Call it the envelope. Before they’ll open your email, your recipient considers four things: 1) the sender (or “from” name), 2) the subject line, 3) the preheader and 4) the preview pane.

If you’re just focused on the subject line, you could be ignoring 75% of the elements that could get your email opened — or deleted. Are you addressing your:

1. From line

When users review their inboxes, they look at the From line first to confirm that they recognize the sender. Then they look at the subject line to confirm that they want to open a message.

Indeed, more than two-thirds of email recipients use the From line to decide whether to open your message, according to a study by Campaign Monitor.

2. Subject line

The From line is how email recipients decide whether to delete your message. The subject line is how they decide whether to open.

Or so says Loren McDonald, chief marketing officer of J.L. Halsey, a marketing technology and services firm.

Indeed, 35% of email recipients use subject lines to decide whether to open a message, according to a study by DoubleClick. And 47% of people use the subject line to decide whether to open brand emails, according to a study by Chadwick Martin Bailey.

3. Preheader

Preheader text can have a dramatic effect on your email open and click-through rates: Some 24% of respondents looked at the preheader first when deciding whether to open an email, according to a joint survey between Litmus and Fluent.

4. Preview pane

Eight out of 10 businesspeople and more than half of consumers use preview panes to decide whether to open an email, according to Lyris Technologies.

That makes the preview pane one of the top elements desktop and laptop readers consider when deciding whether to open or delete your email message.

Are you using all of the tools at your disposal to get your message opened? If you’re just focused on your subject line, you’re ignoring 75%.

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