Power Lines: Unobtrusive Assessment of E-mail Subject Line Impact on Organization Website Use

Abstract

Scholars have generally found e-mail–based effects to be limited, despite suggestions from marketing consultants that techniques such as message personalization and emotion-based content make e-mail campaigns more successful. Key in e-mail personalization is the subject line. To my knowledge, however, no one has examined the direct effects of e-mail subject lines using a field experiment with unobtrusive behavioral measures (i.e., tracking e-mail open rates). To address this gap, I leverage a field experiment using 82,000 e-mail addresses from a state-based Planned Parenthood contact list to determine whether randomly assigned subject line content impacts e-mail open rates. My results show that subject line personalization has a limited effect on open rates, but that personalization—when combined with subject line reference to emotion—may affect downstream behavior among a small percentage of e-mail recipients.

KEYWORDS:

• e-mails
• field experiments
• member contact lists
• political organization
• unobtrusive measures
• web use

Notes

Planned Parenthood Affiliates in Missouri were a community partner for purposes of research conducted in a fall 2012 course on American political behavior. Faculty–student research in the course served as the basis for this project, and Planned Parenthood received a report on the results of our experiment. I have no financial or programmatic relationship with the Missouri affiliate or national Planned Parenthood organization.