Using special characters in email subject lines

If you're on the email lists for any major online retailers or deal sites like Amazon, Groupon, or LivingSocial you've probably seen emails land in your inbox with special characters like hearts in the subject line. Travel sites like Expedia, Orbitz, and Hotwire use shining suns to entice you to book your next vacation.







It is possible to include these kinds of special characters when sending an email message out of Luminate Online. To do so, all you need to do is encode the character you wish to use in Base64. For example, if you want to use a heart in your subject line, you'd use =?utf-8?B?4pml?=.



If you have no idea what Base64 is or how to encode something in Base64, that's OK -- fortunately there are online tools to encode characters for you. One I've used and recommend is base64encode.org. All you need to do is copy and paste the character you wish to use into the box at the top of the page and click "Encode".



Here are the Base64 equivalents for some of the characters from this Wikipedia page:

 

Black sun with rays☀=?utf-8?B?4piA?=Cloud☁=?utf-8?B?4piB?=Umbrella☂=?utf-8?B?4piC?=Snowman☃=?utf-8?B?4piD?=Comet☄=?utf-8?B?4piE?=Black star★=?utf-8?B?4piF?=Star☆=?utf-8?B?4piG?=Lightning☇=?utf-8?B?4piH?=Thunderstorm☈=?utf-8?B?4piI?=Sun☉=?utf-8?B?4piJ?=Ascending node☊=?utf-8?B?4piK?=Descending node☋=?utf-8?B?4piL?=Conjunction☌=?utf-8?B?4piM?=Opposition☍=?utf-8?B?4piN?=Black telephone☎=?utf-8?B?4piO?=White telephone☏=?utf-8?B?4piP?=Ballot box☐=?utf-8?B?4piQ?=Ballot box with check☑=?utf-8?B?4piR?=Ballot box with X☒=?utf-8?B?4piS?=Saltire☓=?utf-8?B?4piT?=White shogi piece☖=?utf-8?B?4piW?=Black shogi piece☗=?utf-8?B?4piX?=Black left pointing index☚=?utf-8?B?4pia?=Black right pointing index☛=?utf-8?B?4pib?=White left pointing index☜=?utf-8?B?4pic?=White up pointing index☝=?utf-8?B?4pid?=White right pointing index☞=?utf-8?B?4pie?=White down pointing index☟=?utf-8?B?4pif?=Skull and crossbones☠=?utf-8?B?4pig?=Caution sign☡=?utf-8?B?4pih?=Radioactive sign☢=?utf-8?B?4pii?=Biohazard sign☣=?utf-8?B?4pij?=Caduceus☤=?utf-8?B?4pik?=Ankh☥=?utf-8?B?4pil?=Russian cross☦=?utf-8?B?4pim?=Chi Rho☧=?utf-8?B?4pin?=Cross of Lorraine☨=?utf-8?B?4pio?=Cross of Jerusalem☩=?utf-8?B?4pip?=Star and crescent☪=?utf-8?B?4piq?=Farsi symbol☫=?utf-8?B?4pir?=Adi shakti☬=?utf-8?B?4pis?=Hammer and sickle☭=?utf-8?B?4pit?=Peace symbol☮=?utf-8?B?4piu?=Yin and yang☯=?utf-8?B?4piv?=Trigram for Heaven☰=?utf-8?B?4piw?=Trigram for Lake☱=?utf-8?B?4pix?=Trigram for Fire☲=?utf-8?B?4piy?=Trigram for Thunder☳=?utf-8?B?4piz?=Trigram for Wind☴=?utf-8?B?4pi0?=Trigram for Water☵=?utf-8?B?4pi1?=Trigram for Mountain☶=?utf-8?B?4pi2?=Trigram for Earth☷=?utf-8?B?4pi3?=Wheel of Dharma☸=?utf-8?B?4pi4?=White frowning face☹=?utf-8?B?4pi5?=White smiling face☺=?utf-8?B?4pi6?=Black smiling face☻=?utf-8?B?4pi7?=White sun with rays☼=?utf-8?B?4pi8?=First quarter Moon☽=?utf-8?B?4pi9?=Last quarter Moon☾=?utf-8?B?4pi+?=Mercury☿=?utf-8?B?4pi/?=Female sign♀=?utf-8?B?4pmA?=Earth♁=?utf-8?B?4pmB?=Male sign♂=?utf-8?B?4pmC?=Jupiter♃=?utf-8?B?4pmD?=Saturn♄=?utf-8?B?4pmE?=Uranus♅=?utf-8?B?4pmF?=Neptune♆=?utf-8?B?4pmG?=Pluto♇=?utf-8?B?4pmH?=Aries♈=?utf-8?B?4pmI?=Taurus♉=?utf-8?B?4pmJ?=Gemini♊=?utf-8?B?4pmK?=Cancer♋=?utf-8?B?4pmL?=Leo♌=?utf-8?B?4pmM?=Virgo♍=?utf-8?B?4pmN?=Libra♎=?utf-8?B?4pmO?=Scorpius♏=?utf-8?B?4pmP?=Sagittarius♐=?utf-8?B?4pmQ?=Capricorn♑=?utf-8?B?4pmR?=Aquarius♒=?utf-8?B?4pmS?=Pisces♓=?utf-8?B?4pmT?=White chess king♔=?utf-8?B?4pmU?=White chess queen♕=?utf-8?B?4pmV?=White chess rook♖=?utf-8?B?4pmW?=White chess bishop♗=?utf-8?B?4pmX?=White chess knight♘=?utf-8?B?4pmY?=White chess pawn♙=?utf-8?B?4pmZ?=Black chess king♚=?utf-8?B?4pma?=Black chess queen♛=?utf-8?B?4pmb?=Black chess rook♜=?utf-8?B?4pmc?=Black chess bishop♝=?utf-8?B?4pmd?=Black chess knight♞=?utf-8?B?4pme?=Black chess pawn♟=?utf-8?B?4pmf?=Black spade suit♠=?utf-8?B?4pmg?=White heart suit♡=?utf-8?B?4pmh?=White diamond suit♢=?utf-8?B?4pmi?=Black club suit♣=?utf-8?B?4pmj?=White spade suit♤=?utf-8?B?4pmk?=Black heart suit♥=?utf-8?B?4pml?=Black diamond suit♦=?utf-8?B?4pmm?=White club suit♧=?utf-8?B?4pmn?=Hot spring♨=?utf-8?B?4pmo?=Quarter note♩=?utf-8?B?4pmp?=Eighth note♪=?utf-8?B?4pmq?=Beamed Eighth notes♫=?utf-8?B?4pmr?=Beamed Sixteenth notes♬=?utf-8?B?4pms?=Music flat sign♭=?utf-8?B?4pmt?=Music natural sign♮=?utf-8?B?4pmu?=Music sharp sign♯=?utf-8?B?4pmv?=

 

If you choose to use special characters in your subject line, I definitely recommend you test to see what impact it has on your email's deliverability, open, and clickthrough rates.