These was a very small but targeted case study, so we don’t have tons to look at here. But, we did get some interesting and in my opinion unexpected results.
Let’s see if my initial assumptions were accurate –
Assumption 1: The generic subject line would have the worst open rate of the three tested
Wow. I could not have been more wrong. Not only was it not the worst of the three, but it was the winner.
I have a feeling by keeping the contents of the email vague, but by making the subject line more about asking for something instead of pushing something, it tickled the curiosity of the recipients.
Assumption 2: There would be little difference between “Help More People” and “Help More People?”
Who would have known that adding something as simple as a question mark would make such a big difference on open rates? But, from this test we had almost a double digit difference – 55% vs. 48%.
I feel even with the small sample size, that is a pretty significant difference.