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Audience Development Strategy

Email Subject Lines: Examples Responsible for Higher Open Rates

Five email subject line archetypes that’ll have your audience opening

You have to hire the next copywriter at your organization and don’t know where to begin. Does this sound like a familiar scenario?

In today’s digital world, you must find a person who can write for the web – especially an email copywriter who has the flair

Five email subject line archetypes that’ll have your audience opening

You have to hire the next copywriter at your organization and don’t know where to begin. Does this sound like a familiar scenario?

In today’s digital world, you must find a person who can write for the web – especially an email copywriter who has the flair of direct response copywriting, yet understands the delicacy surrounding online communities.

You’ll want to hire a firm or individual that has significant experience creating marketing copy. They should know the best email copywriting and marketing techniques, understand the importance of email deliverability, and have a pile of email subject line examples they can choose from for promotions.

If you haven’t quite found the right copywriting scenario for your needs, I’ll share some of the best email subject line examples with you today.

Email subject lines: examples responsible for higher open rates

The best copywriters are able to stir the emotions and bring a little anxiety to the surface. For upcoming events and sales, an urgency headline can do wonders by creating the threat of losing the opportunity.

Email subject line example: Save 25 Percent Tomorrow Only!

Another skill email copywriters must possess is emphasizing benefits over features. Appealing to the ego results in action more often than not. Here’s an example of using a benefit email subject line archetype:

Email subject line example: Grow the Greenest Lawn, Courtesy of Scott’s Grass Seed.

To excel at email copywriting you must realize that you’re not the only game in town. In fact, your subscribers might receive hundreds of email newsletters and email promotions each day. To stay unique you need to be fascinating. The fascination email subject line hooks readers with compelling, benefit-driven copy that motivates the reader to open your email newsletter.

Email subject line example: The Amazing Secret to a Thin Waistline

Curiosity is what makes life interesting, right? As we’ve stated in our free report The 17 Best Email Subject Lines, “anyone with a curiosity quotient higher than room temperature can be intrigued and motivated to open an email.”

The intriguing promise email subject line archetype can persuade email subscribers to open, but you’re required to follow up on your promise or be condemned as an unreliable source.

Email subject line example: The Immediate Track to Early Retirement

Our final email subject line example focuses on your track record. Sharing testimonials from clients and customers can easily lead to new sales. If you have direct testimonials from customers, that’s great. If not, rely on some of your experiences. For instance, do you sell out all of your live events or have a product that sells substantially better than the rest?

Be open and honest with your audience, and share the validation and social proof that exists from your current client base.

Email subject line example: Email Marketers Made our Summits an Industry Favorite in 2012

Can’t get enough information on email copywriting? Take a look at this article I wrote earlier in the month. It shares a big secret that most copywriters don’t want others to know about creating the best email subject lines.

By Amanda MacArthur

Research Director & Managing Editor

Amanda is responsible for all the articles you read on the Mequoda Daily portal and every email newsletter delivered to your inbox from us. She is also our in-house social media expert and would love to chat with you over on @Mequoda. She has worked with Mequoda for almost a decade, helping to evolve the Mequoda Method through research, testing and developing new best practices in digital publishing, editorial strategy, email marketing and audience development. Amanda is a co-author of our four digital publishing handbooks.

Co-authored handbooks:

Contact Amanda:

Contact Amanda via email at amanda (at) mequoda (dot) com, @amaaanda, LinkedIn, and Google+.

2 replies on “Email Subject Lines: Examples Responsible for Higher Open Rates”

Absolutely, every time! As Don likes to point out, “losing weight” is an appealing benefit. The attached feature, “diet,” not so much.

Super useful. I can see where I am going wrong on one of my ventures. I need to emphasise benefits over features!!

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