Fact: People judge books by their covers…

…and emails by their subject lines.

You may have great news to deliver. An unbelievable offer to share. Or an urgent request that can’t be ignored. But none of that matters if your recipients never open their emails from you. And the secret to getting your emails opened? You guessed it: writing compelling subject lines.

So, give your digital correspondence a fighting chance! Improve the likelihood your readers will notice, open, and read your email by avoiding these top email subject line mistakes:

SCREAM TYPING.

Typing in all caps is the visual equivalent of yelling, and it turns readers off. What’s worse, all caps can even trigger certain SPAM filters and prevent your messages from ever making it into inboxes.

Using exclamation points!!!!!!

You probably wouldn’t include six exclamation points in a subject line (at least we hope you wouldn’t), but research presented in this Yesware eBook shows that emails with just one exclamation point had a 6.4% lower open rate than average (45.5% vs. 51.9%), as well as a 7.6% lower reply rate than average (22.2% vs. 29.8%).

Failing to convey the good stuff.

Have something promising or exciting to say? Don’t save it for the body of your email; tease it in your subject line. Remember, most people only scan their inbox. Positive words stand out.

Making false promises.

Be sure that you can make good on anything you commit to in your subject line (or anywhere else in your email, for that matter). False promises will irritate your audience and undermine your reputation.

Beating around the bush.

People are busy and aren’t likely to take the time to decode vague subject lines. Include the essentials in a clear, attention-grabbing way.

Droning on and on.

Think about how ruthless you are when you open your email in the morning. Would you take the time to read a subject line with a dozen or more words? Keep your subject line as short as possible and get to the point – quickly. As a best practice, limit your line to 50 characters (so it displays well on mobile, where most email is opened).

Only writing a single word.

Single-word subject lines read as suspicious and/or lazy. Brevity is important but be sure to provide adequate context.

Forgetting to front-end-load essentials.

Have an important question to ask or critical piece of information to share? Encapsulate and include it in the subject line.

Not writing in active voice.

Active voice (i.e., when the subject of the sentence performs the action described by the verb) leads to more clear, concise and impactful subject lines.

Including sensitive information.

You never know who will have access to your intended recipients’ email, so err on the side of caution.

Looking for more email tips? Check out this earlier post:

Secrets to Writing Clear and Effective Emails

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