Email subject lines are tricky. In under 3 seconds your prospects determine if theyāre going to open your email ā or trash it.
Thatās what I call the email delete barrier.
But, the rules of what works and what doesnāt for email subject lines are an ever-changing landscape. Unless youāre following email trends closely, itās difficult to know when things change.
Today, people are hitting delete faster than ever. Even if they know you, and theyāre in the middle of the sales process with you, they may still delete your emails before reading.
āThatās not fair!ā you might think.
And you might be right. But fair or not, itās reality of email.
So, whether youāre running lead generation campaigns or youāre emailing a prospect to follow up on a proposal, you need a damn good email subject line to get prospects to open up.
Throughout the sales process, the rules change a bit. But here are three general email guidelines:
- Keep it short and grabby.
- No questions. For the most part, questions donāt work anymore. There are exceptions, like when youāre deep in the sales process.
- Make it personal. Generic subject lines like āchecking inā or āfollowing upā are much more likely to get discarded.
Here are some examples of effective email subject lines at different points in the sales process:
Email prospecting and lead generation campaigns
Subject lines should be short and speak to the reader about a top of mind priority you suspect they have. Iām not talking about putting their name in the subject line. Iām talking about subject lines that resonate and feel as though youāre addressing your readerās problem personally. These two work well:
āA thought about compliance riskā
āA recommendation about your phone systemā
Prospects who have gone silent
When youāre not getting a response and meetings have been delayed or cancelled, your subject lines need to remind these contacts why they were talking to you in the first place. What interested them? Get those facts into the subject line like this. (Notice that these may be slightly longer subject lines.)
āThe February 16 training you wanted to runā
āThe 3 compliance concerns you wanted to addressā
Last ditch effortĀ
Youāve delivered your proposal. Now your prospect who promised to āget back youā isnāt responding to calls and emails. Having a strong ālast ditch effortā subject line in your back pocket can bring a prospect back into the conversation. My favorites:
āDid we lose?ā
āDid you choose someone else?ā
They almost always gets a response ā and yes these are questions!
While subject lines arenāt the only determinant of email prospecting success, they directly impact if your emails will get opened. Itās time to give them attention and write a damn good subject line that your prospects canāt ignore.
Now some homework for you: look at 5 prospecting emails you sent this week. What can you switch up to improve your results? And, what worked? Do it again!
