Email Subject Lines That Forced You To Pay Attention?

"they delayed my email...sorry!"

Also getting an honorable mention is "emerging trends" since I was reading about it not an hour before.

Joel Comm is a smart guy, perhaps his intention was to astonish you. Did he succeed?

I personally don't like Joel Comm's marketing style...

there are tons of good subject lines ...it depends on the situation
more importantly your ongoing relationship with your list, most people look at the from line before the subject line

here's a few that I've use recently with good success...
"I totally hooked you up"
"expensive skill you must master (read me now)"

I get so many spam e-mails a day it has to be something really interesting for me to not hit delete.

Something that I think works is starting your subject line with Re:

It looks like it is a reply to an email which will cause the recipient to open it. I've never tested this but I do know that I've seen other people use this and I open it almost every time. Even "Re: (No Subject)" would probably work over a lot of other cheesy lines.

If someone puts "personal" in the email subject then it normally makes me open; but if there's an unsubscribe link at the bottom then I'll be sure to use it.

Don't tell me your email is personal to me if you're blasting it out to 10k others.

I'm not sure if this will help anyone - but my best performing email subject line recently is:

No List...? No Contacts...? No Product...? No Problem! (Here's YOUR PROVEN Plan)

I think you need to identify the information your subscribers are looking for and then tailor your offers - and hence your subject lines - to suit their needs.

I came up with this subject line after surveying my subscribers and finding that the majority have:

1. No list.
2. No product.
3. No contacts.

Hope this helps.

James

I find that what gets my attention is if the subject line has something that sounds like it came from a friend... such as something as simple as Hi or Hey. Or Business Proposal, etc.

If your email subject line is provocative, shocking, really freaking AWESOME, and it gets a ton of opens..

BUT...

...fails to be congruent with the body of the email, it's almost worthless. In fact, many times it's damaging.

I see so many marketers trying to get cute with their email subject lines, yet the actually email never really ties into the subject line. The reader sees right through this, and their patience wears thin, bit by bit.

Keep on sending SHOCKING subject lines, but fail to actually deliver anything remotely shocking and you'll watch your profits sink as subscribers learn to ignore you.

I think the best subject line is the one that leads a person to take action on what is in the email, not just open it up.

That said, one that I can think of that has done well for me is...

I made this video for you (firstname).

{First Name} - it's Jim w/News

I don't just look at the subject line - but also at who sent it.

Paul Myers or Perry Marshall could write anything as a subject line and I'd open it.

cheers,
Eric G.

You're right about that Eric... I'm not sure who Paul Myers is ... but I'll probably look him up now.... I have a folder dedicated just for Perry Marshall's emails.

Perry Marshalls last email to me was:

"Why 'free' and 'cheap' are your ENEMY, not your friend" ...

Great email!!

Thanks Eric - glad to be here!

Well I won't share subjects I use with my list but here is a free one for anyone using safe lists subject line-Free Internet Marketing training. Hurry Spots Are Filling Up fast
Of course that only works if you actually have something like that to offer but you would be amazed at the response to it
-WD

Subject lines that catches my attention are subjects with all caps prefix with the words like the following :

NEW PLR :
JV INVITE :
NEED HELP :
JUST LAUNCHED :

I don't open emails with my name on the subject line coz I know 98% of those emails are generated through AR.

Gama

I don't look at the subject lines . I look at the from column.

Ones that get opened immediately. Not in a particular order .

Paul Myers

Don and Jeremy

Ben Settle

Travis@ bum marketing

AP Admin

Jason "Profit" Moffat

Pay Pal

Pay Dot Com

E-junkie

Out of my last one thousand emails , only those got opened .

I open my list members replies but those go to a different address .

I get often email like this subject:

You have won $100000 million dollar. So, kindly confirm your address for received your money.

I always spam this.
_______________________________
Executive Offices in Orange County | Office Space in Orange County

I've been doing some testing on this lately.

Here are the last few I tested shown best to worst:

1. Did you miss it?

2. The doors are finally closing...

3. A final reminder...

4. Win this fantastic 9 DVD package!

It's worth saying that it's not all down to the subject line. Many factors determine open rate, not least things like day/time of sending, time of month, frequency of sending, past content etc.

Cheers,

Neil

Some lines which caught my attention this week - especially the last one.

"Don't share this with anyone".
"Do NOT waste money on this..."
"Newbies not allowed"

And this one.

"Expensive!! Don't open if you can't afford..." - too bad, the email itself sucked..

