Email subject lines may be the most important ingredient for crafting a great email. Not only do they influence open, click, and conversion rates, but a good subject line can be an email’s marketing hook. The subject line serves as the opening line to pique your reader’s interest. If you want to know what makes a good email subject line, you’ve come to the right place. Discover the top 11 email subject lines here.
What Makes a Good Email Subject Line?
A good email subject line can act as an anchor for the rest of the email. As a result, people will be more likely to read your message, especially if the subject is intriguing. To take your email marketing efforts to the next level, you’ll want to create a subject line that will captivate your reader. While it might seem difficult, there are a few guidelines to follow to make sure you get this right each time.
For one, it’s important to inject some personality into the subject line. People respond better when you have a little bit of fun with it. Also, you can include certain keywords. This will help people who receive an inbox full of emails to figure out whether they want to open yours or not.
But the most important thing is to make the subject line short, sweet, and to the point to grab the receiver’s attention.
If it’s not interesting or catchy, then they might just skip over it. Try to avoid using words that are too specific or technical. If you’re promoting a product, you might use the product name in the subject line, but this might not apply to all products. The most important thing to remember is to keep it simple and concise so that it’s easy for your recipients to understand.
Examples of Good Email Subject Lines
A good subject line is short, to the point, and intrigues the recipient to click on the email. Here are 11 great examples of subject lines that other companies used that you can modify and use!
“Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring”
Using conversational words can be an effective tool for influencing consumers into purchasing. In this case, Warby Parker encouraged customers to purchase glasses by using ‘in-the-moment’ language that suggested a sense of urgency and a concern that their audience wouldn’t catch the opportunity if they passed it up.
“Best of Groupon: The Deals That Make Us Proud (Unlike Our Nephew, Steve)”
A sarcastic or humorous line can be enough to get the attention of the receiver of the email. Groupon uses this strategy with their subject lines to get a better click rate by including a quick joke or two.
“Need a day at the beach? Just scratch n’ sniff your way to paradise…”
Travelocity attracted customers by offering a vacation to paradise in the subject line of their email communications. Travelocity uses bait. They offer users a way to paradise and suggest the possibility of escaping their present state by booking a vacation. You can do the same by enticing your potential customers with a subject line that is too good to pass up – exuding an irresistible charm that will lead them to make purchases if only to indulge themselves in such luxuries.
“10 bizarre money habits making Millennials richer”
Subject lines that are intriguing enough will make the recipient want to know more.
“Is this the hottest career in marketing?”
Digital Marketer let their readers know right away that there was something of interest inside of the email, which made for a much more attractive subject line.
“Feed your guests without breaking the bank”
Pizza Hut used a pain point with this subject line. It can be hard to put food on the table sometimes in today’s world. People won’t want to miss a deal that could come in the email.
“You free this Thurs at 12 PM PST? [guest blogging class!]”
Mary Fernandez used personalization to reach out to new readers and existing followers who might otherwise have overlooked her brand. This subject line in unconventional and will entice the viewer to see more.
“1,750 points for you. Valentine’s flowers & more for them.”
When you see this, you’ll want to know who this amazing gift is for. This immediately leads to the body copy. Using cryptic wording, a fantastic subject line will entice readers to read your email immediately.
“Rock the color of the year”
An e-commerce website, Etsy, used this subject line to promote products solely based on color. Of course, we all want to see what the color of the year is, right? This simple statement makes the reader want to find out more.
“[Company Name] May 2005 News Bulletin!” or “Eye on the [Company Name] Update (Oct 31 – Nov 4)”
In some cases, subject lines that are straightforward work best. This one tells the viewer exactly what it is going to be in the email.
“Tonight Only: Get this NOW before it’s gone…”
It is incredibly difficult to avoid the temptation of FOMOs, or the fear of missing out on something. This line screams just that and the viewer want to miss it.
“Products the celebs are wearing”
Sephora applied the “triad” or three-dimensional approach to their subject lines, hitting the emotional quotient of their readers through the mention of celebrities with which the viewer will want to connect with. These straightforward and seemingly “boring” subject lines performed the highest out of 40 million emails, with open rates between 60-80.
“We Need To Talk…”:
According to statistics, a recent email marketing campaign by PPC Protect revealed that their open rate was as high as 63% using this simple subject line.
Tips to Write the Best Email Subject Line
Create a sense of urgency.
You can show urgency in your subject line by making the reader feel like they need to see what’s inside the email or they will miss out on something big. You can also use time-sensitive phrases that let the reader know if they don’t use a certain service or buy a product soon it will be too late. However, be careful not to scare the reader as you may end up leaving a bad impression.
Make it specific to the receiver.
The receiver is the person who you think will benefit the most from the content. This can be a certain demographic or group of people. It’s all about the user experience and how you can improve it for the receiver. People will take the time to read your content and engage with it if it’s relevant to their needs and interests.
Keep it short and simple.
If your subject line is too long, then you’re going to have a hard time getting your audience to notice it, let alone click on it. Keep it short and simple. Your subject line should be between three to four words. A subject line that has too many words makes it look like an advertisement, and won’t draw anyone in because they won’t bother reading the rest.
Keep it open ended.
Keeping an email open-ended and very general in your subject line can be a great way to get your reader’s attention. People get a lot of emails every day and a subject line that says something like “Job Interview Question: The worst thing a boss has ever said to you” will catch a person’s eye right away!
Avoid spammy words.
It’s important to get to the point if you want someone to read your message but general subject lines can help people discover what your email is all about. Of course, you also want to be sure that the subject line isn’t spammy. A simple rule of thumb is to keep it to one idea and about 100 characters.
Conclusion With Email Subject Lines
Let’s face it, email, like many other marketing channels, is all about conversion. Getting people to click on your email, read your email, then click on your links and read the rest of your email. We hope these subject lines can help you become more creative in your email marketing.
