Subject lines for email marketing are the most important parts of any email you will send on a marketing campaign. Why is this so? A subject line determines whether or not the recipient will open the email, ignore it, or classify it as spam.
Many marketers, especially novices, struggle with email open rates because they don’t know the right subject lines to use. If you fall into this category, then this post was written for you. We will show you different categories of subject lines for email marketing to help you improve open rates with practical examples.
What are Email Subject Line and Why is it Important?
Email subject lines are the lines of text email recipients see in their inboxes that provide hints of the emails they receive. It is usually a line of text and it determines whether or not a reader will open an email.
Why are subject lines for email marketing so important? Studies show that about 47% of all email recipients say that they open emails because of the subject lines alone. Also, 69% of all email recipients say that they report emails as spam because of the subject lines.
What this means is that your subject lines can make or mar your email marketing campaigns. Experts recommend that you leverage natural human tendencies as well as psychological principles when writing subject lines. The next section of this post will show you different types of subject lines for email marketing to help you improve open rates.
Best Subject Lines for Email Marketing
Here are some categories of subject lines for email marketing along with a few examples:
Subject lines to invoke curiosity
Every human being has a natural desire to seek closure. We want to know as much as we can about a product, service, brand, event, etc. You can play on this to create catchy subject lines that will leave the recipient curious. Such subject lines are open-ended so the recipient will not be satisfied until they open the email.
You can ask a question, say something unusual or strange, or make an interesting promise. Here are a few examples you can consider:
- Club28: “5 bizarre money habits that are making Millennials richer.”
- Sarah: “*Do not Open This Email!*”
- Eat This, Discard That: “7 Disgusting Thanksgiving Facts.”
- Digital Marketer: “Can we label this the hottest marketing career in 2022?”
- Steve: “Last Day to See the Content of This Mystery Email.”
Drive FOMO subject lines
FOMO is an acronym for “Fear of Missing Out.” This principle is very difficult to resist so you can use it to attract attention to your emails on marketing campaigns. All you need to do is add an element of limited availability or scarcity or limited time (urgency).
It has been proven that subject lines containing words implying time sensitivity increase open rates. Examples of these words include alert, urgent, important, breaking, essential, and so on. Check out some examples of FOMO subject lines below:
- Digital Marketer: “Your 5-figure plan expires at midnight…”
- Guess What: “Tonight Only: A Shoe lover’s dream.”
- Robert Jones: “Oh no! Your Prescription Expires in 12 hours.”
- Jesse Mann’s Subs: “Paul, Earn Triple Points Today Alone!”
- Lush Meadows: “You’ll Miss Out on These Points.”
Funny Subject Lines
You don’t have to be serious all the time. People love to laugh and you can leverage this to attract them to open your marketing emails. You must have read certain funny subject lines that tickled you so much, you couldn’t wait to read the email content. This is the effect you have on recipients when you use these email subject lines.
Being humorous isn’t so easy, it requires a lot of creativity and thought. However, getting it right pays off with massive benefits. Here are a few funny subject lines for email marketing:
- Phone Mart: “Licking your smartphone hasn’t tasted this good.”
- Thrills: “Ensure you avoid these 25 People Next New year’s Eve.”
- Preggos: “Of course, I am Pregnant. Now, Can You Stop Staring?”
- Gifts and Cards: “We Love Being Used.”
- Toys 4 Kids: “Deals to Make Us Proud (Not Like Our Niece, Jane).”
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Greed subject lines
People hardly agree that they are greedy. However, they would scarcely pass off a juicy deal, even when they don’t exactly need it. This is the reason why discounts, special offers, and sales will always work in email subject lines.
There is a catch with using greed subject lines. You must be careful with offering discounts and special offers in your subject lines. Why? At some point, they become too good to be true. When this happens, you get the opposite of the result you desire. People are less likely to open your emails if your offer sounds too good to be true. No one wants to get scammed.
Here are some great greed subject lines for email marketing:
- Hipsy: “Flash Sale Alert!!!”
- Guess What: “15% off 5 items in your cart!”
- Club 29: “Get Premium Access Today.”
- Office Essentials: “Here are 5 must-haves for your Office.”
- Sixes: “A New Product You Can’t Afford to Pass On.”
Personal subject lines
Do you know that when you personalize email subject lines by adding the recipient’s name, you increase open rates by at least 10%? While many marketers know this trick, the issue is that they only use recipient names. Personalizing subject lines is more than just using names, it involves the kind of language you use and other important details.
For best results with personal email subject lines, you should:
- Share something personal.
- Work with a copy that implies friendship or familiarity.
- Employ casual language.
With that out of the way, here are some exciting personal subject lines you can tweak for your email marketing campaigns:
- Shoes24: “Happy Birthday Sally – Surprise Inside!”
- Stacy Jones: “I love you.”
- Bricks and Juices: “Seriously Sam, Who DOES This?”
- Sidney Apartments: “What are you doing this Valentine?”
- Influx: “Can I pick you up at 6.30 pm?”
Best Subject Lines for Email Marketing -Conclusion
Subject lines for email marketing are essential to the success of your email marketing campaigns. This post has explained subject lines and provided different categories of subject lines. It has also shown you a few examples that you can tweak for your campaigns.
