16 Email Subject Lines and Why They Work

According to Oberlo, emails have the highest return on investment with every $1 spent on email marketing having an average return of $32. Email marketing is a surefire favourite among marketers because it is easy to plan and deploy, flexible, and you can take your list to any platform you choose.

But naturally, all that good stuff depends on people actually opening your emails.

And in order to do that, they have to be convinced as soon as possible – in as little as seven seconds after your email hits their inbox. Your subject line is your first impression: it tells the reader to open it, delete it, or even worse, unsubscribe as soon as they can. 47% of email recipients open email depending on the subject line, whereas 69% of email recipients report email as spam based solely on the subject – there’s a lot at stake.

Nailing your subject lines is important, so we’ve compiled a list of some of the best ones – as well as the thinking behind them – so you can boost your email marketing efforts.

1. “Where to Drink Beer Right Now” – Eater Boston. This is an excellent example of timing coming into play when deciding your subject lines. This email was sent at 6:45 AM on a Wednesday: early enough to get a sly chuckle from some of the more alcoholically-inclined among us, but after a busy midweek, many people will already be planning a quiet drink or two to unwind.
2. “Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring!” – Warby Parker. Conversational words make this optician more humanised, and using phrasing such as “uh-oh” evokes fear of missing out.
3. “Best of Groupon: The Deals That Make Us Proud (Unlike Our Nephew, Steve)” – Groupon. Poor Steve. A sarcastic or humorous line can pique readers’ interest (and they might be able to relate).
4. “*Don’t Open This Email*” – Manicube. Now a classic that’s crossed over into cliche internet marketing territory, a Don’t Open subject line rouses the little rebel in all of us. What’s inside – forbidden knowledge? Secrets? Hacks? We won’t know unless we open.
5. “What They Eat In Prison” – Thrillist. If you have engaging or surprising content, let it speak for itself. This subject line needs no dressing up to let readers know it’s interesting, straightforward, and an enlightening read.
6. “DO NOT Commit These Instagram Atrocities” – Thrillist. No one wants to look like a fool. Subject lines that promise to let you in on mistakes you could be making are irresistible to conscientious readers.
8. “Not Cool, Guys” – Buzzfeed. These titans of clickable internet stuff always have tight, rigorously tested subject lines. This one is a little too vague by itself – has the author had a bad day, or has an international atrocity been committed? That’s why Buzzfeed uses the preview text as kind of a subject line part 2: for example, in this email it was: “Okay, WHO left the passive-aggressive sticky note on my fridge. Honestly, who acts like this?” A two-part subject line such as this strikes up a real conversation with the reader, and lets you add extra context.
9. “Is this the hottest career in marketing?” – Digital Marketer. A classic curiosity-based subject line has us wondering, and wanting to open the email to find out more.
10. “You free this Thurs at 12pm PST? (Guest blogging class)” – Mary Fernandez. Using a super-conversational tone, as well as the time and date, humanises your brand and introduces a fear of missing out.
11. “1,750 points for you. Valentine’s flowers & more for them.” – International Flowers. A customer benefit is put front and center, while a clever segue gets them thinking about who they’d give the flowers to (presumably a loved one) which puts readers in an instant good mood. Sales by association.
12. “Rock the color of the year” – Etsy. Who doesn’t want to know the colour of the year? And more, who doesn’t want to rock it? This subject line reminds us that Etsy does handmade and vintage clothing and accessories, while introducing a fashion-based fear of missing out.
13. “As You Wish” – UncommonGoods. These guys sell unique gifts to geeks, nerds, and passionate people all over the world. By using a movie reference in their subject line for an email about their wishlist, they subtly qualify their audience by using language only they would understand. (By the way, this subject line is based on the movie ‘The Princess Bride’. I hope you already knew that.)
14. “Everything you wanted to know about email copy but was too afraid to ask” – CopyHackers. No one likes pain. No one likes to be embarrassed, or ignorant. This subject line capitalises on that fear to urge you to open the email real quick and see if your number one embarrassing email copy question has been answered.
15. “Yes, this is a fundraising email” – Al Franken. Honesty is often the best policy. And when you’re coming at someone with unpleasant news – or asking for money outright – a reader can feel refreshed when you leave out the sales pitch and the woo-woo. Even better, you’ll look like an honest, trustworthy person by doing so.
16. “Hey” – Barack Obama. Hey yourself, Barack. Of course, if you’re internationally-recognised in your field, you can get away with just a quick afterthought because its your name that will get the email opened, not what you have to say.

What do you think about our subject lines? Have you got any of your own to add? Leave us a comment and let us know!