Is anyone opening your emails? Seriously! If no one’s opening your email, then no one is reading your emails. You don’t really have an audience and it’s time to start writing the best email subject lines … TODAY!
For me, the most important metrics to consistently watch and improve are email open rates. There’s good reason for it, too. If your subscribers aren’t opening your email, then they can’t read about:
- Your newest coaching program
- Your latest must-have tool discovery
- That epic blog post you just wrote
The trouble is, you only have about two seconds to entice a reader to open your email with the best subject lines. Even worse, you have to do it in ten words or less.
Yikes!
That’s a pretty tall order, even for seasoned copywriters. But there are some tricks you can use to create the best email subject lines ever and improve your digital marketing funnel.
How to Write the Best Email Subject Lines
Be Ambiguous
If you’ve been on Facebook lately you’ve no doubt seen those “click bait” headlines that say things like, “She adds this to a box of Wheat Thins and I’m drooling!” The reason headlines like that work is because we can’t help but wonder what “this” is that she’s adding to her Wheat Thins.
Is it sugar? Salt? Peanut butter?
We imagine the possibilities, and in the end we have to find out, so we click.
You can employ the same technique in your email subject lines. Just substitute the word “this” for the actual thing you’re writing about, and you’ve got instant enticement.
If I’m perfectly honest, this is my favorite and most effective way to increase my open rates. My top subject line open rate comes from this one:
“Did you see this?”
When you get an email with only those four words in the subject line, you wonder what I’m talking about and click open.
It’s ambiguous and creates curiosity.
If you want to see other good, ambiguous subject lines, watch the news headlines. The ones that pop up on your browser when you first open it. Those people are masters at getting you to click their box to read more.
OR . . . you can grab a copy of my 37 Best Email Subject Lines. It’s free right now, so enter your name & email below. I’ll send it on over.
Use Numbers
7 Hidden Benefits of Waking Up at 5am
3 Unlikely Ways to Close the Sale”
5 Social Media Platforms You Shouldn’t Be Ignoring”
Why do numbers work so well to get your readers to open up?
Numbers work in subject lines
are great because we are ego-centric and curious. We simply must know if
we’ve been using those three ways to close the sale. We will either
feel good for being a marketing maven, or we learn something we need to
do. Both are compelling reasons to open an email.
Split Test – Case Study
About a month ago, I conducted a split test in my homeschool niche with these two subject lines:
Subject Line 1: 22 Ideas to Celebrate First Day of School
Subject Line 2: It’s back . . . did you get it? ???
Subject line #1, the one with numbers, was opened 1% more times than subject line #2. To take it a step further, 17% more readers clicked my link inside email #1.
Over the next month, look for ways to use numbers in your subject lines to increase both your open rate and your click-through rate.
Here’s the bottom line!
If your subscribers aren’t opening your email, they’re not buying. Paying closer attention to your subject lines is the single most important thing you can do for your email marketing campaigns.
In my next post, I’ll share more tips on writing subject lines that get opened.
What tips do you have to create the best email subject lines so your increase your open rate?
