How to Write Subject Lines That Customers Can’t Resist Clicking On

The average person gets tons of email on a daily basis.

It's one of the most widely used online communication tools in existence.

And each morning, people have to sort through all of those unread messages.

As you can imagine, a lot of things get archived without being read.

Sure, someone wouldn't do this to a letter from their grandmother or a note from their boss, but promotional emails are prime candidates for being swiped away.

If you want to improve your open rate, you need better subject lines.

The subject line is basically your one shot at getting someone's attention, and at getting them to actually look at what you sent them.

It's even more important than the contents of the email itself, in some ways.

So you've really got to focus in on crafting the perfect headline for each message you send out.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to target emotions.

Sometimes, the best way to get someone's attention is to make them feel something.

This could be positive or negative.

It could even be somewhat neutral, like the emotion of surprise.

In a recent blog post, Wishpond explains four different ways you can incorporate emotional impact into your email headlines.

Go for Emotional Impact

Just like headlines, subject lines should be infused with emotion.

That doesn't necessarily mean that your subjects should make your subscribers sad.

Quite the opposite.

Your subscribers want to know that the content in your emails will improve their lives or otherwise make their situations easier.

And if you can give them a little fun and excitement, they'll love you even more.

While it's not easy to create emotion with mere language, emotion is key if you want a boost in opens and conversions.

Your subjects don't have to be profound or inspiring, but you should go for a variety of emotions, such as…

Emotional Impact: A Sense of Urgency

You can get your email recipients to act quickly if you convey the message that time is limited.

Some tactics that work well are providing a deadline (Hurry, before time runs out!) or tapping into the fear of loss (Get your free seat before times runs out).

You can also force your recipient's hand by implying that a negative result will occur if your email is not read and followed (Don't let non-paying clients kill your business!).

EXAMPLES OF URGENT SUBJECT LINES:

The eBook excerpt disappears this Thursday!

Tonight only: [Video] How to put your marketing on autopilot

The chance to read Mark Cuban's interview ends at MIDNIGHT!

[image source: Wishpond]

Emotional Impact: Curiosity

A little mystery works well in getting recipients to act.

You can try the cliffhanger approach, where you don't give everything away (We increased sales ten-fold in three months by using'), or you can start with the end result, leaving readers to want to read the beginning of the story (How did we sell out of our inventory in three months?).

Or, you can ask an open-ended question, and one that can only be answered by reading your email content (You asked for it and our new product is finally here).

EXAMPLES OF CURIOSITY-INDUCING SUBJECT LINES:

This investment tip yielded an unexpected windfall! A must-have!

Ten bizarre tactics that attract better leads

Your sales force may be committing this GRAVE mistake

The overlooked social media strategy I almost missed

[image source: Wishpond]

Emotional Impact: Excitement

You can get your recipients pumped-up as they read their emails by using super-charged subject lines, such as those that use strong action verbs…

Example: “Acquire better leads with advice from a marketing expert”.

You can also give your reader a sense that your content is exclusive and made for their eyes only…

Example: “News coming soon! don't tell anyone!”

And, of course, you can make your recipients an offer they can't refuse.

Example: “84% of businesses see improvement with this website tweak”

MORE SUBJECT LINE EXAMPLES THAT INSPIRE EXCITEMENT:

This one word boosted our conversions by 357%!

Be the first to get our new product!

You just won a ticket to our next conference!

[image source: Wishpond]

Emotional Impact: Joy

If you can make your recipients feel joy, they'll definitely remember you.

You can inspire joy by using humor (I just threw my laptop out the window in frustration), or by giving your recipients an opportunity to do the right thing (Give back by mentoring up and coming marketers).

EXAMPLES OF SUBJECT LINES THAT MAKE PEOPLE FEEL JOY:

Want to make $10K/month? This template is life changing.

These marketing mistakes will leave you in stitches!

Thank you for your support!

[image source: Wishpond]