I know, I’ve already talked about the subject lines formulas for cold outreach (make sure to check out that article first: https://voleksiienko.substack.com/p/subject-line-formulas)
This time around, I wanted to share some thoughts on how to come up with an appealing subject line for your outreach emails in general and give away one of my top-performing subject lines (scroll down to see it 👇).
So let's get straight to the point!
When it comes to crafting a perfect subject line, there are tons of tips and tricks that could help you increase your open rates. Yet, in my opinion, many people tend to overcomplicate (or even overhype) this topic.
In reality, it all boils down to the following:
Keep your subject line short (ideally, 3-5 words) and mobile-friendly
Make sure it’s clear and to the point
Avoid vague subject lines, e.g. “Quick question”, “Quick Favour”, “Quick Request”, etc.
Don't use tricky subject lines (including those starting with Re: and Fwd:)
Steer clear of SPAM words
Eliminate marketing words, e.g., incredible, the best, #1 in the world, etc.
Always A/B test first and see what works for you
These are the best practices we follow when coming up with the subject lines for our sequences and templates. Yet, none of them can guarantee high performance.
The only way to understand if the subject line is any good is to check your metrics - i.e. open rate.
In my experience, a good subject line is the one that generates at least 30-40% opens 👌
A great subject line typically drives up to 40-50% open rate 👍
A perfect subject line will consistently show over 50% open rate 💪
For the past 6 years, I've tested out dozens of subject lines using different formulas. But there's one subject line that works EVERY TIME 👇
{{Company Name}} <> {{My Company}}
In our case, it's:
{{Company Name}} <> Reply.io
This subject line consistently generates a 50%+ open rate across all prospect segments, i.e. Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 accounts (and it doesn't matter whether it's a decision-maker, an influencer, or an evaluator):
Sometimes, we even get an 85%+ open rate with the given subject line — mostly for the laser-focused lists. 💪
So what makes this subject line so effective? First of all, it clearly ticks all the boxes for the rules I mentioned above! On top of that, here are some more "ingredients" to its success (in my opinion, of course 😀):
We put the prospect's Company Name first because it's all about them, not us.
We use the " <> " symbol to indicate an opportunity for mutual business, partnership, relationship, or synergy — call it whatever you want.
We are not trying to trick anyone, clearly stating our company name. Plus, if they already know us, this might give them another reason to open the email.
Thanks for your time, and I hope you enjoyed "decoding" a perfect subject line with me ⚡️
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