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"Subject Line"-Writers Block
July 29, 2007
The other day a client called me out of the blue and asked me for a good subject line for the email he wanted to send out in the next 15 minutes. I blanked. I froze. Nothing was coming out of my head.
I am usually pretty adept at writing subject lines. I think about 3 things - Curiosity, Creativity, and Urgency. Make them wonder what is inside, creatively get their attention, and make them feel like they can't wait another second before opening that email.
When people use the same subject line every time, I feel like a subscriber feels they can skip an edition, or they can comeback to it. You have to shake things up.
So, back to my story, I did what I always do when I am starved for an idea. I logged into Gmail and looked at "All Mail". I save pretty much every email ever. Why not, they give you more space than you will ever need. I started scanning subject lines from every email I have received, even from friends. While doing this, an idea hit me. I emailed the subject line to my client, and the email got a 39% read rate, a big improvement from the last email.
The lesson? There is a lot of stuff on the web. Look at what stands out to you, be it words or pictures. Try to adapt the strategy that got your attention into your own campaigns.
Posted by alex.
