Like many of us who work in the realm of marketing, the attempts to get people to open an email are as challenging as ever. What will make people click to check out what they have to offer?
Here’s an example of a subject line of a casino offer I just received:
Open Soon! You Won’t Want to Ignore THESE Offers
It came from Harrah’s Gulf Coast – I’ve never been there, but Caesars is no stranger to marketing some of their other destinations to those who have played at other of their properties in the past.
OK, so what do you have in store?
$25 in free play, two nights on weeknights, $15 resort credits.
Unless I had a deliberate plan to go visit friends nearby, this isn’t the sort of thing that’s going to get me to jump on a plane from California to check out their property. And it certainly isn’t the sort of offer that is going to move the needle.
But it occurred to me that casino marketing attempts to gussy up all sorts of things that are nominal at best.
“It Pays to Play”
a Foxwoods digital flyer asserted, with $5 in resort credit as the offer right below it.
“Your Hot Offers have just Arrived!”
reads an Ellis Island subject line with some very limited offers, although the $10 in food and beverage is enough to get their top sirloin special for free if you play and get the extra $3 off. There’s a few bucks in free play in there too, but honestly the steak is more enticing.
“Last Chance to Claim Your Offers”
said one email from Harrah’s Laughlin – the subject line sounds familiar, as they do a similar thing each month. The only thing was the email came on the 9th of the month, and the offers extended through the end of the month. There were still three more weeks to claim, but it was my “last chance?”
I’ll be honest, I find the urgency of some of it a bit exhausting, and every time I open it to find these sorts of things it’s a turn off. If your goal is to get people to open it for awareness, perhaps mission accomplished until I catch on to what you’re doing. But if the goal is to get people to actually show up, I’m not sure how effective this is.
Some subject lines are more straightforward, and I personally appreciate this. “Enjoy 5 Complimentary Suite Nights” said a Rio subject line. There was more in the email, like food and beverage, but if you’re going to Vegas, it starts with the room.
“We’re dealing out up to $2,400 off + drinks”
is a subject line I can get behind, Carnival. And the number does the talking here – it’s not overpromising, and it is indeed the key premise of the offer.
Since I knocked Harrah’s Laughlin earlier, here’s one I feel is more effective:
“Get Excited for This >> See How You Can Get This Exclusive Gift!”
It’s accurate, albeit long so it didn’t fit on my phone screen (although one could argue that nudges people to open to read the whole thing too).
The gift itself wasn’t particularly enticing to me personally – a “Best Dad Ever” frame and watch that feels like it would’ve been more appropriate for June for Father’s Day. But I’m sure some will appreciate the idea of a watch and a gift box, and the subject line makes the right pitch to get people to check out what it is they can claim.
It’s worth noting that all of these subject lines came into my inbox within a 24 hour period. As casinos shift their reliance from expensive physical mailers to more cost effective inbox emails, they’re also competing for attention in a medium that’s more and more saturated.
So it’s understandable that casinos may try to use eye-catching subject lines to get open rates up, but when the subject line is outmatched by the meager offerings inside, sometimes it may make more sense to find a different path forward.
