Seeing More e-mail’s with graphics (✈✈✈) in the subject line

Hi all,

One of the newer trends we’ve observed in e-mail marketing, concerns the use of graphical characters in the Subject lines.

For example:   ✈ (an airplane) – which came to us from an e-mail blast from PriceLine.com

We’re seeing more of these as time goes on.  Although still not horribly common, they are fairly easy to implement, but do represent a double-edge sword of “pro’s and con’s”.  On the “Pro” side, the limited use of graphics characters (like having a single ✈) may help entice recipients to read or open the message.  On the “Con” side, there is not a guarantee that all devices will display those characters correctly.  And, the excessive of use of them (e.g. too many in a single subject line) could potentially trigger “SPAM” or “Junk Mail” filters.

We generally suggest that these enhancements be used sparingly, and in a small test group first – to see how well they work in encouraging Open rates for an e-mail campaign.  Analyzing the results of a small, meaningful test group should then help determine their effectiveness in future campaigns, or for larger numbers of recipients.

— DB

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