Every email, good or bad, starts with a subject line. In fact, it is safe to say that every time people check their inboxes, email subject lines are the first thing to attract their attention. For sales and marketing emails, a subject line is one of two major decisive factors that make the difference between the email getting opened or thrown into the trash (another one is the sender’s name). Thus, all the effort that you put into perfecting your emails, also risks going down the drain — unless you complement your copy with catchy subject lines.
And that is not a mere hypothesis: research data from various sources indicates that subject lines directly affect open rates. For example, SuperOffice research has shown that as much as 33% of recipients open an email based on its subject line.
In sales, in particular, subject lines are of crucial importance: get one wrong, and you might lose a prospect for good. That means, if you want your sales emails to hit the mark, you have no choice but to learn how to craft catchy, compelling subject lines. But how do you do that? Read on to find out.
Can you get better at writing email subject lines? Absolutely yes. Implementing these tested tips into your regular email writing practice is the best place to start. To illustrate these tips, we’ll be using some examples from marketing emails, but you can safely utilize these techniques in your sales emails, too.
Most people are short on time. Moreover, their inboxes are likely inundated with emails: according to a fresh Email Statistics Report by Radicati Group, the total number of emails sent and received per day is steadily growing and is projected to exceed 376 billion by the end of 2025. Given this, no one wants to waste time reading long, complicated, or vague email subject lines. If your line gets cut off before you get to the point, you can be pretty sure you’ve lost the competition for your readers’ attention.
So, what’s the ideal length? The general rule is, recipients will more likely open your emails if you keep your subject lines somewhere between 40 to 60 characters, or seven to nine words. On mobile devices, there’s less space for your subject lines, so aim for no longer than 40 characters or five words if your audience typically checks emails on the go.
Compare these examples: a 57-character subject line that is displayed properly in the desktop version gets cut off on a smartphone.
When people’s inboxes are stuffed with emails, dividing the wheat from the chaff becomes a necessity. But when they see certain “anchor” words, they cannot help but pay attention. Typically, these words are somehow related to their (or their company’s) problems or pain points. Additionally, there are certain “power words” that help email subject lines perform better. For example, research by Campaign Monitor indicates that words such as “invitation” and “introducing” increase open rates by 9.45% and 7.36% respectively.
On the other hand, “spammy” words such as “#1”, “guaranteed”, “free access”, etc. in sales email subject lines tend to serve as red flags, indicating that the email in question is most likely irrelevant and/or doesn’t provide real value. These words differ across audiences and industries, but as a rule, we suggest you be careful with words and word combinations that are overused, overpromising, or overly sensational.
Another powerful tactic that you can use to compel recipients to click on your subject line is creating urgency. This gimmick is particularly popular in retail marketing, where it can be found in many variations. For example, you can use words like “now”, “today”, “this week”, etc. to create implied urgency, or mention that your offer expires in X hours/days/etc. if that is the case.
In your sales emails, you can use the same technique. But remember: whenever you add real urgency to your subject line, the email itself should live up to the promise. Otherwise, people who open the email enticed by its subject line will feel manipulated and deceived. Overusing the tactic can also backfire in the long run: annoyed by your endless “urgent” emails, your prospects will eventually mark them as spam.
The so-called emotional marketing often produces astonishing results. The reason is, the human brain is hardwired to process sensory information in the “emotional section” much faster than in the “cognitive” one, the authors of How Cool Brands Stay Hot: Branding to Generation Y state. Thus, there’s a good chance your prospects will open your email if the subject line evokes certain emotions or feelings marketers typically appeal to happiness, trust, pride, fear (in the form of FOMO), and others.
In the example above, Samsung appeals to curiosity and FOMO: first, it makes the recipients eager to know what’s that gadget that everyone’s talking about, and, second, leaves them wondering how come they still don’t know anything about it.
Subject line personalization is a proven tactic for increasing email open rates. From list segmentation to merge tags, common email marketing personalization best practices have been consistently helping businesses create better experiences for subscribers. And subject lines, even though short, can be personalized beyond mentioning the subscriber’s name — for example, by also mentioning location, interests, etc.
Personalization can boost performance even if you limit it to using name tags. But subject line personalization can go beyond featuring prospects’ names instead of a generic “Hey there”: mentioning issues specific to the person or company you’re addressing can make your message truly relevant and compelling.
