What are the best practices for writing catchy email subject lines?

1 Use clear and concise language

One of the most important principles of writing catchy email subject lines is to use clear and concise language that communicates your message and your benefit to your readers. Avoid vague, generic, or misleading subject lines that don't tell your readers what to expect from your email or why they should open it. Instead, use specific, relevant, and actionable words that spark curiosity, urgency, or emotion. For example, instead of "How to improve your skills", try "3 easy ways to master web content writing in 30 days".

2 Personalize your subject lines

Another way to make your email subject lines more catchy is to personalize them according to your audience's needs, preferences, or behavior. Personalization can help you establish a connection with your readers, show them that you understand them, and make them feel special. You can use various methods to personalize your subject lines, such as using your readers' names, locations, interests, past purchases, or segmentation criteria. For example, instead of "Don't miss this offer", try "Hey John, this deal is perfect for you".

3 Test different variations

One of the best ways to find out what works best for your email subject lines is to test different variations and measure their performance. Testing can help you discover what resonates with your readers, what triggers their curiosity, and what motivates them to take action. You can test various elements of your subject lines, such as the length, the tone, the word choice, the punctuation, the emojis, or the format. For example, you can test whether a question, a statement, or a command works better for your subject line.

4 Optimize for mobile devices

Another factor that can affect the catchiness of your email subject lines is how they appear on mobile devices. According to Statista, more than half of all email opens worldwide occur on mobile devices, which means that you need to optimize your subject lines for smaller screens and shorter attention spans. You can do this by keeping your subject lines short and sweet, using the most important words at the beginning, and avoiding unnecessary words or symbols that might get cut off or cause confusion. For example, instead of "You won't believe what we have in store for you this week", try "New arrivals: check them out now".

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?