When you run an email campaign, your competitors aren’t the only fellow players in the industry — you also compete with all the brands in the inbox of each subscriber. According to the Radicati Group, an average person receives more than 100 emails per day. And, according to Statista, this number will increase during the next 3 years.
If you take that into account, you’ll understand that the competition is insane. But a good email subject line will help you stand out. A study by SuperOffice showed that 33% of recipients decide to open an email based on a subject line. Think of a subject line as a profile picture on a dating app. It’s the first thing users see, it makes the first impression and affects the decision to swipe left or right. If you’re able to make your subscribers interested enough to open the email, you have more chances to achieve the goals of your campaign — just like a good profile picture makes more matches.
There are many reasons to run a back-to-school email campaign — and different types of emails will have different subject lines. Let’s take a look at back-to-school email types and which email subjects are commonly used for them.
Back-to-school newsletters offer valuable content related to this stressful time. The most popular type of content is tips and checklists.
From: Red Tricycle
Subject: Genius Back-to-School Tips from Teachers
We like this subject line because it shows the expertise — since teachers give you advice, you can trust them. It instantly grabs attention. But that’s not the only tactic — take a look at these examples:
The start of a new academic year is a great time to offer discounts — especially for anything that helps with getting ready for school.
From: Kidpik
Subject: 🚌 Get Ready For Back-2-School With 25% Off
This email from Kidpik is an example of a basic back-to-school sales email. This type of email is not very inventive when it comes to subject lines. In this case, the best strategy is getting straight to the point:
These subject lines already offer something valuable — and your customer is already enticed to open this email and learn how to accept that offer.
Special offer emails are a subtype of sales emails that are focused on limited editions, rare deals, free items, and other outstanding events.
From: Baskin-Robbins
Subject: Back-to-School Sweetness
For example, this email from Baskin-Robbins promotes a new flavor of the month and back-to-school discounts.
From: Once Upon A Farm
Subject: Enter to win $1,900+ in prizes: Back-to-School Sweepstakes
And this email from Once Upon A Farm promotes a seasonal contest. When it comes to subject lines about giveaways and sweepstakes, the best thing you can do is voicing the prize right away — customers should understand what exactly they might get out of this.
And here are more ideas for back-to-school special offer subject lines:
When you think of back-to-school shopping, the first thing that comes to your mind is school supplies.
From: Skip Hop
Subject: Pop Quiz! What’s on your back-to-school checklist? 🎒 📚✏️
This sales email from Skip Hop suggests buying back-to-school bundles. Pay attention to the email subject — Skip Hop added emojis so subscribers could understand that the email is about school supplies. Here are more ideas for similar email subjects:
If you’re promoting an apparel business, you have many opportunities for boosting sales at the end of summer. The choice of an email subject depends on your audience. Moms looking for a new uniform for their kid and college students who want a trendier look this autumn need different approaches. Let’s take a look at these two examples.
From: Converse
Subject: Rare finds for kids’ back-to-school styling
This special offer email from Converse targets parents who consider getting a new drip for their middle-schoolers. But what if you want to appeal to a larger audience?
From: Rack Room Shoes
Subject: Most-wanted sandals for Back to School
This email from Rack Room Shoes offers a fresh start to anyone — the subject line doesn’t target a specific group of people. If your business is not specializing in kids’ clothes, that’s the way to go. Take a look at more fashion-themed subject line examples:
Teachers are a more niche customer group for back-to-school emails — but they need to get ready too.
From: US Toy
Subject: Fill your classroom with tools that inspire curiosity!
Keep in mind that teachers are a broad group — and each niche has their own needs. For example, this email from US Toys targets specifically kindergarten teachers. Here are more ideas for subject lines that target school employees:
Why do these subject lines we’ve mentioned work? They use certain tips and tricks — read this short guide and learn how to make your back-to-school subject line effective.
The Deloitte study showed that this year, 53% of back-to-school season spendings were expected to occur by the end of July — the main reason is that people are afraid of stockouts. But even if you didn’t start your campaign in the middle of summer, you still have a chance.
There is a certain category of back-to-school shoppers — procrastinators. For example, if your campaign is based on scarcity and last-minute offers, starting in August would be the best strategy. We’ve mentioned that many times: there’s no universal success recipe.
According to the 2021 report, 42.4% of emails are opened on mobile devices. Desktop interfaces already don’t give a lot of room for subject lines — and mobile apps cut them even more. That’s why, when it comes to email subjects, keeping it short is the way to go.
The Marketo study showed that the best-performing email subject length is 7 words, which is approximately 41 characters. At the same time, your subject line should be long enough to reveal the value of your email. That’s why exactly 7 words are not the ultimate rule — but we still suggest not exceeding 60 characters.
The study by Search Engine Journal showed that emojis in subject lines don’t affect open rates — but they increase CTR up to 64%. However, according to Campaign Monitor, an email that features emojis is 56% more likely to be opened.
In the end, both studies show that emojis in emails increase your campaign’s efficiency. But use them only if your brand’s tone of voice allows this. And if it does, don’t overuse them, think of your target audience and A/B test your ideas.
An effective subject line suggests a valuable solution to your customers’ problem right away. But different customers have different pain points. That’s why it’s important to know who you’re targeting, what these people’s frustrations are, and how your offer can resolve them.
Which groups of people are interested in back-to-school campaigns? Parents, students, and teachers. Here’s an example of possible pain points and good subject lines for different customer groups:
| Customer group 🧑 | Pain points😭 | Subject line inspo📝 |
| Parents |
Forgetting to get something for their child No time for shopping Pricing |
✅ Get everything at once and save 50% off school supplies Coming back-to-school? We’ve got you covered! |
| Students |
Peer validation Looking for a fresh start as a “ritual” Saving money (college students) |
Back-to-Cool 😎 For the coolest kids on the block 30% off our new drop for a fresh start this school year |
| Teachers | Getting back to stressful work after a long vacation |
You’re ready for school, what about your classroom? Best dresses for the strictest school dress codes No worries with our exclusive discounts for teachers |
Keep in mind that this spreadsheet is only an example. There are more possible pain points, and parents, students, and teachers vary a lot in demographics and other characteristics. The secret of success is knowing the exact profile of your customer — and hitting where it hurts.
As we mentioned earlier, you compete with fellow players on the market and the entire inbox of subject lines, personal or promotional. That’s why it’s so important to grab your customer’s attention right away with a catchy subject line. Here are some tricks that will help you get noticed:
These are the most popular tactics to increase your email visibility. But we know nothing about your business and your target audience. That’s why we suggest testing these tips out to see what works for you.
If you know how to write a sales email, you’ve heard a thing or two about urgency in email marketing. We already mentioned that the back-to-school season is stressful. That’s why using urgent language in your subject line might work especially well for your back-to-school email campaign. Here are some tips to get your customers to the edge of their seats:
From: ClothingUnder10
Subject: 🚨Hurry up… Back to School 📚 Deals Ends Soon ⏰ Save 20% OFF Sitewide 😱
This email from ClothingUnder10 is a great example of using urgency in subject lines. They used a lot of urgency markers and added emojis to intensify the effect. This email subject is almost anxiety-inducing. We don’t approve of using emojis after every word — but you still can use this example as a reference.
Subject lines are important in email campaigns because they allow you to stand out and increase your campaign’s visibility. The choice of back-to-school subject lines heavily depends on:
But regardless of your campaign, here are best practices to help you come out with an email subject that begs to be clicked on:
Others just make a list of ways. We actually explain how to make the most of each way.
21 surefire ways to grow your email list with detailed explanations and hand-picked examples. Based on research and 10+ years experience in email marketing.