Due to the overabundance of sales and marketing emails, many people have already become unresponsive to common gimmicks like the ones mentioned above. Some professionals have become weary to such an extent that they would not react even to the most powerful tactics, such as urgency or personalization.
The good news is, hardly anyone can resist a truly valuable proposition. So, if you manage to masterfully incorporate a teaser of that proposition into your subject line, you can be pretty sure your sales email won’t be ignored — provided the offer is relevant to your prospect, that is. To ensure that, remember to carefully research their needs and pain points prior to sending an email.
Take a look at the email from Audible shown above: the subject line promises three free months of subscription (and the company actually delivers on that promise). This proposition is very visible (thanks to capslocked “FREE”), truly valuable, and almost impossible to resist.
There were times when clickbait worked pretty well. But in 2023, it’s so dated. These days, your target audience is very unlikely to respond positively to anything containing clickbait — especially if you work in the B2B sector.
However, it’s often hard to distinguish between an intriguing subject line and clickbait. The difference is, clickbait is typically either sensational, or misleading, or both (if you can’t think of an example, think tabloid headlines). Intrigue, in turn, is something aimed at arousing curiosity or interest. Obviously, you needn’t resort to clickbait to create intrigue!
Take a look at the example below: it’s an intriguing subject line, but not clickbait (and irresistible anyway).
These were the basic proven tips for writing effective, attention-grabbing sales email subject lines. But reading about them is one thing, and putting to practice is quite another. Besides, some people learn best from examples. If you are one of them, the next section will help you get a better idea of what a good sales email subject line should look like.
Read all the tips, but struggling to come up with compelling sales subject lines anyway? Don’t worry — just a little practice, and you’ll be killing it. In the meanwhile, you can study the examples in this section to get an idea of what you should aim for.
Composing cold emails might be daunting, but it’s an essential part of every sales rep’s job anyway. Coming up with a catchy subject line is an added challenge when it’s your first contact with a prospect. However, spending extra time on perfecting your subject line is never a waste of time: the higher your open rates are, the more chances you have of securing a client (provided the email body is equally compelling).
When it comes to cold outreach subject lines, there are several tested techniques that have shown the best results. These are:
Here’s how it might look in the subject lines:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
Imagine you meet someone at a party, and you decide to make an acquaintance. So, you come up to that person and say something like “I believe we might have a lot in common. Can we chat?”. Now, what about if you refer to a mutual connection of yours and say, “I’ve heard a lot about you from my friend [friend’s name]. He/she says we have so much in common!”. Different story, right?
In sales, it works in a similar way. So, if you have someone who might recommend you, it’s a good idea to mention that person right in the subject line of your sales email.
Here are some ideas.
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
If your initial outreach email has worked, the next natural step is to secure a meeting with your prospect. Whether you plan to meet offline or online, you need to persuade that person that 1) a meeting won’t take too much time, because everyone is so busy nowadays, 2) you won’t waste their time reiterating the same information you’ve already given in your first email, and, 3) you won’t be making them uncomfortable by pushing too hard.
That’s how you can do it using a simple subject line:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
There are different types of follow-up sales emails, and they require different approaches to composing the subject lines. For inbound leads follow-up emails — i.e., emails to prospects who have already taken some target action — it’s a viable tactic to appeal to their curiosity.
Here’s what you can use:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
For follow-up emails to those who have replied to your cold emails, you can use appointment request subject lines if you feel the prospect is ready for a meeting. If that is not the case, try the following templates:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
Getting no response is painful and discouraging. At this point, some sales reps simply give up and move on. But experts say it’s not the best option: typically, more than one contact is needed to secure a client, so those who persist win the game. However, it takes a lot of skill to craft your subject line in such a manner that an almost lost prospect would be tempted to give you a chance (or you’ll eventually make sure there’s no point in pursuing).
How do you do that? Here are some suggestions.
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
Why it’s good:
While email subject lines might seem a trifle, they can actually make or break your sales emails. To ensure that recipients open your emails instead of ignoring them or sending to trash, don’t ever treat subject lines as an afterthought. Instead, put as much — if not more — effort in crafting them as you would in any other component of your sales email.
To make your email subject lines for sales truly compelling, use the tips from this article and learn from the best email subject lines examples provided in it. And to ensure success, remember to produce more than one subject line variation for each email, always test whatever you come up with, and quickly make the necessary tweaks.
