How to Get Teachers to Read Your s. Your guide to writing effective subject lines

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2 Introduction Imagine for a minute that you have decided to send an to every school across the country and it is now sitting in teachers inboxes waiting to be opened, probably amongst a dozen other s, each one competing for the right to be opened and read over yours. So how can your stand out from the rest? How do you draw the reader s eye to your unopened ? Follow our guide to writing effective subject lines and getting teachers to read your s. 2

3 1. Who is the from? When Sprint Mail broadcasts an campaign for a client the from field in the is filled with their company or personal name. But does this from field have a bearing on someone s decision to open the ? Put plainly, yes it does. Research shows that different from fields can have a significant impact on your open rate. Option A Use your company name as the sender name. This is deemed the most effective method when ing schools as it indicates that the is from a proper company. However, it is always a major benefit to have an education focused name. For example when we approach schools for research purposes the s are not sent from Sprint Mail as there is no educational relevance to the name, it gives the impression that it is just another marketing . Instead the s are sent from Sprint Education. This immediately indicates that the is not only genuine but also of relevance and importance to a school and needs to be opened, read and distributed to the necessary members of staff. Option B Take the personal name approach. The initial problem with this is that many spam s these days are now sent from a fake named person. Names do not always instil confidence in the reader unless there is already a relationship between the sender and the reader. Conversely, your 's sender name could show as an address rather than a friendly name/company name, this can say to the school, "This is a random . Open me later." 2. Keep it relevant The subject line can be your best friend or your worst enemy depending on how you use it. Many companies do not even consider their own subject heading, it is sometimes forgotten and left up to one of our Campaign Managers at Sprint Mail to create it for them. subjects must give a clear representation of the contents of the . As a teacher or school secretary if I receive a new I want to know what is required 3

4 of me. Who should I be forwarding the on to? Do I have to reply? Is it a reminder about something? As s are so numerous to schools I need to know this information before I even open the . For example if you are ing the school office but need to target the Head of History, then that needs to be made explicit. Attn. Head of History FAO: Head of History Please fwd to History Dept. This prefix would then need to be followed with a representation of the s content. E.g. Attn. Head of History New History Revision Courses, Last Remaining Places. The tagline should not normally exceed 6 10 words and should be clear and succinct. State the value proposition within the , and build on it in the subheading (the first line of text in your message). This is one of the most effective ways to get your s opened and read by teachers. 3. Be direct If you do not use Sprint Mail s Direct Plus service where your s are sent directly to named teachers then this point is very important to you. As we are all aware not every teacher or secretary will cooperate by forwarding an to the relevant person. So how do you get them to do it? Firstly it is essential to highlight the member of staff you want to sell to. E.g. FAO. Head of Biology. However there is also another way to get the to be passed to the relevant person; by using the actual teacher s or school s name in the subject heading. Take a look for yourself, which is better? FAO: Head Teacher Improve School Ofsted Results or, FAO: John Smith How to Improve Evesham School s Ofsted Results 4

5 Personalisation can be the determining factor between success and failure. With over 100,000 named contacts in the Education Database we can personalise your s and direct mail to give your marketing that personal and professional touch. It will create the impression that an has been prepared especially for the recipient/school, not sent as part of a larger scale campaign. This encourages open rates and the forwarding of the message from the school office to the desired recipient. It will ultimately improve responses and your return on investment, on average, three times more than a generic . What Next? If you are not already a subscriber to the Education Database then sign up for a free trial at or contact our Education Database Department at info@ukeducationdatabase.org and we will provide some more information. If you have any questions about any of our services or how Sprint Mail can help you sell more to schools please don t hesitate to contact us. Call us on We can talk specifically about your business and about how we can boost your sales to schools quickly and effectively. Alternatively us sales@sprint mail.co.uk. 5