Most people only read the subject lines of their incoming emails.
Then, they quickly decide whether to read more or delete them.
You must use the subject line wisely to convince people that your email is worth reading.
Great copywriters spend disproportionate amounts of time on titles, headlines, and subject lines compared to the rest of the copy. They do it because they know that if they don’t get these right, nothing else matters.
✉️ Why you should know how to write subject lines
Copywriters need to master these two types of emails to have a successful career:
❄️ Cold emails
If you are a freelance copywriter or plan to open your own shop in the future, you need to know how to sell yourself using cold outreach.
It’s one of the most effective ways to get new clients.
Most of your cold outreach will be done by email.
🗞️ Marketing emails / Newsletters
These emails are sent to a list of people who agreed to read your content. They can be promotional emails, product updates, or any other email that aims to provide value to your audience.
Either way, you’ll need to use a few principles to grab the reader’s attention and interest him in what you have to say.
✍🏻 3 things to keep in mind when writing a subject line
There is a lot of advice on this subject, but most of it is just people repeating the same tips in different words.
For example, some articles discuss 1. not using spam words, 2. avoid too many emojis, 3. being concise.
But all these tips can be distilled into one: Keep it short.
When you keep it short, you don’t have time for spammy words or using multiple emojis.
Anyway, I got all my jobs and clients from cold emails, and I only kept these 3 tips in mind:
1. 👤 Personalise
The #1 tip for writing subject lines.
You’ll have to think from the point of view of your target reader. What’s important to him? What will help him? What will stand out in his messy inbox?
If you write cold emails to attract clients, invest a few minutes researching your target audience and then use your knowledge to write a subject line that grabs their attention.
For example, I recently targeted a YouTuber. Before I sent him a message, I scrolled through his Instagram and saw that he uploads a lot of picture of his cat. I decided to mention the cat’s name in the subject line (I said something like, “Let’s get a little Spook more followers?”), and this got him to respond.
Most people send generic emails. They’re getting repetitive, and people filter them fast. Ditch the “Quick Question” or “RE: “ subject lines. Be specific.
If you write for a company with a massive list, there are other ways to personalize your message.
First, segment your list. Segmenting means making a small group from your big list.
For example, segment all the users from a specific country. Then, send them an email with a subject line that starts with a word in their country’s language. Or use a name variable to start the email with the reader’s first name.
Some personalization does not even have to be in the copy itself. You can send your audience a message on a specific day and time that is important to them (like their birthday or during a holiday).
2. 🩳 Keep it short
You want to make it easy for your reader to start reading.
To achieve it, you make the first sentence (your subject line) as easy as possible to read.
Use as few words as possible.
People have short attention spans. They scan their inboxes for easy emails to “deal with” so they can get a little dopamine hit.
Morning Brew is a good example. Look at their super short subject lines. They are one of the most successful newsletters out there, so you can trust they know what they are doing.
Ali Abouelatta from First 1000 wrote a great article on how he grew to 85K subs.
His greatest insight?
The only things that matters are your cadence (write consistently) and a short subject line 🔽
A 1-2 word subject line can increase your open rates by 30%.
3. 🧪 Test it
Even if you write a short and personalized subject line, you’ll never know what works until you send some emails and check the response rate.
Every combination of product + audience is different. Business is both art and science, so you’ll have to experiment a little.
Did you send 50 emails asking a personalized question and receive zero responses? Test a different question. Then, try a statement. Then, use their first name. Then, try mentioning your promised outcome. Then, do it in different words.
See what works. Then double down on it.
If you use an email marketing platform, it’s even easier to experiment with subject lines.
Mailchimp, for example, has a convenient way to test multiple subject lines.
🎁 Bonus: pay attention to your inbox
A good strategy to get good at writing subject lines is to look at your own behavior.
What emails do you open? What newsletters do you read regularly?
Analyze what grabs your attention, and use it in your work.
To summarize:
- If you don’t nail the subject line, people won’t read the rest of your copy.
- Copywriters can build a successful career by just mastering email (cold emails to get clients + weekly emails to provide value).
- The three essentials to writing a great subject line: 👤 Personalize: think about your target reader. What does he need right now? How do you grab his attention? Talk to one person.
- 🩳 Keep it short: people have short attention spans. You have the rest of the email to lay out the info.
- 🧪 Test: Every audience and business is different. You’ll have to use trial and error, even breaking some rules, to see what works.