If you’re going to spend even one dime on MailChimp, Constant Contact or any other email marketing solution – please use it at least half right and don’t half-ass it.

Take a recent sales lead builder email one of my clients sent recently. They insisted on using a boring, ho-hum me-too email subject line, but at least I was able to convince them to let me run an A/B subject line test. And, you know what, the more provocative email subject won by nearly a 2-to-1 open margin.

“Raise money for your fraternity” – 16% Open Rate
vs.
“Your Frat Needs Money” – 30% Open Rate

Now, you don’t need to be a rocket surgeon to realize that the more opens and the more clicks you get equals more opportunity for lead engagement and potential sale or upsell.

So, I’ll keep this blog post short – but the moral of the story is test, test, and continue to test. The more provocative your subject and email content, the more likely you are to actually benefit from those dimes your spending.

Don’t half-ass your email marketing. Take 30 more seconds and add a creative Subject Line that speaks to the benefit of opening your email over the other 100 your recipients are receiving on any given day.