For the next few weeks, I’m writing a new series about how to structure and write emails that convert. I’ll go through each section of an email to show you how to make it stronger, so it gets your subscribers to take the next action you want them to take. Today, we’re starting at the top, with the subject line.
Everyone always asks, “What’s the best subject line?”
The answer is, “The one that gets opened.”
Yes, that’s very vague. But so is the question.
Subject lines come in many lengths and types. Some people say, “Keep it short.” Others say, “Make it direct and to the point.” Still more folks say, “It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as your subscriber clicks on it.”
All of that is true, depending on what you’re trying to do.
What Makes a Subject Line Effective?
A subject line’s effectiveness is determined by its intent. What are you trying to get your subscriber to do?
Let’s address the first issue. The whole purpose of a subject line is to get your subscriber to open your email. If your subject line doesn’t do that, it’s not effective.
That being said, your subject line needs to do more than just get your email opened.
It also needs to:
- Tell your subscriber what they’re about to read.
- Intrigue them enough to keep reading, once they’ve opened your email.
- Convince them that your email is worth their precious time.
- Tie back into the lead and body copy of your email. (I’ll get to those in future blog posts.)
If your subject line can do all of that, you’ve got a winner.
Here are 5 ways to do that.
1. Use Curiosity in Your Subject Line
We humans are curious by nature. When we read something that stimulates that curiosity, we have to know the answer. It’s the same reason cliff hanger endings work so well in radio, television and book series. We have this urge to know what happens next.
I recently used this headline: The secret that makes email marketing work in every industry
Yes, it’s a bit click-baity, but there’s a reason those click-bait headlines work. They make people curious.
The email was about the fact that email marketing can be used in every industry or niche, because email is just another type of conversation between two people. (Or it should be.)
Another recent subject line my subscribers got was: My life on stage with a tiger
If you read the blog post about how your past experience can help your current business, you’ll know that I spent a year as the speaker for the Great Cats of the World Show at Renaissance Festivals across the country. So, yes. I really did stand on stage with a tiger.
But it’s not the type of subject line you’d expect to get from your friendly, neighborhood copywriter. It definitely aroused curiosity in my subscribers.
Here are a couple of examples from other email marketers:
Okay Jeff, I confess, I’m curious. What one change did you make that tripled your sales? As you can see, curiosity headlines don’t have to say much, they just need to make your subscribers curious enough to want to know what comes next.
By the way, Jeff Walker is the creator and founder of Product Launch Formula. Just in case you’re wondering.
Wait, head trash demons? What? Is this an email from some weird death metal rock band?
No, it’s from fellow copywriter Lorrie Morgan. The email is about dealing with mindset. But by changing “mindset” to “head trash demons” she definitely grabbed attention.
It is incredibly important when using curiosity subject lines (and any subject line, really) to make sure you explain yourself in the email right away.
For example, here’s what you read after you opened my email subject line, My life on stage with a tiger.
As you can see, I explain why this subject line is relevant to my email and to the day’s blog post.
You want to avoid the whole “bait and switch” feeling at all costs.
First, it pisses off your subscribers and can cause them to unsubscribe or mark your emails as spam.
Second, ISPs are just smart enough to catch some of those “bait and switch” type emails in their spam filters. Which can get you in a lot of trouble, if you’re not careful. Check out this blog post on spam filters to find out what kinds of trouble.
2. Show the Benefit of Opening Your Email
These subject lines are typically prefaced with, “How to” or, “Why.”
The point is to demonstrate the immediate benefit of opening the email.
I use these regularly in my emails. Here are two examples:
- How to attract your audience’s attention
- Why stories are the perfect medium to sell your product or service
Both of these subject lines deliver the immediate benefit of what a subscriber will learn when they open my email. Simple, straight forward and to the point.
Here are a couple more from other email lists I’ve got in my swipe file.
HubSpot wants me to move my sales process online. The email offers a video series on how to do it, presumably using a new service they offer.
I do want to note the use of personalization in subject lines here. It can be very effective, as long as you don’t do it in every single email.
The word that will attract any person’s attention is their own name. But if you say it over and over, in the subject line, in the email, in every other sentence, it just becomes another word they’ll tune out.
Here’s another example that turns the “how to” idea on its head.
Anna Sabino helps people get booked on podcasts to get more exposure for whatever it is they’re doing. She leads with the benefit of “Increase your influence” and teases with “Get booked out” then adds the “How?” at the very end.
There are lots of ways to phrase these subject lines, so do play around with them to see what works best for your audience.
3. Use Cultural and Current Event References in Your Subject Lines
Words and phrases we almost recognize are more likely to catch our eye as we scroll past them in our inboxes.
For instance, I recently used A time to sell and a time to serve as a subject line, which is a play off of the lyrics to the song Turn! Turn! Turn! Which was written by Pete Seeger and made popular by The Byrds.
A master of this particular subject line type is copywriter, Ben Settle. He loves using book and movie titles to grab his subscribers’ attention.
Again, I do recommend making sure your reference ties into your email, so people aren’t confused by it. For example, Ben’s email started off with a story about Quentin Tarantino and the film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is the reference for this subject line.
4. Tie Your Subject Line into the Holidays
I love doing this! And it’s so easy to do, whatever the holiday may be.
It can be as simple as Happy Memorial Day and Start of Summer. Or you can make it more universal, like, Happy, Merry, Blessed, etc. which I used last year during the winter holidays.
I also like celebrating my own birthday, which usually involves me giving a gift to my subscribers. This year it was, Happy Birthday to Me! Here’s a gift for you
Here’s one from Digital Marketer that’s both a cultural reference and a holiday tie-in.
Holidays are great excuses for promotions. I’ve even seen companies make up holidays if they have an appropriate promotion to go with it. (Those are interesting emails to write.)
5. Use a Repeating Subject Line for Newsletters or Series
My friend and fellow copywriter Heather Robson once did a seminar on writing email newsletters. In this seminar she said, “You know what the most popular, clicked on subject line for newsletters is? “September Newsletter.”
When we know to expect something regularly, we look for it. This is true whether you’re expecting a package, or you read someone’s emails regularly. Using the same subject line each month for your newsletter makes it easier for your subscribers to find it as they’re scrolling through their inboxes.
For instance, my monthly email to my music email list is [Month Year] Music Happenings. It’s clear and lets my music fans know they’ll find out what I’m up to this month if they click on the email.
If you’re wondering whether you can do this every day, the New York Times thinks so.
This is their subject line for the daily list of stories they think I’d like. Your only concern here would be to remember to switch out the day.
This also works if you’re sending a series of emails, like this one from Justuno.
The nice thing about this type of subject line is it reminds your subscribers that there are other emails in this series, which can cause them to go back and read the ones they’ve missed.
Need More Ideas for Your Subject Lines?
I recommend downloading my list of 30 Subject Lines to Keep Your Subscribers Opening and Reading Every Email. It’s got plenty of subject line ideas to stimulate your imagination and get your subscribers’ attention.
Click on the button below to get your copy now.