Subject line remix

Five effective subject lines that defy conventional wisdom.

If you’ve ever seen tips for writing an effective subject line or maybe even attended a conference about email marketing best practices, you’ve probably been advised to abide by a certain set of tried-and-true principles.

First, the experts often say, include your company or brand name so that the mailing becomes instantly trusted and recognizable. Next, keep it short to make the most of the fixed space for subject lines in most email clients and webmail applications. And lastly, use the subject line to highlight the most important part of your campaign message and get your readers to click.

These are great guidelines and are always a helpful place to start. But it’s worth going your own route sometimes, too. I’ve recently noticed five subject lines in my inbox that have seemingly ignored or temporarily kicked conventional wisdom to the curb, yet still grabbed my attention.

Subject line #1
He Is Both Father and Mother

• The mailing content: A Father’s Day story from a non-profit celebrating a father who played both roles to his family after his wife passed away.
• Why it stood out to me: Curious, quirky and open-ended phrasing.

Subject line #2
Pods, Prefabs, Parking, Planting, and Paralyzing the Press

• The mailing content: An assortment of environmental stories.
• Why it stood out to me: Effective use of alliteration.

Subject line #3
School Lunch: Would You Eat That?

• The mailing content: A story of a teacher eating the same lunch as her students every day.
• Why it stood out to me: A hot topic in the news, followed by a question that instantly engaged me.

Subject line #4
Do You See God in Your Coffee?

• The mailing content: A report on searching for the perfect cup of coffee at local coffee shops.
• Why it stood out to me: Again, an engaging question (and one that brings back fond memories of late-night, college-dorm-style philosophical discussions).

Subject line #5
Abe Lincoln slaughtered vampires!

• The mailing content: A review of a newly released novel.
• Why it stood out to me: Pop culture references paired with American history … now that’s a winning combination. Even if you don’t have a vampire novel to promote, you can sneak in a reference now and then that’s on everyone’s minds. (FYI: Millard Fillmore was totally on Team Jacob).

All these creative examples take a unique angle – looking for a relevant but unexpected way to present your mailing can yield strong results and bring new life to your newsletters and other campaigns.

So when is the appropriate time to mix it up a bit and try your hand at something outside the norm?

• If you’re in a rut and you’ve been following the same formula for writing subject lines for the last year, it’s prime time to mix it up.
• If you’ve found success in the past with a certain style but your response numbers are beginning to trend in the wrong direction, even previously successful subject lines are worth revisiting.
• If you find yourself about to announce a new service or product, that’s also a great opportunity to try something new.

Feel free to weigh in below with recent subject lines that grabbed your attention … I look forward to your feedback.