Meeting your goals for open rates, click-through rates, and CTA conversions relies on the power of your sales email subject line. Sounds like a lot rides on 60 characters or less, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n But never fear. Once you understand what makes a great subject line, you\u2019ll know how to craft impactful email subject lines that convert to leads, progress opportunities, and help close deals.<\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n It may surprise you to learn that the average open rate of emails<\/a> across all industries is 37.27%. The way to reel in those opens? Write a creative, catchy subject line that identifies:<\/p>\n I like to use the following tips to improve my sales email subject lines.<\/p>\n The ideal length of an email subject line varies between mobile, desktop, and tablet devices, so keep this in mind as you craft the perfect one-liner for your sales email.<\/p>\n On average, the maximum subject line is about 60 characters long before it gets cut off by the email provider.<\/strong> Campaign Monitor<\/a> recommends a subject line of 41 characters so that each word appears on desktop, mobile, and tablet devices. And Regie.ai found that subject lines with seven words<\/a> have the highest open rates.<\/p>\n But while you\u2019re watching your word and character counts, you also have to spark your prospect\u2019s curiosity and make it clear why they should (nay, must!) open your message.<\/p>\n I like to tailor the subject line to the priorities my prospects care most about:<\/p>\n Personalizing the subject line to include the prospect\u2019s name is always a smart way to go. In fact, Campaign Monitor<\/a> found that 74% of marketers claim to enjoy an average 20% increase in revenue when personalizing emails<\/a>. People want to hear from, talk to, and buy from other people, not from big brands and companies.<\/p>\n So, before emailing my prospects, I like to put myself in their shoes. Would I be compelled to read the email to solve a problem or gain an advantage? Or would it make me feel like the salesperson is taking a \u201cspray and pray\u201d approach, or is it tailored to me and my business niche?<\/p>\n Here are some more of my personalization tips:<\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> HubSpot\u2019s Sales Hub<\/a> makes personalizing subject lines easy. Set up automated personalized email sequences, templatize your most effective emails to further streamline your outreach, and more. Campaign Assistant<\/a> is another great (and free!) tool that uses AI to help with your campaign creation.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve all been taught not to judge a book by its cover, but sales email subject lines don\u2019t count. (Apologies to Mrs. Walker, my fourth-grade teacher.)<\/p>\n The primary goal of your subject line is to get the prospect to click, read more, and decide if they\u2019re interested enough to respond or take action. However, an interesting subject line means different things for different scenarios.<\/p>\n Here are a few ways to create subject lines that capture the attention and imagination of your audience:<\/p>\n The key to each of these angles is this: They\u2019re all about the prospect.<\/strong> You\u2019ll have plenty of time to pitch your product in the body of the email and on future calls.<\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> I like to use A\/B testing to verify whether a subject line interests my prospects. There are a lot of great A\/B testing tools<\/a> on the market to help you do this quickly and effectively. AI can help<\/a>, too!<\/p>\n When writing a subject line, I make sure to describe the measurable and intangible benefits of working with me.<\/p>\n I had a sales coach named Marty Nuckles who said this approach works because everyone\u2019s favorite radio station is WIIFM, or \u201cWhat\u2019s In It For Me.\u201d The WIIFM sales principle focuses on the value of your offerings to the prospect, and it\u2019s a great way to start building rapport by demonstrating empathy.<\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> I like to personalize my emails by including a specific benefit for the recipient in the subject line. For instance, instead of a generic subject, I use something like \u201cLet\u2019s discuss how [ProspectCo] can increase deal win rates.\u201d This directly highlights the advantage of opening the email and ideally, responding to it.<\/p>\n Time sensitivity is a common filter that many of us use to prioritize our inboxes, so it\u2019s understandable that our prospects operate their inboxes the same way. Even if your prospect isn\u2019t particularly interested in making a purchase right now, there\u2019s still some benefit in knowing that they could miss out on a benefit if they don\u2019t explore the limited-time-only promotions.<\/p>\n I have several emails in my inbox right now with \u201cDon\u2019t miss this deal!\u201d subject lines for promotional pricing. I\u2019ve received other time-sensitive offers for SaaS trials and event registrations.<\/p>\n In my experience, creating urgency \u2014 where appropriate \u2014 is a tried-and-true tactic to get your emails opened and read, but don\u2019t rely on this all the time. If prospects don\u2019t take you seriously about empty promotional warnings, your overall credibility is compromised.<\/p>\n Using clickbait headlines doesn\u2019t just cheapen your outreach messaging \u2014 they increase the likelihood your emails will be caught in spam filters.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t let your email subject lines make claims that your company or its products or services can\u2019t live up to. Falsely insinuating urgency, value, or benefits can damage your reputation as a salesperson, and may even result in your company being fined by regulators.<\/p>\n Pro tip: <\/strong>For an added layer of assurance, cross-check your subject line against our list of spam trigger words to avoid<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keywords are another way prospects filter and organize their inboxes. So, including specific keywords in your email can help yours make it into a folder the prospect will review later.<\/p>\n Google Trends, Search Console, or HubSpot\u2019s Traffic Analysis tool are a few tools you can use to help you generate subject lines that align with how people are finding your company.<\/p>\n Pro tip: <\/strong>Run some A\/B tests to determine what keywords result in the highest open rates compared to other versions.<\/p>\n![\"Download](\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/53\/be67aa79-8dbe-4938-8256-fdf195247a9c.png\")
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1. Keep it brief.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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2. Personalize it.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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3. Make it interesting.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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4. Offer value.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
5. Create urgency.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
6. Avoid clickbait.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
7. Include trending keywords.<\/strong><\/h3>\n