4. Subject Line Formulas for Email Outreach
Subject line is the very first thing your prospects see once your email lands in their inbox. It’s also your best chance to impress them. Because it doesn’t matter how perfect and personalized your email is, they won't see it if your subject line doesn't resonate with them.
To make sure my emails get opened, I typically follow certain rules:
Keep it as short as possible — 3-5 words max.
Make sure the email template reflects the main idea of your subject line and vice versa.
Cut the "marketing talk" — you aren't a marketing manager and your email is not a newsletter.
Avoid tricky subject lines. Your goal isn’t just to get more opens but to build relationships (which is impossible to do by deceit).
Subject lines starting with “Fwd:” and “Re:” generate higher open rates, but again don’t overuse them.
Always A/B test first to see what works for your business.
Based on these rules, I identified 4 subject line formulas that constantly generate high open rates:
Mutual business formula
3-variables technique
Need/urgency formula
Personalization formula
🤝 Mutual Business Formula
I always try to make my outreach as warm as possible. So I'd rather settle with a lower open rate than annoy my prospects with misleading or vague subject lines.
Thus, I really like variations of the mutual business formula, e.g.:
{{Company}} <> {{My Company}} — Google <> Reply.io
{{Company}} and {{My Company}} — Google and Reply.io
{{Company}} <-> {{My Company}} — Google <-> Reply.io
{{FirstName}} and {{My FirstName}} — John and William
{{My Company}} for {{Company}} — Reply for Google?
🎯 3-Variables Formula
I call it a "3-variables" formula, as such subject lines typically contain 3 words (i.e. variables) that might not even be interrelated. Yet, the formula works pretty great if you want to arouse the prospect’s curiosity about what's behind the subject line.
Just remember, there always should be a clear link between the subject line and the email template.
For example, here are my favorite variations of this formula:
{{Interest}}, {{Company}} and {{My Company}} e.g Marvel, Google and Reply.io (if the prospect loves watching Marvel movies)
{{Company}}, {{My Company}} and {{Technographocs}} — Google, Reply.io and Salesforce (if the prospect company uses Salesforce)
{{Company}}, {{My Company}} and {{Pain Point}} — Google, Reply.io and sales automation
{{Quarter and Year}}, {{Interest}} and {{Company}} — Q1 2021, golf and Google
{{Quarter and Year}}, {{Company}} and {{Pain Point}} — Q1 2021, Google and sales automation
{{Hirings}}, {{Company}} and {{Pain Point}} — 2 new SDRs, Google and sales automation
🧨 Need/Urgency Formula
In B2B sales, AEs often have to create urgency to move deals further through the sales pipeline. We can apply the same tactic when creating email subject lines to motivate the prospects to open your emails.
Here are some examples of this formula we use here at Reply:
{{FirstName}} - any thoughts? — John - any thoughts?
{{FirstName}}, just curious... — John, just curious...
{{My Company}} trial account ends in 2 days — Reply trial account ends in 2 days
Have you given up on {{Pain Point}}? — Have you given up on sales automation?
🎨 Personalization Formula
The above-listed formulas fit perfectly with automated sales outreach. You can add as many variables as you need to both your subject line and email template and still put the whole process on autopilot using a sales engagement platform like Reply.
The personalization formula, on the other hand, is something I prefer using for one-on-one email communication where I can still automate subject lines but not the whole outreach, e.g., when adding a custom snippet or Vidyard video, etc.
Here a few subject lines using this approach that worked for us:
I made you a video, {{FirstName}} — I made you a video, John
{{FirstName}} + {{My FirstName}} 🎬intro video — John + William 🎬intro video
{{FirstName}}, here’s something just for you — John, here’s something just for you.
{{FirstName}}, {{Colleague}} > referral — John, Max > referral
Of course, there are more proven formulas and techniques to explore (take for example social proof and using numbers in a subject line). I’ve decided to focus on these 4 mostly because they are relatively easy to implement but still very effective.
Feel free to try and see if any of them work for you. Also, if you know some other subject lines that you prefer using, feel free to share them in the comments.
If you want to get more insights about sales development, make sure to subscribe below 👇
P.S. Next week we will "decode" another hack for email personalization at scale — liquid syntax and conditional variables. So stay tuned!