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Best Email Subject Lines for Better Email Open Rate


You spend hours crafting an email for your subscribers, write the most creative copy you can think of, and include the best photos you can find. And yet, you find that no one is opening your emails. What are you doing wrong? It might be your email subject line.

According to Convince & Convert, 35 percent of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone. So what can you do you write clickable, intriguing subject lines?

OptinMonster recommends using one of these ten strategies when writing subject lines: fear of missing out, curiosity, humor, vanity, greed, sloth, pain points, retargeting, personalization, and straightforwardness.

Here are some of examples they provided:

Fear of Missing Out Subject Lines

  • Warby Parker: “Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring”

  • JetBlue: “You’re missing out on points.”

  • Guess: “Tonight only: A denim lover’s dream”

Curiosity Subject Lines

  • Refinery29: “10 bizarre money habits making Millennials richer”

  • Chubbies: “Hologram Shorts?!”

  • Mary Fernandez: “? a surprise gift for you! {unwrap}”

Funny Subject Lines

  • Eater Boston: “Where to Drink Beer Right Now” (Sent at 6:45am on a Wednesday.)

  • Groupon: “Deals That Make Us Proud (Unlike Our Nephew, Steve)”

  • Warby Parker: “Pairs nicely with spreadsheets”

Vanity Subject Lines

  • Rapha: “Gift inspiration for the discerning cyclist”

  • La Mer: “Age-defying beauty tricks”

  • Rapha: “As worn in the World Tour”

Greed Subject Lines

  • Topshop: “Meet your new jeans”

  • HP: “New must-haves for your office”

  • La Mer: “A little luxury at a great price”

Sloth Subject Lines

  • Syed from OptinMonster: “Grow your email list 10X ⚡ faster with these 30 content upgrade ideas”

  • Ramit Sethi: “How to email a busy person (including a word-for-word script)”

  • Digital Marketer: “212 blog post ideas”

Pain Point Subject Lines

  • Pizza Hut: “Feed your guests without breaking the bank”

  • IKEA: “Get more kitchen space with these easy fixes”

  • HP: “Stop wasting money on ink”

Retargeting Subject Lines

  • Bonobos: “Hey, forget something? Here’s 20% off.”

  • Target: “The price dropped for something in your cart”

  • Pinterest: “Good News: Your Pin’s price dropped!”

Personal Subject Lines

  • Rent the Runway: “Happy Birthday Mary – Surprise Inside!”

  • Jon Morrow: “Quick favor?”

  • Mary Fernandez: “you free this Thurs at 12PM PST? [guest blogging class]”

Straightforward Subject Lines

  • AYR: “Best coat ever”

  • Barack Obama: “Hey”

What is your favorite email subject line strategy? As a reader, would any of these strategies deter you from opening an email? Or worse, unsubscribe or report the email as spam?

Let us know in the comments!

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