some really great ideas here!

One that works for me all the time, gets a high open AND reply rate is one that I use for unsold prospects who I'm having trouble contacting after a while. Funny, I'll call them, no answer. Send the email, two minutes later, they're on their phone opening and responding.

Subject line is "The suspense is killing me"

Body goes like this:

Hello <{TitleCase}><{CustFirstName}><{/TitleCase}>,

I've tried to contact you several times and the suspense is killing me. It's important to me to know that you have received my emails and phone calls. I want to make sure that I am getting you everything you need to make an informed decision, however I don't want to bother you with endless emails and voice messages.

Please simply reply to this email with just one of the following words typed in the subject line to help me understand how or if I should continue to follow up with you:

1) IN

(I am still "in the market", I just haven't had time to call or email back. Feel free to contact me ASAP)
2) INFO

( I may be interested if I could get more information and details)
3) DRIVE

( I am interested in taking this vehicle for a Test Drive)
4) OUT

(I have decided NOT to buy at this time, so, I'm "out of the market" for now)

5) BOUGHT

(Tough luck, I bought a vehicle elsewhere)

6) JUMP

(Leave me alone, go jump in a lake, and don't contact me again unless you are giving away cars)


Thanks for your time!!!

I've never been a fan of the multi-question emails - not that this is a multi-question email, i"m just saying in general. They're dated and mostly never provoke a response. Who wants to be slammed with a bunch of questions in an email. Especially when most are reading on their phone. I've never had much luck with emails that included a lot of general questions.

As for this example - This email template has been around for a long time, BUT Mike, you've placed a different spin on it while adding emoticons. I'd be curious to the response rate.

Suggestion: view this email on a mobile device. There are times where the "playful" style fonts don't show up so well on mobile devices. That font reminds me of the default font HigherGear CRM uses.

BTW - I do like the subject line!

 

[Jeff Kershner]

I'm at times back-n-forth with subject lines. There are a lot of reasons why one would want to be more "professional" with their subject lines - using Dealer name, vehicle, phone number and such. It really depends on the response and time of the response.

Though, I mostly lean towards thinking outside of the box and coming up with a catchy (but relevant) subject line.

Here's one that I just received from an online jewelry retailer - I normally wouldn't open but the subject line caught my attention so I clicked. Not only did I open the email, but I visited the website and browsed through a few pages. I didn't purchase, but I did see something I liked. And now they're retargeting me with display ads including the different items I was looking at. All this from an out of the box subject line.

Here it is...

 

[malinda.terreri]

Old thread but I have a question related to subject lines. I work for a Ford Dealer and Ford's Digital Team is absolutely adamant that all subject lines should include the dealership phone number. I've heard a wide array of explanations for this but I've never seen anyone else advocate this. Does anyone have thoughts on that practice?

I wouldn't want to take up the valuable real estate in the subject by repeating the phone number each time. If all of your subject lines say the same thing, how do you generate interest for a new message? Have you tried split testing to see how the open rates compare?

Here's an article that Return Path posted yesterday on subject lines:
Subject Lines Are More Important Than Ever: 4 Ways to Optimize | The Return Path Blog