Have you ever experienced the frustration of pouring your heart and soul into an email, only to have it sit unopened? It’s like you’ve been crafting a masterpiece, only to have it left in the storage room.  

I remember the first time I was working on an email that was going to a big list of people. Over 30,000 contacts to email! I was nervous. I spent hours drafting and re-drafting the email, making sure every word was perfect. I wanted a catchy subject line, a clear heading, and a body that would capture attention. My manager gave it the green light, and the client was happy too. It was time to send! 

With sweaty hands and a pounding heart, I hovered over the ‘send’ button and clicked it. Relief washed over me, but it was quickly replaced by excitement. I couldn’t wait to check the stats!

Back then, I didn’t have all the fancy analytics tools. I couldn’t see how many people opened the email, but I could track the sign-ups. And guess what? They did, but not as quickly or as many as I had hoped. All that hard work, all the nerves, all the iterations had paid off to an extent, but it wasn’t the success I expected. 

It was a rollercoaster of emotions, but I didn’t let it discourage me. I’m a scientist at heart, and I love a good challenge. So, I decided to dive into the problem and explore different solutions to improve the performance of my email. 

If you work in email marketing, then you probably have tons of ideas floating in your mind about what I could have changed to get the email to perform better. If not, don’t worry. All you need to know is that there are many things that influence how effective an email campaign is, but in this post, let’s focus on subject lines specifically. Will you join me? 

Subject lines to increase the open rates of your email

For me, the subject line is a bit like reading the back cover of the book you are thinking of buying. It needs to give a good idea of what it’s about, but also leave you wanting to know more. How can we make sure that happens in an email? Let me walk you through some ideas on how I would do that.

Imagine for a moment that you have decided to send an email to a list of prospects about a newsletter you have. You’ve asked me to help you come up with the subject line to catch attention. Here is what I would do.

Different ways to create a hook

Choosing the right tone

First, I decide what tone the subject line should have. Best practice is to use one that matches the tone of the email and that it is in line with the overall personality of the company or project, but sometimes I go bold and unexpected too.

For example:

• A conversational and slightly mysterious tone like this: ‘Once I started reading this newsletter, everything changed.’
• A bold and humorous one, like this: ‘Warning: May cause sudden bursts of marketing genius.’

Highlighting the value of the newsletter

This is using the subject line as a sales pitch in a way. Telling the recipient straight away what they would get out of subscribing.

For example:

• ‘The only thing better than reading it is applying it.’ Or
• ‘You don’t need more tips, you need perspective.’

Using human nature to our advantage

As humans, we are curious creatures, and a bit nosy too. There is nothing wrong with that, of course – quite the opposite actually. It’s a perfect way to get those emails opened. 

Here are some examples of what that might look like for our subject line:

• ‘This newsletter might ruin all other emails for you.’ Or
• ‘Before you scroll past, this one is worth reading.’

A cliffhanger-style subject line will have a similar effect:

• ‘You won’t believe what this week’s issue covered.’ 

Using an element of surprise

Seeing (or reading) something unexpected works wonders to get our mind out of autopilot and start paying attention.

For example:

• ‘The only email that gets smarter as you read it.’ Or
• ‘Once you read it, you will question everything.’

Possibilities are endless

These are not the only ways I would go about crafting the perfect subject line. It all depends on the topic and style of your email and who you are sending it to – not everyone likes a bold or funny tone, for example, and not every topic would be a good fit for that either.

The key is to get creative and have a bit of fun with it. When I write subject lines, I come up with a few and see how they feel with the rest of the email. Of course, the client has the final say. I keep tweaking it until it’s just right. 

A newsletter that will take you to the next level

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