The whole point of expanding your reach and getting more subscribers is to have a relationship with your email list… but you can’t have that unless you have effective email subject lines that get people to open and read your emails!
Let’s face it, we all have a lot of email to read on a daily basis, so spending a few extra minutes coming up with a good email subject line is worth it if it means more people will read your emails.
How To Write Effective Email Subject Lines
1. Make your email subject lines read like an email from a friend
You don’t want your subject line to look like marketing. What would a friend say about this topic? Would they use all caps, or drop caps? Probably not, so you shouldn’t either.
Would they hype it up, or just say “check this out…” and leave it up to you to decide if it’s cool or not?
2. Take a look at the emails that you open, and make note of what subject lines they use
Keep a “swipe file” of subject lines that worked on you. Check out my Evernote video on idea gardens are swipe files for more on how to do that.
3. Use a little curiosity
You don’t need to reveal everything you’re going to share in that one email subject line.
The point of the subject line is to get people to click and open up your email. Then the first line of your email is to get them to read the next line, one step at a time.
This also allows you to open and close loops, so when someone reads an effective email subject line they want the answer. When they read your email body, they want to click to find out more, effectively closing a loop with each step.
4. Tell them what’s in it for them
If you’re giving something valuable away (and you should) then you can give them a hint about what they can expect.
Example: Your visualization inside…
Example: Learn how to code, today
You’re not going to be able to teach them to code in that email subject line, and there’s enough curiosity about the visualization to get people to open up.
5. Effective email subject lines don’t get caught in the spam filters
A few email subject line “no-no”s can get your emails caught in the spam filters.
Do not use the word “free” anywhere in your email, and make sure to run your email through the spam assassin checker from your email management system.
Start with these email subject line writing tips, track your results, and go from there!
What effective email subject lines work for you?
I’d love to hear what email subject lines you click on the most, or which ones have had the best open rates for you. Leave a comment below, and let’s learn from each other’s examples!
