The humble subject line has long been an overlooked element of email marketing, often taking a back seat to design, copywriting, imagery and call-to-action refinement during the development of a campaign.

Yet, despite its lowly status on this list of specialist areas, the subject line has actually always been an important factor in email marketing. A good subject line, basically, can make the difference between an email flyer being opened and acted upon or ignored altogether. You can have the best looking email marketing in the world but without a decent subject line to back it up it’s never likely to fulfil its potential.

Now, with mobile devices becoming ever-popular, the subject line is more important than ever to email marketing because of one simple fact;

Smartphone inboxes only display subject lines and from fields.

No images. No preview panes. It’s all down to your subject line. So it better be good.

With the explosion of smartphone use in recent years – the ubiquitous iPhone and Blackberry, along with the rapidly phenomenal Android OS phones (which grew 350% in the last quarter here in the UK) – more and more of us are accessing our emails on the move, or even opting to use smartphones as in-office business devices due to their ever-increasing performance benefits. Smartphones aren’t the preserve of business or the technically-minded, they’re for everyone. And it seems everyone has got one.

Microsoft, which has stayed on the fringes of the smartphone market for the last few years, is moving closer to the launch of its “Windows Phone 7″ operating system – a hi-spec platform that will doubtlessly be backed up by a gargantuan marketing budget when it emerges before 2010 is out. The new Windows offering will present users with yet another super-capable handheld option – and it’s only going to get bigger.

Of course, email on the move simply presents yet another way to use email marketing to communicate effectively and efficiently with your target market. So it’s unquestionably a good thing.

But next time you’re crafting a campaign that will spring into life on iPhones, Androids and as yet unimagined super devices, make sure you don’t forget the importance of the element that has been around from day one of email – the subject line.

Email marketing is a direct and effective means of forging or cultivating a relationship with a customer, while simultaneously heralding the qualities of a company in a prodigious light. The format of an email is clean, bright and instantaneous, suspended upon a screen that creates an interface scenario, similar to the interaction experienced between people. This serves to mimic the steadfast loyalty that occurs within relationships, vital to the survival of any business.

Email marketing is also a cost effective way of distribution and is preferable to the concertinaed leaflet, pushed half-heartedly through a letterbox or shredded and scattered around the room by the family dog. The email is a more unobtrusive solution to marketing, softly stepping into an inbox folder, with a headline that halts skimming eyes rather than the dispassionate gaze that results from the bold invasion of indistinct flyers. Just as curiosity is maintained by snippets of information, the email’s elusive yet applicable headline will serve as a teaser that will initiate an insatiable curiosity. By enticing the customer through a digital door that will be unlocked in a click, the email’s interior will be decorated with eye-catching images, in keeping with a company’s tone and style that is key to granting the attention of the recipient. Uncompromised design that is lifted from the theme of a company’s existing website will ensure continuity, whilst reinforcing the essence of a brand. The information will be succinct in order to avoid a recipient from losing interest and exiting without a purchase.

It could be said that email marketing is a digital rework of the carrier pigeon, which was dispatched to specific locations, communicating information in a targeted manner with traceable results. Along with useful information the pigeon provided a frisson of anticipation, as the sight of the rolled paper attached purposefully to the pigeon’s leg drew nearer. This premise still exists with all forms of communication, as the prospect of new insight is coupled with the remedial effects of contact. Although the carrier pigeon was a revolutionary embodiment of effective correspondence; it is now a distant silhouette that flies way into the mists of time. However, the email has adopted some of the carrier pigeon’s unmistakeable charm as messages are personally gifted, with the attachment of a tailored message that perches itself at the top of an inbox.

The feedback that is available with the use of email marketing is also similar to that of a carrier pigeon, which would return without a message as confirmation of its delivery. Emails provide immediate feedback on a broadcast, as well as being able to target individuals on a global scale. The value of carrier pigeons was especially important in war, acting as a lifeline that transferred crucial updates. The famous French carrier pigeon Cher Ami is an example of the carrier pigeon’s resilience; awarded for its heroic bravery which was doubly impressive due to its serious injuries. Its name translates as ‘Dear friend’, which relates to the familiar opening line of many correspondences addressed to a comrade, as well as referring to the pigeons esteemed role as a dear friend who remained loyal throughout adversity. This demonstrates the valued position of communication, which is loaded with bridge building properties. It is therefore true to say that any communication between two parties, cements a bond. Email is no different; by communicating new offers and welcoming customers into the fold, a relationship takes root. It is true to say that people are more likely to respond to a familiar company who has kept in contact, just as if a familiar friend were to maintain contact, a trust would grow.

The vast distances pigeon carriers could fly, up to one thousand miles is exceeded by the world wide reach of the email, which does not rely upon the intended location remaining fixed. The private interaction that exists between a messenger and receiver seems to be an unrivalled approach, in terms of affectivity and impact. Although the carrier pigeon retains a romantic wistfulness, its return could not feasibly compete with email marketing, which delivers packaged beauty, appeal and machined efficiency.

At Green Media, copywriting for Search Engine Optimisation is regarded as a lifeline for businesses. Keywords relating to areas of interest, specific to a site are raised up like stepping stones from velvety rich copy that laps up around each protruding keyword. While eye-catching headlines act as bridges that invite the user to cross and explore the new territory of a website.

Glistening keywords entwined with the main copy will elevate your website up search engine rankings, from the depths of underwater anonymity, to appear as a dominant feature amongst other results that vie for competition. The surfer will be able to ride the waves that will reach desirable heights of targeted information. Keywords will not litter the copy but will be placed in considered areas that will allow text to flow, rather than be blockaded by repetition, which seems to be a transparent tactic aimed to increase the volume of visitors but does not serve to anchor the user to a site with engaging copy. Instead, keywords are peppered throughout the site in order for the user to easily navigate their way and reaffirm the relevance of their search, as they delve further into the website’s offerings.

SEO is both an art form and a science, crafting and engineering in a continuing process, as a formula of refreshed content keeps information relevant, while the copy’s creativity prevents users from becoming disenchanted with a site, giving them a reason to return with anticipation, as updates renew enthusiasm. By keeping track of trends and behaviours, together with a discerning ability; the copywriter is able to draw upon considered language, structured in an appropriate format that convinces the user of the site’s integral worth.  The copywriter is also fuelled by the deceptively powerful tool of imagery, relayed in words that transport the user into a world by a particular product or service, as they visualise varied possibilities.

Undoubtedly SEO, together with the back-up of quality copy is the most effective way to communicate your website’s professionalism, dynamism and enthusiasm. Without it your website may be drowned under other sites that provide similar products and services and who have taken advantage of SEO’s buoyant ability to keep them ahead of competition.

Find out how good quality writing can be rocket fuel for your website.

We were pleased to find out that a key part of the recent Google update – codenamed Caffeine – centred around the value of good quality copy, regularly updated. Essentially, search has come around to being about what it always should have been about – good quality content.

No technical manipulation of the system.

No tricks.

No smoke.

No mirrors.

…and it’s about time.

We’ve been eulogising the value of good web copy for years, on the basis that if you’re providing what people want – in the form of useful, usable information – then the search engines will wake up to that and start directing people your way. It comes down to the basic principles of search engines – to create a positive user experience by giving people what they’re looking for.

If your website is still relying on short-term techie tweaks to stay on SERPs then you’re on borrowed time. Your site is sitting on digital quicksand. It’s time to get your thinking cap on and get writing.