Tired of poor open rates on that email newsletter you send out? The problem might not be the subject content, but actually it’s length.

Dela Quist, CEO of Alchemy Worx (a London based agency) claims that through massive amount of analytics that he has discovered the perfect length for your subject line to increase the open rate.

In an article put out by MediaPost, he states that having your subject line be close to 50 characters is the primo length – claiming to have found this after going through over 250 million messages sent over the past two years with over 660 different subject lines. “A 50-character subject line touting a ‘powerful’ offer is appealing (30% off Spring Getaway flights to Florida on Delta).”

He also says that the longer, 80 character-plus subject lines result in higher open rates as well. The example he gave when delivering his findings last Saturday at MediaPost’s Email Insiders Summit was a subject line used to describe the contents of a newsletter – “Find out Secrets to Spice up your Barbecue this weekend and all Summer Long and enter to win a New Weber Grill.”

Having a subject line thats less than 50 characters, or between the 60-70 character range, resulted in a decrease in delivery as well as open-rates.

He was quick to admit that this theory goes against “traditional” wisdom used to optimize email campaigns but cites his research as proof. Either way, it is an interesting theory to check out. Any comments or first-hand experience with this phenomenon would be appreciated. Was this coincidence or is 50 really the magic number?

Remember how I got that ipod shuffle from Startupschwag.com? Well, if you hurry and donate now in the charity drive that Brandon Barr has embarked upon, growing a Picasso mustache for the entire month of May, you could win that ipod shuffle! If at the end of May he reaches his goal of $1000, the ipod will be given away to a RANDOM donator. That means even if you only donate $5, you still have a chance to win the ipod!
Go checkout my post on brentter.com for more details or go directly to the donation site!

UPDATE 5/29/08:He’s reached his goal of $1000!! Thanks to everyone who donated, the drawing for the free ipod will occur on June 1st and we’ll contact the winner via email/phone.

Just uploaded a new theme… new features added in by yours truly… downside of that is a few links aren’t working anymore, i.e. pages show up being blank although when you view source you can see the content… so there are still a few minor tweaks left.

Over-all though, what do u think?
What improvements can still be made?
What do u want to see?
-Brent

image courtesy of Mugley (great flickr stream, check it out)