7 Tips for Writing Captivating Email Subject Lines 

With the number of users climbing from 4 to 4.6 billion by 2025, what better platform to run your marketing campaign than emails!? While email campaigns drive tremendous returns to your initial investments, at times it becomes a bit difficult to create new templates to support the ever-increasing marketing needs. Personalization has become the key aspect of email writing but at times you might come across a dead end. Such situations call for creative and effective solutions, one of them being the enhancement of email subject lines. Over the years, after analyzing data of a ton of email copies, one can come across a recurring pattern that needs to be tackled with. 

Creative email copies have become the norm these days, while this idea has been fruitful till now, it has started to show signs of stress. An estimated 376.4 billion emails shall be sent and received per day for the year 2025, that is way ahead of the current projected figure of 333.2 billion emails. This spike in email usage only drives home the point of writing creative email subject lines in order to conduct fruitful business. After all, you’ll come across the subject line first before the body of the mail itself, so it is imperative for it to be impactful enough.   

Here are 7 tips on how you can make your email subject lines captivating: 

1. Personalize

Not just for the body of the email, if done correctly, personalizing the subject line of the email can grab the user’s attention and increase the chances of them opening it. Studies show that personalizing the subject line increases the opening rate by 26%. Every recipient is different hence it is important to make them feel that the message is specially curated for them. 

The subject lines can be customized by using their first name or location. Personalization in the case of a group of users can be done by segmenting the audience through audience manager.  

2. Stimulate the emotions

Emotional stimulation can motivate your audience to take action. One approach is to use FOMO. Fear of Missing Out can increase your audiences’ desire to purchase something. According to reports, 56% of social media users suffer from FOMO. They fear missing out on important status updates, news, events, and so on. 

An email subject line that piques the reader’s interest and elicits empathy can also entice them to open the email. Analyzing data about your audience can help you identify your audiences’ pain points and touchpoints and use them to elicit curiosity and empathy. 

3. Use numbers in the Email Subject Line

Using facts and figures increases credibility. Using numbers in the subject line of your emails is another effective way to draw readers’ attention, just like you do in the titles of your blogs and articles. In a study on 115 million emails by Yesware, it was discovered that email subject lines with numbers have a higher open and reply rate than those without. 

Yesware cross-validated the earlier findings in the 2021 cold email subject line study by looking at 1.2 million emails. It was discovered that email subject lines with numbers have open rates that are 45% higher than the norm.  

4. Ask questions

Asking a question in the email subject line is another way to get your recipients to open your emails. This simple technique can be extremely effective because it immediately piques recipients’ curiosity and encourages them to open the email to learn more. Your question should be relevant to your product or service and something that your target audience is interested in.  

What your audience is interested in can be easily determined by analyzing data about them that is genuine. Segmenting them through audience manager can make your job easier.. Yesware discovered in its cold email subject line study that email subject lines that include questions have a 10% higher open rate than the average. 

5. Avoid using punctuation marks and words that trigger spam filters 

Do not include any punctuation or words that are known to set off spam filters in your email subject line. It is also recommended to avoid writing anything in all caps. Multiple exclamation signs, dollar signs, and angle brackets are a few punctuation marks that are known to set off spam filters. Additionally, certain words like “free,” “guarantee,” and “winner” are known to trigger spam filters. There’s a good chance your email’s intended recipient won’t ever see it if you use any of these in the subject line. 

6. Keep it short

According to a study on email templates, subject lines with 1 to 5 words tend to have higher open rates. So, It is advised not to have more than 7 words in the subject line, though different clients have different character display limits. Studies indicate that at least 50% of email opens occur on mobile devices. Omnichannel advertising is all about giving a seamless experience to the users, hence, users will find it more convenient if they can read the entire subject in their inbox on a single line.  

7. A/B test your subject lines

To ensure one particular subject line works for you, it is important to A/B test your email subject lines. Every business is different. Things that work for some might not work for others. Testing your email subject line beforehand will ensure the fulfillment of its objective. Once you A/B test your email subject lines, you can modify your subject lines according to the results.  

To sum it up 

Although there is no foolproof formula for creating an effective email subject line, the above-listed tips will undoubtedly strengthen your subject lines and increase your open rates. Cubera offers you one of the richest zero-party data that is extracted, processed and evaluated along with identity graphs to help you understand your audience better. Through Cubera’s rich zero party data you can make the experience of your audience more personalized and convenient in omnichannel advertising.