Stuck in the email marketing rut? Are your email open rates in a slump?
Supercharge your subject lines with 4 of my proven secrets.
Imagine you’ve crafted a brilliant email marketing campaign, and invested your time, and maybe even your money into it. You hit send, and then… crickets.
Your email remains unopened and buried in the recipient’s inbox.
Frustrating, right?
What’s the culprit?
Your subject line!… As it’s the gateway to your email’s success, and if it doesn’t grab attention, your email campaign might as well be invisible.
But fear not, because today, I’m going to reveal my five proven secrets for crafting jaw-dropping subject lines that will skyrocket your campaign’s open rates by more than 45%. 🚀
Did you know an average person gets 100 to 120 emails daily in their inbox but only a few get opened?
Why is that?
It’s simple we only open what grabs our attention!
That’s right, to increase your email’s open rate you need to grab your audience’s attention first.
And how do we do that?
By throwing a killer subject line!
In this article, I’ll be covering these 4 proven secrets:
- Get your hook right
- Keep it short & crisp
- Use Emojies & Numbers
- Give that personal touch
So, keep reading until the end because I’ll be sharing two additional bonus tips that will help you perfect your email subject lines.
#1 Get Your Hook Right
To kick things off, let’s talk about the first secret i.e. getting your hook right!
Your hook is the first thing your audience sees, therefore it needs to be compelling and engaging.
Here I recommend my 6 favorite hooks that will never fail your subject line:
1. Question Hook
Asking an intriguing question can pique your audience’s curiosity.
For example:
Like in the example above 👆 it’s asking a very relevant question that would easily hook your audience’s attention.
I mean who doesn’t want to escape those big OTT Bills?
2. Benefit/ Offer Hook
Offering something appealing in your subject line is a great way to grab attention.
For example:
Similarly, in the examples given above👆. It uses the most intriguing word “surprise” that will pique your audience in no time.
The same goes with another keyword “FREE”, no matter what your audience will always click whenever they see anything “FREE”.
3. Curiosity Hook
Promise something interesting inside your email. Craft subject lines like :
Now when you look at these 👆 examples it just leaves you curious, isn’t it?
Wondering what it is? And there you actually end up clicking on it!
4. Urgency Hook
Creating a sense of urgency compels your audience to take action.
Examples:
Here in these 👆 examples, all you can sense is the urgency which will ultimately make your audience act fast so that they don’t miss the offer.
5. FOMO Hook
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) works wonders in subject lines!
For Example:
Take a look here at these 👆 examples. Both of them are creating a fear of missing out in their own way.
This first one tells you what point you’re missing and the second example creates the FOMO by playing a reverse psychology card.
That’s because people tend to do those things when they are asked not to.
6. Social Proof
Highlighting positive reviews and experiences can attract new audiences.
Use testimonials like:
In these 👆 examples, you can see in both the examples, it sounds more confident.
Like as if someone is telling their story after using the product.
And those storytelling aka reviews-based subject lines always catch your audience’s attention.
The key is to pique your audience’s interest with a hook that resonates with them.
#2 Keep It Short & Crisp
Subject lines do not have enough space in our email box, yet they carry a huge responsibility for the entire email’s open rate.
So here, you need to play smartly with words.
The key is to convey your hook but in limited words so that your entire message of the subject line can be read in one go in the inbox.
For many recipients, especially those reading your emails on mobile devices, a shorter subject line is often better.
I recommend, use not more than 7 words or 60 characters for your subject line.
For example
Like in these examples, you can see only 3 words are used and at the same time, it’s hooky, crisp, and giving a complete value for someone to click.
#3 Use Emojies & Numbers
Spice up your subject line with those fun emojis.
These emojis are the only tools that add a little color and graphics to the subject line to make it look more interesting.
A study shows that having an emoji in an email subject line can increase click-through rates (CTR) by 28%.
It not only pops up the entire subject line but also makes it more alluring and attention-grabbing.
Example for emoji:
Take a look here at these examples. Can you see how emojis are really catching the attention and adding more meaning?
Like the eye emoji expressing something interesting on TikTok.
Likewise in the second example, the fire emoji represents the LIT makeover i.e. exciting makeover.
Example for numbers:
Like here in these examples, you can see how numbers have made the subject line more specific and reliable.
Giving a number in the subject line always gives your audience a better sense of direction.
#4 Make It Look Personal
One of the most important & my personal favorite is to give a personal touch in the email subject line.
One of the best ways to engage email subscribers is to connect with them emotionally.
Giving that emotional resonance in your subject line, even in the simplest of ways, is incredibly powerful.
One of the easiest ways to do this is by giving personalization, such as adding the recipient’s first name in the subject line.
According to OptinMonster addressing subscribers by their first name in the subject line can boost the open rates by 10 to 14%.
I know even I’m, more likely to click on the email that says:
“Rahi, you forgot these items in your cart” as compared to “You forgot these items in your cart”.
Some of the common personalization I use in my clients’ emails are:
- Name
- Product Name
- Category Name
- Milestone or Loyalty Points
And don’t forget personalization is becoming more & more expected in marketing and this extends far past the subject lines.
For example:
Another way to add personalization or to keep it personal is to avoid using those all-caps words or sentences.
Instead, use the normal small caps letters in the subject line as if you are writing a text message to your friend.
You see when we chat with our friends or family over a text message, we do not always capitalize words in each sentence.
Similarly, it goes with the subject line i.e. keep the message casual and make it look personal.
Keeping the subject lines in all caps makes it look very salesy in today’s time.
And in my experience keeping the subject line in small caps performs much better nowadays.
For example
#3 More Bonus Tips
Here are three bonus tips to supercharge your email subject lines:
- Test your subject line on CoSchedule to ensure it scores above 70, indicating its effectiveness.
- Keep your preview line in sync with your subject line. It should be short, descriptive, and use minimal punctuation.
- While creating urgency is effective, use it judiciously to avoid diminishing its impact.
Conclusion
In the competitive world of email marketing, the subject line is your first and best chance to grab your audience’s attention.
By mastering the five secrets revealed in this article, you can create jaw-dropping subject lines that will increase your email campaign’s open rates by more than 45%.
Whether it’s hooking your readers with a compelling question, offering value, sparking curiosity, creating urgency, or leveraging social proof, these tips will help you stand out in crowded inboxes.
Keep it short, use emojis and numbers, get personal, and follow the bonus tips to maximize your email marketing success.
Remember, a great subject line is the key to unlocking the potential of your email campaigns.