Too often, the subject line is an afterthought once the email has been penned. Yes, it’s important to have a catchy first line, quick summary, compelling action, and clear link in your email – but none of that will matter if you don’t convince people to open your email.

Here are a few things I recommend when considering your subject line:

• Keep it short. You don’t want an email program to cut off your subject line midway through the text – so try to limit it to 5-7 words.
• Grab attention. When people open emails based on a subject line, chances the subject line (a) outraged the person, (b) made the person laugh, or (c) made the person curious about what the email is talking about.
• Don’t go overboard. Grabbing attention doesn’t mean you should act like a crazy person and write in all caps, it doesn’t mean you should cry wolf, and it doesn’t mean send a subject line that doesn’t relate to the content of the email. Nobody wants to feel like they were tricked into opening your message. (For more on this, check out this tip from Nate Thames.)
• Use it as a gut check. If you don’t have anything interesting to say in your subject line, you’re probably not saying anything interesting in your email. If you can’t come up with a good subject line, you might need to reassess your email.
• Vary your subjects. There’s nothing less attention grabbing than sending the same subject line every single week or month. Sending “E-Activist Newsletter July 2009” as your subject line screams “Don’t worry – it’s just the same old newsletter you receive every month.” What’s in that email – a story about a puppy? A sick child? A  maniacal Senator? Tell people what you’re talking about.

• Talk to the reader: In our tests, subject lines with “you” often perform better than “I” or “we.” Also, subject lines that are questions or commands perform better than general statements. So don’t be afraid to address your audience!

Your subject line is your first chance to engage people. Take some time to make sure that your subject lines get the job done. Have a good (or bad) experience with subject lines? Tell us about it! Lauren Miller is Director of Online Communications at Blue State Digital, and an NOI trainer and community member Photo from Dano, via Creative Commons