Can using the pre-header make a difference?

In a nutshell, yes the pre-header is key. Multiple heatmap studies have shown that the three main influencing factors in getting your emails opened are: from name, subject line and preview pane. So, with that in mind, let’s consider the email client options. Your subscribers can receive your email in various clients, with the most people being (according to various sources):

Defining the pre-header
The majority of desktop and webmail clients offer the ability to preview your emails. It is this ability that allows you as an email marketer to make the most of the valuable real estate that is known as the preview pane. In the old days, it was known as ‘above the fold’. A great example of a nicely designed preview pane is the ClickZ example below.

I like to think of the pre-header as being made up of two parts – marketing pre-headerand the functional pre-header. The pre-header area originally was born because of image blocking, which came about as a response to image spam. Since then, we marketers have used the pre-header area to place a link to the ‘web version’ – this is what I call the functional pre-header, which is widely used.

The marketing pre-header however isn’t as common and can be a great use of valuable real-estate. In the above example, it is the text that reads “Join us for a free webinar – June 22”.

Overcome image blocking by using the pre-header as a call to action

Gmail snippets
Gmail doesn’t have a preview window option, although there is a beta version available. What it has instead is known as Gmail snippets. Here, Gmail takes the first line of text within the body of the email and displays it next to the subject line. This text can either be the first line of visible text Or if there is none, then it will take the first line of Alt Text. So, you can either leave it to chance and hope that the first line of text Gmail picks up will incentivise your subscribers to open the email, or you can take control of the situation and use the pre-header to designate the text that is used.

Looking at the below example, you can see that the majority of snippets contain the functional pre-headers, but have a look at the email from popbitch and see how it stands out from the others.

The trick is not to get rid of the web browser link. It has a function, simply ensure that the pre-header text is placed at the very top of the email, above all else.

Now, looking at your database, and seeing how few Gmail addresses that there on it, you may be tempted to write off Gmail from being a serious contender. However, many people use Google apps and Gmail to manage their multiple email addresses and, as such, the percentage of your database that is using Gmail to view emails may be more than you first thought.

Mobile offerings
Nielsen Norman Usability Study found that emails on mobiles are sticky – due to the killing time factor. Which is great news! However, you have jump the first hurdle before that happens and get them to open it. This is where the pre-header blurb can help.

Here, as with Gmail snippets, you can see that the pre-header blurb can play an important role in incentivising the subscriber to open the email. Unlike the preview pane in which visuals and call to actions can be seen, this pre-header blurb has now become the third influencing factor that determines whether the subscriber opens the emails or not. Again, note how Hotel Chocolat is using the marketing pre-header space and providing you with a reason to open the email and make use of mobile’s ‘stickiness’.

Within email marketing, it’s rare to find a single tweak that will lift your conversions from being good to great. So while this isn’t a silver bullet, when used in combination with other tweaks, you may find that you gain some nice uplift from testing whether this works for your brand.

Kath Pay, Plan to Engage
@kathpay

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