Email list manager provider MailerMailer released its bi-annual Email Marketing Metrics Report (pdf) recently. The report revealed what the company claims to be the most popular words used in subject lines, with regards to attracting readers to open the message.

According to MailerMailer’s report, the top ten words are:

1. news
2. party
3. newsletter
4. free
5. night
6. sale
7. com
8. update
9. holiday
10. week

I would say that the use of any one or combination of these words is not guaranteed to bring you open-rate success, but it is interesting to note which words are commonly used in successful subject lines. I believe the subject line as a whole needs to be enticing, but if these words can enhance a good subject line, perhaps they are at least worth testing (when they fit).  Here’s a word cloud from MailerMailer showing these top words and others:

The following graphs from the report indicate that subject line length can have quite an effect:

Personalized messages seem to do pretty well too:

 

"The key to leading winning campaigns in the midst of a recession is to move with the ebb and flow of changing subscriber preferences," says MailerMailer CEO Raj Khera.

MailerMailer says that emails are being opened sooner these days. 32.6% of all opens occur within the first two hours compared to 29.6% six months earlier. Click rates went up by .08% in the second half of 2008.

The company also says that email deliverability has been on the rise, with more email reaching recipients’ inboxes. According to the report, religious/spiritual emails get the highest open and click rates.

What do you think about the top ten words? Do you use any of them frequently in your subject lines? If so, do they bring you good results? Tell us about it.