How to Write Subject Lines that Crush Your Email Metrics

Deflated. That’s how you feel after seeing the open rate in your latest email.

You spent hours getting the details right. You sent tests to make sure the email looks great. It’s optimized on mobile. The images are beautiful. The layout is perfect. It’s on-brand.

None of that mattered because hardly anyone opened it.

Now you have to explain why you failed.

It’s not fun, but acknowledging your mistake is the only way to get better. So you dust yourself off and live to fight another day.

Looking back, you can see how your email could have been better. Sure, your content, layout, and images were spot on. But your subject line needed more work.

You didn’t hit the pain points. It was too short and vague. You used too many emojis.

Alright, enough beating yourself up. Let’s look ahead and study successful email subject lines. We’ll look at why they get opened and the conditions you need to create to get your open rates higher.

So when you take your crack at your next email campaign, you’re gonna knock it out of the park.

First things first: Who is your audience?

One of the most powerful ways to get someone to open an email is through personalization. And I don’t mean just addressing your subscriber by their first name. I’m talking about segmenting and delivering email content that matches their mind frame.

Like any great piece of content, your email and its subject line need to address your subscriber’s relationship with your brand. Before you put pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard), ask yourself:

What problem does your subscriber have?

What role does your brand play in solving their problem?

Why does your subscriber want your emails?

Where are they in their buying journey?

Start with your subscriber’s goals, and you’ll write subject lines they’ll clamour to open.

How do you write those subject lines? Keep reading to find out.

No Pain No Gain: Subject Lines that Address Your Subscriber’s Pain

Knowing your audience’s pain and goals is essential to creating great content and enticing subject lines.

You can go about addressing your subscriber’s pain in two ways: pain avoidance or pain solution.

Craft a subject line telling them how they will avoid the pain that you or others have experienced. For example:

• How I Wasted $10k on Facebook Ads in a Week
• Ways to Look Ridiculous for a Job Interview
• What No One Tells You About Becoming a New Dad

You can take another direction and offer a solution to their pain:

• A Simple Solution to Fix Your Foot Pain
• How to Reach More Customers in Only One Hour a Week
• The Cure to Writer’s Block You Need to Know

Addressing your customer’s pain shows you empathize. You know them, and you want to help. You set yourself up as their Mr. Miyagi, who will help guide them past the Cobra Kai.

Knowing the pain points that get them to open emails takes knowing your audience on a personal level. That takes time, it takes inquiries, and it takes testing what works and what doesn’t.

Subject Lines that Perk Up Their Ears

Addressing a pain point captures attention because it’s personal. It takes time to get to that level. First, you have to draw them in and lead them down your funnel. To do that, you have to offer information that they want. And then withhold that information.

I know, it sounds mean. But you want to get email opens here. And it’s only mean if you don’t deliver on the goods you promise in your subject line. For example:

• The Little-Known Strategy I Used to Increase My Email’s CTR
• An Element of Style I Wish I Learned Earlier
• The Secret to the Perfect Homemade Pizza

You can add specifics to this strategy and make it stronger by using data.

• How I Increased My Email Open Rate by 20%
• How I Stopped Throwing Away $50 of Food Every Week

Again, knowing your audience helps. If your audience isn’t interested, they won’t open your email. So do your homework, try and test out different topics to see what works.

Subject Lines that Start a Story

Telling a story sets off triggers that lead to higher email open rates.

People are naturally curious. When you tell a story, they have an innate desire to finish that story. How do you write a good story? State a problem and tease a solution:

• He didn’t know about cryptocurrency… Now he makes $10k a month
• How I Used 2 Hours a Week to Generate Passive Income
• From Drowning in Debt to Debt-Free: My Story

Your subscriber should be able to relate to your story. Pick a story that features your subscriber’s central problem. And make sure it’s true. Develop a relationship with your audience, and they’re more likely to buy from you.

Subject Lines that Urge Your Subscriber to Act Immediately

Making your subscriber curious, addressing their pain points and telling a relatable story is great for the top and middle of your funnel. But what about the bottom of your funnel? What’s going to turn your subscriber into a customer?

If you’ve done the legwork, the ingredient you need is urgency. Use too much urgency too early, and people turn off. Inspire them to take action at the end of a nurture sequence by giving a time limit or talking about scarcity.

• The Free PDF You Haven’t Claimed is Being Deleted
• Buy Before Midnight Tonight to Receive Your Free Gift
• Pick Up the Limited Edition Shirt While Supplies Last

Creating urgency works because you’ve sent it at a time when they’re ready. You’ve given enough information. They’ve gathered enough information. Now you’ve created urgency; they’ll be ready to pull the trigger.

Remember that your subject line is just as good as your concept. Choose a concept that addresses your customer’s problem, and you’re on your way to writing subject lines that get opened and emails that your subscribers will love to read and click through.

Read more about improving your email writing: 3 Ways You’re Screwing Up Your Email Marketing and How to Write Better Emails: 4 Ways You’re Getting in Your Own Way.

Get support with creating your next email campaign; email me at hello@jerichobundac.ca. Cheers!