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How-to guide: your subject line cheat sheet

The most important piece of copy in your entire email? Right: your subject line. The place where contacts are persuaded to open your email – or not. Your subject line has to pop from the screen and has to call the recipients to action. This is where our how-to guide comes in.

In this cheat sheet

Best practices to stand out in the inbox
Words that help you increase your open rates – or the opposite
More about the ideal length, on every device
A list of several email marketing facts and myths
The do’s and don’ts for symbols in your subject lines
The importance of experimenting
About the impact of personalisation and the influence of your target group(s)
And many additional tips and bonuses you do not want to miss

How-to guide: your subject line cheat sheet

How to write email lines that will be opened

Marketeers, like you, often spend much time on the content of an email, but nobody will notice it if you knock together a random subject line just before sending the email. Even with experienced copywriters, most subject lines are boring at the first try. This has to be improved.

Always remember that on the basis of the subject line, recipients decide whether your email is worth opening.

Viewing copy

Step 1: Determine the purpose of your email

Your purpose is that people click (through), of course. But first ask yourself why you communicate in the first place and what you want your reader to do later on.

Do not make things too difficult for yourself, but focus on one purpose (one specific topic) per email. This will make writing subject lines a lot easier.

Step 2: Add value with a call to action

To make your purpose clear from the onset, you add a clear call to action behind your text. This is old news, but what will make your readers eventually click? Your contacts want to get something in return for reading your email: collecting information, getting inspired or finding a solution. They also want to hear what is in it for them when they click your call to action. It would not be a bad idea to extend this feeling to your subject lines.

Step 3: Make 20 subject line combinations

Spend as much time on finding a catchy subject line as on writing the content of your mailing. The best subjects do not grow on trees. Therefore, try to write at least 20 to 25 subject lines. Experiment with various sentence constructions and lines of approach and keep on trying until you find the perfect combination.

Step 4: Download the subject line cheat sheet

Are you stuck when making various subject line variants? Would you like to add some extra strength to your combination, or are you looking for additional inspiration? Have a look at the cheat sheet and the list of possible subject line strategies you can apply yourself without difficulty.