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Top Tips For Subject Lines?

by tomhunt88
24 replies
All,

Pretty new to this game and trying to increase my open rates on emails to my list of approx 50 people.

Do you have any top tips for creating hypnotizing openers?

Thanks
Tom
#lines #subject #tips #top
  • Profile picture of the author tomhunt88
    Cheers Simon, will try these out and will let you know!

    Just checked out The Becomer, sweet site bro, will check out some of the articles.

    Regards
    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author jamescanz
    Originally Posted by tomhunt88 View Post

    Do you have any top tips for creating hypnotizing openers?
    Gots plenty.

    However the 1 best tip I can give you is to use curiosity.

    It works wonders.

    And if you don't believe me, check out those articles that seem to go viral on Facebook...

    9/10 times they are curiosity based (and it wasn't by accident)
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  • Profile picture of the author Edwin Torres
    What James said above ^ is 100% true!

    If you make your subject lines an incomplete thought you'll get HIGH opens. I've done it and it works like CRAZY!

    For example:

    *This is nuts!
    *This traffic source is-
    *So then I told her...

    And so forth.
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    • Profile picture of the author PhilArmonik
      Great tip Edwin!

      I would go a little further and say that once you tinker with Edwin's ideas, you need to follow the SL up with the story.

      That may seem like a no-brainer - especially to my esteemed colleagues here - but you'd be surprised by how many folks write an enticing SL, get the email opened, and the body copy has little or nothing to do with the subject line!

      Think of those banners...some unidentifiable substance being held by a dirty thumb and forefinger...then the caption: "eat this and never diet again."

      Okay - I'm clicking on it...too weird not to. Then the ad talks about green coffee or Garcina Cambogia. And then I think, "hey - that's not what that substance was in the banner - I'm outta here!"

      Hope that helps...
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      • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
        Originally Posted by PhilArmonik View Post

        Great tip Edwin!

        I would go a little further and say that once you tinker with Edwin's ideas, you need to follow the SL up with the story.

        That may seem like a no-brainer - especially to my esteemed colleagues here - but you'd be surprised by how many folks write an enticing SL, get the email opened, and the body copy has little or nothing to do with the subject line!

        Think of those banners...some unidentifiable substance being held by a dirty thumb and forefinger...then the caption: "eat this and never diet again."

        Okay - I'm clicking on it...too weird not to. Then the ad talks about green coffee or Garcina Cambogia. And then I think, "hey - that's not what that substance was in the banner - I'm outta here!"

        Hope that helps...
        I like to tell stories in my promos email or share snippets of my life before getting into the promotional part.

        Works really well for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zanesta
    I believe outlining an expression in your subject line is usually eye-catching. "OMG this is what happened!" Emotional spikes usually work. Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Reddy20
    Just imagine courting someone. What will you say to get the person's attention
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  • Profile picture of the author Tonester
    Great idea. I'm going to try the open ended statement.
    Tony
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    Curiosity works well as was mentioned above. Some of my top openers are based around that.

    Use numbers too. People take notice of numbers.

    Also appeal to peoples desires and dreams. This works wonders for me in increasing open and click rates.

    Jon Morrows 'Headline Hacks' is a good guide to help improve. It's free at boostblogtraffic.com if you opt in.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Curiosity works like gangbusters, but you also have to exercise some judgment.

    Many virus emails use subject lines like "did you really do this (photo attached)". If you get too tricky, instead of opening your email, people will just delete it or report it as spam/phishing because it resembles spam/phishing emails they've received or been warned about.
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  • Profile picture of the author tomhunt88
    Awesome, thanks for the help guys!

    I will add in some curiosity, numbers and unfinished sentences and let's increase this open rate.

    Regards
    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author Rob Whisonant
    My vote is to use subject lines that bring on curiosity too. But... Do not go so far that you move to the point of deception. Once you cross over the line to deception your reputation goes way down and your spam complaints go way up.

    Autoresponders are killing accounts left and right that crossed that line. Now that's a good thing.

