Nearly 300 billion business and consumer emails are sent each day around the world. It’s critical to write a compelling subject line to stand out from the clutter of overflowing inboxes. Compelling headlines get people to open and click your email and must pack a lot of punch into a small space.
This article is for those of you who struggle with writing engaging email subject lines or just want to better understand what makes people open and click.
Subject line best practices
There are some tried and true best practices for writing email subject lines that consistently get people to click – a strong call-to-action, compelling incentive and a unique hook are all essential, no matter what approach you decide to take. Also keep in mind that every audience is different. Subject lines aimed at B2B audiences will obviously differ from B2C audiences.
Even so, best practices tend to be universal no matter who your audience is. All subject lines should contain one or more of the best practice trifecta: call-to-action, incentive, and unique hook.
With this in mind, here are five approaches that will make your subject lines stand out.
1. Personalization
Personalization can increase email open rates by as much as 50% and increase click-to-open rates by up to 53%. They can also give you a competitive edge, since over 90% of emails sent in Q2 2017 (the time frame of the study) were not personalized. Here are some examples of creative ways to use personalized email headlines from Constant Contact.
Use a first name only:
- Amanda, thank you for being a loyal customer
- David, we haven’t seen you in a while
- Quinn, you have stuff in your cart!
Personalize based on birthdays:
Experian reports that birthday email transaction rates are up to 481% higher than promotional emails and generate 342% higher revenue. They also have higher click through rates than promotional emails. Examples:
- Happy Birthday! Take $10 off your $50 purchase this month only
- Your $5 birthday gift expires tomorrow!
- Happy birthday, Sven. Get 15% off this month’s subscription fee by clicking here
Personalize based on the weather
It’s easy to personalize your email based on the season (e.g., Fall fashions are here!), but why not take it to the next level by personalizing emails based on real-time weather events? This is a great attention-grabbing tactic that will make your emails stand out. Examples:
- Too hot to handle? Book your trip to Alaska for under $1000
- Rain got you down? Keep your feet dry with these rain boots in fun colors
- Back aching from all that shoveling? Book a massage today!
2. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
The phenomenon of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) can make time-sensitive offers, in particular, a powerful incentive to open and click on your email. Examples:
- Invitation for rewards members only: don’t miss out on these great deals!
- Get all the perks of a corporate membership for half the price – today only!
- Only ten seats left: order your tickets before they’re gone
3. The Teaser
It doesn’t take much to pique someone’s interest in your product or service if you choose your words wisely. Here are some examples of great teaser headlines that get people opening and clicking.
- Our most popular shoe is about to walk away. Get yours before it’s gone.
- Want your boss to love you? Watch our webinar to learn how.
- Are you making this common video marketing mistake?
4. Humor
Ah humor, it’s the age-old ice breaker (if done correctly) and can be a very effective tool to wield in an email subject line. Here are some examples from actual emails (some of these are also great teasers).
- That’s Weird. Like, Really Weird. (Digg)
- We saw you looking… (MeUndies) (this is personalized based on an abandoned shopping cart)
- ugh ? this new fall stuff is so cute (Urban Outfitters) (notice the creative use of an emoji)
5. Pain Points
Subject lines that address pain points are compelling because they hold the promise of something — solving a problem, delivering the perfect product, speaking to an unspoken (or spoken) desire. A subject that addresses a paint point tends to stand out from more generic subjects. Examples:
- Tips to help you survive the holidays without killing your mother-in-law (this one’s got humor too!)
- SOLVED: Your professional printing needs + get 15% off
- It’s easy to make a video for your website – we swear
Other things to consider
To get the very best open and click rates, it’s important to familiarize yourself with email marketing best practices such as the best time of day to send an email (10 a.m.) or the best day of the week to send an email (it depends). Here is a comprehensive list of best practices that addresses things like making it easy to unsubscribe and giving people options about how often they receive email.
As with every other marketing tactic you deploy, it’s important to test everything – subject lines, times of day, frequency of messages — test it, rinse, repeat.
Conclusion
The number of daily emails received by internet users worldwide is expected to grow to over 333 billion by 2022. If you want your email to stand out from the tsunami of messages people sift through every day, then you’ll need to get good – REALLY good – at writing compelling subject lines.
If you pay attention to the emails that you don’t delete, keep a list of subject line ideas and aren’t afraid to get creative, you’ll have people opening and reading your emails in no time.
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