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5 Email Headline Formulas Used By the Pros
Analyze concrete examples and learn from the best
Just as great headlines are critical to a successful article, an email subject line can make or break an entire campaign.
In fact, many great copywriters follow the 50/50 rule, which suggests that half of your content creation time should be spent on headlines. The fastest way to increase your influence and income from email marketing is to ratchet up your open rate.
There are many formulas for great email headlines, but there’s controversy over what works best.
- Outbrain conducted extensive research and determined that headlines 16–18 words in length outperform shorter or longer variations.
- Separately, social media company Buffer asserts that an ideal headline is just six words, and backs up this claim with original research.
- Analysis done by email behemoth Mailchimp, a company with millions of customers, found that headline length didn’t impact the open rate at all.
Shorter may be better for mobile, as over half of emails are now opened on a mobile device and some displays only show 25–30 characters, but conflicting studies continue to make this an unproven hypothesis at best.
I know what I click on, though: Emails with subject lines that are interesting and different.
Here are five recent email subject line formulas that caught my attention, alongside a screenshot of their linked landing page and a brief analysis of why they worked.
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This headline from CNBC is simple, but a copywriter’s dream. Here are some of the elements that make it work:
- It’s a pared-down listicle. Rather than 7, or 11, or 23 work skills, there’s just one skill I need to learn and improve, which feels surmountable.
- Describing the “work skill of the future” is a clever way to drive urgency…