As usual this is the worst kind of survey to do among marketers
EXCEPT if marketers are your target audience. What people say
here wouldn't matter much because they have been saturated
with emails.

But any email subject line with the word THIS in it is quite powerful.

Also an invitation to look at a video or pictures works as well.

-Ray Edwards

Are we talking spam, here? Or how to get your own list to open? There's a great headline tool I ran across -- I'll see if I can find it.

Becky

in relation to IM style subject lines... something with 'free trial' catches me otherwise i tend to see who its from not the subject.

i have been caught a few times by those amazon order scam mails, but thats just because i buy so much on amazon i think it may actually be something relating to my order!

j

JaniG is useing things like "i need your paypal address..." and "YOUR AFFILIATE COMMISSION" and "Notification of Payment Received"

Seems to work...

Cheers,

Patrick

:This is the perfect thread for me right now...I was brainstorming e-mail subject lines to increase my response rate for the futures trading niche

Hopefully I can piece together some good ideas from all the responses.

I tend to respond to emails that are a help or solution to whatever it is I am looking to get better at online as it pertains to my business. If I am looking to better attract more prospects to my website then I might just respond to something like "a simple program to help attract more prospects to your business".

I am looking to get better at attracting visitors to my website so if I receive something like this it does not tell me directly what the program is, but it does say that it can help me so I want to know in what way can this particular program help me to increase interested prospects that come to my website.


I don't typically respond to subject lines that contain alot of hype. I just want straight solutions to the things I don't have a total answer for.

Usually its is something that says FREE in the title, or $15,700.00 in 24 hours. I know 99% are full of it. However, its interesting to open them up to see how they justify their ridiculous email headlines.

lots of great ideas here guys ive been wanting to come up with compelling lines to generate my list so will use some ideas from this thread

cheers

Billy Mays here with another fantastic product!

Information you've requested
"You made a Sale!"
"re: whatever subject line"
"fwd: whatever subject line"

This guy is making 100k a year...Are you??

Email subject lines that force you to pay attention...(FAST!)



Garry.

Just received an email from Lyris offering a guide with 10 rules for writing headlines.
Link here:
Stellar Subject Lines: 10 Rules That Get Results

Check out the info that they require from people to get access to it!
They must be joking!
Do "ordinary" people out there still give out so much stuff to get a free report?

Edit: half an hour later.
By contrast, here's the latest blog post by Michael Fortin which has just arrived.
http://www.michelfortin.com/capture-...ate-attention/
I recommend that you read it.

There's a wealth of info there for anyone writing headlines and subject lines.

There's a huge difference in marketing styles demonstrated here.

Lyris want EVERYTHING from you before they give you something of unknown value.
Micheal wants NOTHING from you before he gives you very useful information. And I'll bet that what he gives you will run rings around whatever is in the 10 rules from Lyris.

Of course, both are building lists. With a big difference.
The people on Michaels list are there because they WANT to be. He makes you WANT to sign up to his newsletter by the sheer quality of his content.

The people on the Lyris list are there because they HAVE to be.

How are you building YOUR lists?

cheers,
Eric G.

Thanks, guys for the good . . . and not so good email subject lines!!!!

I tend to always look at the sender, then I look at the subject line, then back to the sender before I pass it by if it's from an IM'er whose always selling something. With all the slick marketing and tricks to get you to open emails, the sender is usually my determining factor.

But keep 'em coming! I've been paying more attention to the subject lines lately as I anticipate stepping up my own email marketing campaign. This critique on the "good, the bad, and the ugly" is right on time!

~ Iris

I've really been reacting to those deceptive e-mail subject lines lately, and have hit the unsubscribe link on several occasions.

If you send me a "You've made a sale!" e-mail then you've lost a potential customer and any chance for a sale.

Anyone who sends me a "You have a 50,000 person list.." e-mail soon has one less person on his or her mailing list.

But the number one subject line that will ensure that this is the last e-mail you'll ever send me is the "Is everything OK?" or "What Happened?" e-mail. Thee messages come after a "guru" has been pummeling me for days with a build up to their amazing offer or product launch, which much to their surprise I don't rush out and buy. This last one struck a personal chord as I got one on a day when a serious medical issue struck and everything was not OK!

An honest subject line that accurately describes the contents of the e-mail is your best bet - at least if you want me to open it.

Bill

Lol - I think some IM'ers have got inspired by this thread - two outstanding messages today.

"Opening This Email Is Going to Piss You Off!...I Promise You..."

and

"Will this subject line entice you to open my email?"