Email Subject Lines Archives

In News

Email Subject Lines to Inspire You (Tips + Tricks)

July 7, 2020 No Comments

Learn the strategies to create compelling email subject lines that improve your open rates. The Blueprint covers eight types of email subject lines with plenty of examples.

Based on OptinMonster’s data, 47% of recipients open emails solely based on the subject line. Did you know that 69% of people will report email messages as spam based on subject lines alone?

This highlights the importance of email subject lines. They can spell the difference between the success or failure of your email marketing campaigns.

A good email subject line will increase your email open rates, which then paves the way for all sorts of engagements with your recipients. There are several different strategies for writing eye-catching email subject lines, and we’ll look at eight of them below, along with some example lines you can try today.

Type 1: Pain points

It is email marketing 101 to use your audiences’ pain points to guide them through your email marketing funnels. Add your subscribers’ pain points in your subject lines. Choose their most frustrating challenges or hurts; this entices them to open your emails.

Learn from these email subject line examples that underscore your audiences’ pain points.

Get great meals without breaking the bank
The solution to your beauty issues
Easy fixes to get you more kitchen space
Stop throwing money away on ink
Learn a language by dedicating five minutes of your day
Your guide to surviving your next overnight flight

Type 2: Fear of missing out

Leverage your subscribers’ fear of missing out (FOMO) by adding scarcity elements and urgency in your subject lines, and in your email marketing taglines. Include words that highlight time sensitivity and limited availability, such as “Urgent,” “Don’t miss out,” etc., to help increase your email open rates.

Learn from these email subject line examples.

Get this offer now before it’s too late
You have one day left to get your discount
Uh-oh. Your coupon expires today
Don’t miss out on earning points
Get this collection only for tonight

Type 3: Funny

Make a good first impression to improve your engagement rates by injecting humor in your welcome email subject lines. Know your audience, segment your email list, and boost your email open rates with a well-placed joke or funny phrase in your subject lines.

The subject line below from Talking Shrimp uses an inside joke for subscribers and fans, which encourages them to click.

Joke in email subject line

Throw in an inside joke in your email subject lines.| Image source: IMPACT

Integrate a balance of humor, tone, and professional language in your subject line to keep your recipients from reporting you as spam. You don’t want to be added to an email blacklist, which can block your emails from reaching your recipients.

Learn from these funny email subject line examples.

Offers that make us proud. (Unlike our cousin Dan)
From Uber: Since we can’t all win the lottery
We’re the real deal (Unlike Pluto)

Type 4: Personalized

Personalize your email marketing strategies by adding your recipients’ names in your subject lines. Share something personal, include location-specific offers, use casual language, and leverage interest targeting to personalize your email subject lines.

Learn from these personalized email subject line examples.

Hi, Peter. Do you remember me?
Happy Birthday, Peter! We have a surprise waiting for you
We haven’t seen you in a while, Peter
We missed you in the comments section
You signed up! Thanks for helping us
Having a hard time choosing? Let us help
Check out these hand-picked selections for you

Include recipients name in the subject line

Use your subscribers’ names to personalize your email subject lines

Type 5: Ego boost

Use ego-boosting subject lines to appeal to your subscribers. Make them stand out and help them become better versions of themselves. It’s a great way to pique their interest and influence them to open your email.

Create unique subject lines

Create subject lines that make your subscribers feel unique.

Learn from these email subject line examples that focus on boosting your audience’s egos.

You deserve the latest season’s styles
Age-defying beauty secrets for you
Quick! We need your discerning eye
Don’t settle for last year’s fashion!
Do you think you look good in these pants? We know you do

Type 6: Incentive

Spell out the benefits you offer your subscribers instead of letting them guess. Showcase what’s in it for them in your subject lines to get more opens and click-throughs.

This email from Bruegger’s Bagels, for instance, gets right down to the point.

Showcase your offer in your email subject line

Be direct and showcase your offer in your email subject line. | Image Source: IMPACT

Learn from these email subject line examples that leverage incentives.

Access our downloadable content now
15% off just for you!
Free shipping on your next purchase
Who doesn’t want freebies?

Type 7: Curiosity

Leave your subject lines open-ended to evoke intrigue. This compels your recipients to open your emails to satisfy their curiosity. To incorporate a sense of intrigue in your subject lines, ask questions, and share a glimpse of your exciting offers.

What Orbitz did here is a classic example of an intriguing subject line.

