What’s in this article:
- Ten examples from On Running’s email subject lines, why they work and how your brand can emulate those techniques
Marketers and runners aren’t that different if you think about it. Both want to stay at least a step ahead of their competitors. So, it seems natural to take a look at how a brand that targets runners has been successful with their email marketing — or more specifically, their email subject lines.
On Running realizes the importance of subject lines, considering this element is the first thing audiences see when they go to their email inbox. In case you’ve forgotten, one-third of email recipients open the message because of a catchy subject line — and nearly 70 percent will report the message as spam based on the subject line. Also, growing through your existing customers/subscribed users should be as strategic as acquiring new ones.
So, you better get it right.
To help you do that, we’ll show you some of On Running’s email statistics, 10 examples of real subject lines, why they worked, and how your brand can emulate those techniques.
Who is On Running?
The brand On Running — or On for short — got its start in Switzerland about a decade ago. Now, they have sold shoes to more than seven million people in more than 50 countries. Great, but you might ask what makes them a good case study for email subject lines. Well, they do drive 20 percent of their e-commerce sales with email marketing.
We’re going to take a closer look at On Running’s email subject lines and what makes them successful. Here are a few stats about their email campaigns’ subject lines, according to MailCharts:
- Average subject line is 37 characters long during past 90 days
- Top terms for the past three months are distance, Cloudace, and Cloudnova
- Average sending two emails a week
- Over the past 90 days, average email score of 91 percent
- Most popular email hour is 11 a.m. CDT
- Average journey duration is 3 days (including purchase and cart abandonment emails)
- No triggered emails were sent for browse abandonment
Let’s dive into 10 of their successful subject lines and how your brand can use the same principles and techniques to have success.
Know your audience
On Running’s shoes are designed for runners. That might seem obvious given their name, but what we mean is they don’t market to the average consumer who wears tennis shoes. They have a clear picture of their targeted audience, using their subject lines to catch those consumers’ attention.
For example, here’s their top subject line from the past 90 days:
- Whatever your distance, we’ve got the shoe
Their customers aren’t strolling through the park or a mother chasing after her child: Their audience is going for long-distance runs. This subject line shows their audience the brand knows who they are and their needs, and better than that, they have a product that will work perfectly for them. On Running understands their customers’ needs and addresses them with both a product and subject line. Those are elements every brand should try to include and master with emails.
Include specific products
Brands are often reluctant to include specific brand or product names in the subject line, often opting for a more generic term like “shoe” or “dress.” Maybe they think the name doesn’t have enough recognition or is too long. But, On Running shows there’s no reason to be afraid of spelling out exactly what the email will be about. In fact, their No. 2 and 3 top subject lines for the past three months did just that:
- The all-new Cloudace (No. 2)
- Cloudnova: Back by popular demand (No. 3)
- It’s Here: The New Cloud Hi Monochrome
- On Running: ☁️ Introducing the 2018 Essentials: new pieces, new colors, new running…
- ☁️ The NEW Cloud X. Are you ready for Running Remixed?
You’ll notice the less-recent subject lines (the last three in the list) are longer, so they’ve obviously tightened up their copy since then. That’s a trend that will continue as devices (and attention spans) get smaller/shorter. But even in those, they’ve still found ways to include their line names because that’s what their audience wants to see.
Drop some names
Highlighting athletes and celebs who wear On Running shoes is a common theme across their campaigns and site, and who can blame them? When an Olympic champion triathlete switches to your brand, you better believe that catches the audience’s attention — especially when the athlete is from the same country as the company.
Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig wears On’s shoes, so it’s no wonder they periodically feature her in emails. Here’s an email subject line they sent out about her on Mother’s Day:
- Nicola Spirig: a gold medal-winning mother
The name brings recognition, and the angle of her being a mother is timely for the holiday. And since Nicola also wears their brand, the campaign has an obvious tie back to their customers. Knowing an Olympian wears the same brand of shoe as them is a definite selling point, as well.
Anytime a company can include those elements — timeliness and a known brand ambassador — to a subject line, they will have a winning combination.
Get to the point
This subject line might not catch your attention if you live in the United States, but for those who live in and around Germany, this email is sure to catch their attention.
- Run the city: Berlin
The subject line might be short, but it clearly gets the message across that it’s for runners who want to explore Berlin. Don’t draw out subject lines with unneeded information or flowery text when you can get straight to the point. A subject line should tell the recipient what the message is about and why they should open the email, and that’s just what this short and sweet line does.
Here are two more examples of short subject lines that work:
- Ultra by name, ultra by nature
- Tops don’t come any better than these
Stick to your brand
The common theme among all of these subject lines is that On Running has a clear picture of the brand and customer. Once you have those both set, creating an email subject line that will catch your audience’s attention becomes that much easier.