You created a great email; now how do you get someone to open it? One of the biggest challenges to email marketing is the first hook to get your guests engaging with your email. This is where subject lines come into play – and the importance of creating one that captures the attention of your moviegoers.

1. Personalisation is key!

Emails that are targeted towards the guest have higher engagement rates. If the subject line includes something your guest is interested in, they are more likely to open it. With Movio’s new Dynamic Subject Lines feature, you can create one campaign that will send out emails with a personalised subject line to each of your recipients, for example showing the film they are most likely to see based on their previous transactions.

You can then increase that personalisation factor by adding in the recipient’s first name when possible. Having the first name in the subject line instantly makes the recipient feel more engaged with your company and boosts the likelihood of them opening your email. Consider replacing some words with an eye-catching emoji instead (1-2 per subject line max). Along with emojis you can use a variety of markers within the Movio console including first name and cinema most frequented!

2. Add a call to action

Crafting an actionable subject line can help increase your open rate. Moviegoers are busy – they need their attention captured within seconds of glancing at an email. Adding a call to action upfront, allows the recipient to know the action that is available to them if they open the email. This tactic gets even more powerful when paired with Movio’s Dynamic Subject Lines – personalised and actionable. Understand what your guest wants to see and give them a call to action for that movie:

• Book now
• Upgrade to the next level
• Pre-sale tickets on sale

3. Intrigue your guest

Engage with your guests by asking a question in the subject line. A question can intrigue your recipient and make them more likely to open your email. After targeting the guest based on their interests, turn the subject line into a question emphasising the theme or topic of the email. For example “Have you met the newest superhero?” – when a moviegoer who loves Marvel or DC films receives an email with this question, they are interested right away and can’t wait to hear more.

4. Give your emails the FOMO feeling

Think about how to make YOUR email seem urgent. Make sure to include keywords to create that fear of missing out. Start by looking at where the campaign is in the lifecycle – is a movie about to get released (“Be the first to see!”) or is it the last few weeks of playing in theaters (“Last chance to see!”). We have identified some key phrases that create urgency:

• Don’t miss this
• Last chance
• For a limited time only
• Flash sale
• Today/tonight only
• Ends tomorrow (or some variable of a day coming up)
• 2 More days until...
• You’re almost at your reward

5. Avoid the dreaded trap

You have created an awesome, engaging subject line but let’s make sure not to fall into the spam trap or cut off. If a subject line gets too long, you run the risk of having guests receive an email with only half a subject line showing up. To avoid all of your hard work going to waste, keep subject lines short and sweet, ideally 6-10 words and try to include your keywords/message at the beginning of the subject line.

Subject line ✓ – now how to avoid the spam filter? Try avoiding all caps and using punctuation. Additionally, avoid excessive repetition, use of aggressive sales words (e.g. ‘free’ or ‘win’) and too many emojis – these can all be indicators of spam and can affect the deliverability of your email. You can read more on email deliverability here.

Now that you have the basics down, get ready to see those open rates spike! For more on creating great email content, check out our top design tips and tricks for creating a great newsletter. You can also dive deeper into our new dynamic subject lines and showtimes feature here.