Example of Orbitz intriguing subject line

Create intriguing subject lines to inspire subscribers to take action. | Image Source: Instapage

Learn from these email subject line examples that spark curiosity.

Eight habits successful people do
Unwrap your surprise gift inside
Unlock the secrets to success
Surprising ways to earn more by giving freebies

Type 8: Retargeting

Bring your subscribers back to your sales funnel with retargeting emails and subject lines that encourage them to complete an action. Create a follow-up email subject line that overcomes your subscribers’ objections, such as free shipping.

For instance, send abandoned cart emails to remind your recipients of their interest in your products, and use compelling subject lines to entice them to complete their purchase.

Email subject line that lures prospects

Use subject lines that lure your prospects back to your store.| Image Source: SendX

Learn from these email subject line examples that leverage retargeting.

Hi, Marie. It looks like you forgot some items in your cart
Great news! Items in your shopping cart are still available
Your shopping cart is reserved. We got you!
Forget something? Here’s 15% off!

4 tips for writing email subject lines that increase your open rates

Follow these best practices for writing email subject lines to skyrocket your email open rates.

Tip 1: Keep your subject lines under 50 characters

Shorten your email subject lines. Keep them less than 50 characters so none of your important words are cut off on small screens.

Also, use email marketing software that shows the number of characters on your subject lines to manage its length.

Tip 2: Know your audience

Understand your audience to create attention-grabbing subject lines that resonate with them.

When you have a clear picture of your audiences’ quirks and qualms, it’ll be easier to write compelling subject lines. Couple this strategy with email newsletter best practices and you get the winning combination to grow your email marketing ROI.

Tip 3: Perform split tests

Write different versions of your email subject lines and test which one gets the best response. Split tests help you discover which among the many subject lines you’re using are bringing in meaningful results.

As you uncover which subject lines are performing well and which ones aren’t, optimize your campaigns by investing more in high-performing emails while discontinuing those with poor performance.

Tip 4: Keep a swipe file of great subject lines

When you come across amazing email subject lines from companies that are sending you emails and newsletters, save them. Store them on your computer’s notepad or a cloud-based spreadsheet.

When you need to create an email subject line, take inspiration from this swipe file so you won’t have to start from scratch.

Create killer email subject lines to entice and engage your audience

Take inspiration from the effective email subject lines we covered. These are excellent starting points to develop your other email marketing efforts, including creating compelling newsletter subject lines.

Follow the best practices, use the right tools, and keep on testing. By doing so, it’ll be a matter of time before you’ll come up with a wildly successful small business email marketing campaign.

By Jimmy Rodela

Sourced from the blueprint

In News

How to Write an Email Subject and Opener That Will Actually Make People Pay Attention

July 13, 2017 No Comments

By Ken Sterling.

How many of these emails have you deleted this week? Maybe this one…

Hi John, I hope all is well. Wanted to reach out to you about the useless crap we are selling and that I really don’t care about but want to get my quota bonus so I can save up for the new iPhone 17.

So weak. On every level.

College writing courses don’t teach you how to write emails so people will read them. Nor do they give lessons on how to improve your email etiquette or show us the way great communicators use email.

Until we get those lessons on what sentences not to write in an email, here are four tips on how email pros get a reader’s attention–and keep it–before your reader banishes your email to the waste bin of dashed solicitation dreams.

Write Short and Sweet Email Subject Lines

If you want people to open–and read–your emails, make your subject lines pithy and precise. Email isn’t a mystery story with a big reveal at the end. It’s called a “subject line” for a reason. For intriguing subject lines, Marketo.com suggests choosing keywords, questions, or numbers to get a reader’s attention.

And keep subject lines short. If you write 50 characters or more, your email will end up in the spam folder, according to email marketing firm Emma.

Remove Weak Language: Take Action

Ever write “Hope this email finds you well…”? Well, I immediately delete those emails even if it’s from someone I know. Hope is for wussies. Sure, hope helped Obama get elected but he had a different platform with his book, The Audacity of Hope.

When people use phrases such as “I hope things get better,” or “I hope things are well” or “We hope (fill in the blank)”–the language is too passive. No action is associated with making the desired outcome happen. Unless you wrote a book about hope like Obama, cut the weak words out and get right to your message.

Make Your Email Personal: Use A First Name

Write the person’s first name in the email. If you ever write a cold email with a generic greeting like “Dear Customer,” you’re either lazy, spam, or both. You probably hate it when someone asks you for something and doesn’t use your name, so why are you doing the same thing to them?

