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If you lived through the ’80s and ’90s in the United States, it’s likely that you’ve seen the famous Head & Shoulders dandruff shampoo television commercials that ended with the catchy phrase, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” These first impressions are pretty important in both the offline and online worlds. If you navigate to a webpage or blog and the creative (graphics) or content (text) does not draw you in immediately, it’s likely that you will be gone—never to return. The same holds true with email.

The first impression in the email marketing world is typically delivered in the form of the Subject line, From name, preheader, and header. When you optimize those four areas to make your subscribers notice the email and either trust that it is worth opening or feel curious to know what’s in the communication, your open rates go up, as do your subscribers.