    Re's
    Rob Whisonant
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  • Profile picture of the author beasty513
    Whatever you do, don't make any false claims that you
    can't back up. You may end up in the AR's hot water and get banned.
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  • Profile picture of the author amcg
    I would echo some of the previous comments and would recommend checking out this guide by Mailchimp. Note this point:

    What would you like, if you were the recipient?
    Thinking about this with each email will help you. Some of the best email lists I'm subscribed to constantly get this.
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    • Profile picture of the author tomhunt88
      Awesome cheers guys, got a 43% open rate (my best yet) with this yesterday:

      "I Could Not Believe..."

      Thanks for your help
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      • Profile picture of the author johnbjr
        Originally Posted by tomhunt88 View Post

        Awesome cheers guys, got a 43% open rate (my best yet) with this yesterday:

        "I Could Not Believe..."

        Thanks for your help
        I think your first sentence makes a great headline.

        " got a 43% open rate (my best yet) with this yesterday..."
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      • Profile picture of the author Freedom4rmUrJob
        Originally Posted by tomhunt88 View Post

        Awesome cheers guys, got a 43% open rate (my best yet) with this yesterday:

        "I Could Not Believe..."

        Thanks for your help

        Interesting...I will begin implementing this technique immediately. Thanks for giving back your results on this. I've had too many problems with my list not opening up my messages but after reading everyone's responses, I've noticed that my subject lines are weak.
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  • Profile picture of the author alzack
    I hope somebody can share more of those curiosity titles here. Keep adding them. Expand the idea. Eventually, all of us can learn from it. And after that pay it forward.

    Edwin and AMCG has shared something...some examples...

    Hope the others can share some examples as well...
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  • Profile picture of the author mbacak
    Originally Posted by tomhunt88 View Post

    All,

    Pretty new to this game and trying to increase my open rates on emails to my list of approx 50 people.

    Do you have any top tips for creating hypnotizing openers?

    Thanks
    Tom
    One way I find subject lines to test is to
    go to Yahoo.com and search for keywords
    or the main topic in the email and then
    swipe/modify the headlines from the ads.
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    • Profile picture of the author tomhunt88
      Originally Posted by mbacak View Post

      One way I find subject lines to test is to
      go to Yahoo.com and search for keywords
      or the main topic in the email and then
      swipe/modify the headlines from the ads.
      Sweet idea, will test this out tomorrow and report back.
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      • Profile picture of the author Vinsta
        Tom, been email marketing for over 5 years, many things have changed but two methods will never change.

        First,

        All these marketers are right on. Curiosity works like a charm. It's our nature to be nosy - we always want to know what is going on and be apart of something

        Second,

        People do not like to miss out. So if you write with Scarcity it drives the reader crazy. Such as time limits, amounts, closing soon, dime sales all force attention.


        Hope this help,

        Vince Craine
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  • Profile picture of the author thechasetoriches
    Banned
    I'm no expert by any means... But check out this free eBook. Tons of swipe files for all sorts of stuff. Free eBook: SWIPE FILES FOR THE LAZY COPYWRITER published by FreelanceWriting.com
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  • Profile picture of the author tomhunt88
    Report:

    14/07 - 43% "I Could Not Believe..."
    15/07 - 21% "Solo Ads Are For Losers"
    15/07 - 44% "I Woke Up This Morning With..."
    16/07 - 35% "Got A 43% Open Rate (my best yet) With This Yesterday..."
    16/07 - 29% "Put Your hand Up If..."
    17/07 - 47% "This Is Your Last Chance..."

    Interestingly, it seems the scarcity one worked the best. Though I sent them at all different times of the day so that could have had an impact.

    I would also like to caveat with the fact that I have not included the amounts of money made with these emails, we must remember the the ultimate goal of sending an email is not to get a high open rate, it is either for the user to read the content and/or purchase the product you are promoting.

    Thanks for everyone's input, would be great to see other peoples results also

    Regards
    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    always their name in the subject line, that always gets more opens, and more views, which is what you are after. and then TEST TEST TEST
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