If you want people to read past your first salutation, use their first name. Not only is your email less likely to be deleted, you’re more likely to get results. The 2013 Experian Email Market Survey has shown that personalized promotional emails have 29 percent higher open rates, 41 percent higher unique click rates, and produce transaction and revenues rates at six times higher than impersonal emails.

Customize Your Intro

Never start off with “Hi Mike,” or Hi Susie. Is this how you really talk? At the Santa Barbara speakers bureau BigSpeak, (full disclosure, my company), our staff has done a substantial amount of research and A/B testing over the last two years with email communication. We found the more authentic the tone and the more customized/sincere the introduction, the better the email was received and the higher the response rate.

Instead of writing “Hi Mike” in the intro, write “Mike, hello from rainy Seattle.” Start with the recipient’s first name. Get their attention right away and add some detail about you and where you are to get the person intrigued.

Want to take it up a notch? Add some more detail to really create the personal connection: Write “Susie, hello from rainy Seattle, envious of the 83° weather you’re having there in Los Angeles.”

Feature Image CREDIT: Getty Images

By Ken Sterling

Ken Sterling is the executive vice president and chief learning officer at BigSpeak, the leading keynote and business speakers bureau. He holds a PhD from the University of California and an MBA… Full bio

Sourced from Inc.

In News

The Poison Pen: Email Subject Lines To Avoid

June 6, 2017 No Comments

By Ray Schultz.

Want to drive opens and click-throughs to your email? Avoid anything that smacks of the classroom. That’s one of the takeaways from Jay Schwedelson’s Webinar last Friday for the Data & Marketing Association, titled “Do This, Don’t Do That.”

The word “Training” has a negative impact of 8% when used in a subject line, said Schwedelson, the CEO of Worldata, quoting research based on over five billion emails transmitted per year. But it’s not the only — or even the worst — response depressant. Here are more:

Remember – 12%
Chat — 11%
Might – 11%
Meeting – 10%
Quick – 9%
Training – 8
Learn – 7
Featured – 6%

Worse, here are some actual lines that you should never use, which we quote with their negative impacts:

Schwedelson warned listeners never to use these actual lines, which we show here with their negative impacts:

This is long, but – 37%
No Response Needed – 31%
I’ll Keep It Short – 28%
You’re Probably Too Busy – 19%

He’s right — you might as well tell the recipient “don’t read this.”

In contrast, the word “urgent” will drive a 37% upward tick, Schwedelson said. As an example of how to use it, he cited an email subject line from Old Navy: Re: urgent that dress you wanted.” Or this one from Best Buy: “Urgent: You Can Only Get These Deals Today.” And From Sirius: “Urgent: We’re Not Kidding.”

Question subject lines also drive higher open rates — 11% on average. For example: “Sweet Potato Toast – What Is It All About?,” from Clean. And, “What’s the One shirt You NEED This fall?” from Old Navy.

And don’t forget these surefire response getters: Free, Winner, Exclusive, Preview, First, Complimentary, Limited, Special, Shhh/Pssst, Select, Today, Private, Insider, Reserved, Top, Secret.

Hmnn: Can you really get someone to open an email titled “”Shhh?”

Aeropostale apparently does. The subject line reads: “Shh! It’s a surprise!” And there, with the image, is the headline: “Ahh-Mazing!”

Of course, this raises an issue that only a copy editor can answer: How many “h’s” does it take to make a “Shhh?”

Never mind. Moving on, here are some other facts that emerged from the Webinar. Please memorize them by the next session. We quote:

Triggered emails sent as a reaction to an action taken had an average open rate of 57% in Q1 2017.
First communication emails received more than three hours later initial signup lead to a 22% lower customer lifetime value via online tools.
Additional offers on a Registration’s “Thank You” page pulled an average click rate of 9%.
Landing page forms that take longer than 45 seconds to fill out have a 42% lower completion rate. For every additional “Must Fill,” you will lose 7% of registrants.
Removing the navigation bar from your landing page can result in 52% higher conversion rates.
Clicks from mobile version emails to a landing page that have more than four viewable fields to fill out have a 48% lower overall conversion rate.
Non-offer links get 52% of clicks when three-plus destinations exist.
Logos that link to the homepage generate a 17% lower click rate (22% in B2B).
Emails that have all the primary links going to an “Offer” page have a 55% higher overall conversion rate.

Say this for Schwedelson: The man knows his business.