Are you an email marketer? We know that there’s millions to be made- if people read your mail! Here are the top tactics to make that happen
Funny
Use a little humor in your subject lines. You want your subscribers to know that you’re cool and hip. This will put them in a more laid back position and they will be more inclined to read your email.
“I think I just wet myself”
“I sure do love my mother in law… psh…”
Most people laugh at the idea of someone wetting themselves, and it’s a humorous act! (unless it’s happening to you). This not only fulfills the humor side of the subject line but also sets you up to pre-sell literally whatever you want.
You can see that the second subject line draws from the common notions that most guys don’t get along with their mother in law. This connection to the common joke about hating mother in laws not only draws upon the joke side of it, but it could even draw a connection to some of your readers.
Personalized
When most people think of personalization in an email they think of the name, which is an absolutely great tool to use if you are collecting names with your emails. But there are also some other options at your disposal.
One great one that most people don’t use is the location personalization. With AWeber, and I’m sure with other autoresponders too, you can choose to use a person’s city, county, or country in either the subject line or email you are sending them. For example:
“For [county name] residents only”
“I’m looking for people in the [city name] area”
This really draws people’s attention because it personalized exactly for where they live, which is pretty cool if you ask me.
Controversial/Shocking
Nothing screams “Open Me!” like a controversial headline. I’ve seen ones similar to this used before:
“I think Google is broke…”
Google is a huge topic among internet marketers, so this immediately draws curiosity as to the content of the email.
If you’re not in the internet marketing niche, something like:
“Top Weight Loss Product Proven To GAIN Weight!”
Anything controversial or shocking will really draw peoples attention.
Call To Action
There’s nothing wrong with using a call to action every now and again in your email. A call to action is one of the best ways to get people to… well… take action!
Read this:
“50% Off For 24 Hours Only.. GO!”
The “GO!” in the subject above is the call to action. It’s screaming out to Go Do it! Right Now!
And guess what… “Read this:” could actually be a subject line as well. Not only does it bring a call to action, but it also covers my next open rate tip.
Mysterious
So the “Read this:” subject line, as I said already it’s a call to action… but it also brings a sense of mystery.
“Read what? What should I be reading right now?”
People hate to miss out, and this actually factors into something called the “Information Gap Theory”.
The read will read the subject line above and suddenly realize that there is some piece of information they don’t know about. They will feel compelled to know what this is, because aren’t we just super curious (or very nosy) creatures?
Another good subject line for this is:
“On October 12th I am…”
You’re what! What are you doing on October 12th!
People feel compelled to know things. So give them a little something, but deliberately hold back a very big piece of information.
Scarcity
Now this is one I’m sure a lot of you have already heard, but still very important.
Scarcity can play a HUGE part in getting more people to open your emails. I’ve used some great email lines where it’s something like:
“First 20 People Get In For FREE!”
Since I sell solo ads and I’m sending to a squeeze page… everyone gets in for free 🙂
But still, it draws a lot of attention. People really hate to miss out on something, it’s like society has engrained in everyone that they can’t miss out. They have to fit in and be part of the group, the exclusive club… use this to your advantage.
Casual
Be casual in your emails brah. Try to be a little chill, smooth cool…
Ok you don’t have to act like a douche hipster, but still. One of the best email opens I ever got was a subject line that said:
“What’s up buddy?”
If you can seem cool and casual to your subscribers, they will tend to want to read your emails more.
Here’s another example of a casual subject line:
“How were the holidays?”
Sounds like something a friend would email you right? Cool and casual…
Numbers and Lists
This is a big one. People LOVE lists. I’m sure you’ve seen all of the lists on Facebook that are so popular:
“10 Craziest People”
“13 Most Beautiful Places Ever”
“8 Things Your Spouse Won’t Tell You”
If you can create some type of list for your subscribers then odds are they will want to read it. Especially if it’s on a topic that interests them. I mean just look at this WSO! It’s a list of ways to increase email open rates!
Numbers
Numbers are great to. Sometimes when I’m promoting a squeeze page or video sales page which says “How I Made $XXXX In 3 Days”, I like to use those numbers. Or something like:
“Give me 30 seconds of your time and I’ll…”
Mystery plus a specific number = Opens!
Punctuation
This is a great one that can be used a lot. Specifically for punctuation the “?”, “!”, and “…” work very well.
Maybe it’s lazyness, maybe it’s honestly the best thing to do, but for punctuation I’m going to tell you to look back through all of the example subject lines I posted above.
Contributed by Mark Lane