5 Email Headline Formulas Used By the Pros

Just as great headlines are critical to a successful article, an email subject line can make or break an entire campaign.

In fact, many great copywriters follow the 50/50 rule, which suggests that half of your content creation time should be spent on headlines. The fastest way to increase your influence and income from email marketing is to ratchet up your open rate.

There are many formulas for great email headlines, but there’s controversy over what works best.

·          Outbrain conducted extensive research and determined that headlines 16–18 words in length outperform shorter or longer variations.

·        Separately, social media company Buffer asserts that an ideal headline is just six words, and backs up this claim with original research.

·        Analysis done by email behemoth Mailchimp, a company with millions of customers, found that headline length didn’t impact the open rate at all.

Shorter may be better for mobile, as over half of emails are now opened on a mobile device and some displays only show 25–30 characters, but conflicting studies continue to make this an unproven hypothesis at best.

I know what I click on, though: Emails with subject lines that are interesting and different.

Here are five recent email subject line formulas that caught my attention, alongside a screenshot of their linked landing page and a brief analysis of why they worked.

1: “Stanford psychology expert: This is the #1 work skill of the future”

This headline from CNBC is simple, but a copywriter’s dream. Here are some of the elements that make it work:

·        It’s a pared-down listicle. Rather than 7, or 11, or 23 work skills, there’s just one skill I need to learn and improve, which feels surmountable.

·        Describing the “work skill of the future” is a clever way to drive urgency, since the future is impending for everyone.

·        I assume the expert commentary is smart and researched because it’s a professor at a prestigious university — someone’s ass is on the line that this material is high quality and accurate.

If you want to recreate this headline in your own writing, follow this simple formula:

“[Credibility Marker]: Headline”

2: “How others see you, based on your Myers-Briggs personality type”

This one is technically not new. But it’s been used repeatedly by health site Well+Good as they build out Myers-Briggs SEO. They wouldn’t be repeatedly pushing it if it wasn’t working in their favor!

There were newer newsletters that used a similar Myers-Briggs headline, but I thought this was the most compelling.

We’re social creatures and have a deep curiosity about how others view us. Anything backed by science or protocol also gets major brownie points. This headline effectively connects both of these triggers.

Marketing trends are also seeing a rise in personalization. From personalized chat boxes to personalized email segments to personalized algorithms, anything that is unique to me captures my attention and craving for relevance.

Horoscopes have done this for decades to great effect — sprinkling in a popular personality assessment system gives this headline some punch.

The formula:

“[Compelling information], based on [Information unique to reader]”

3: “A beginner’s guide to buying, cooking, and eating more and better vegetables”

This headline from GQ goes in the opposite direction from the previous example. The author gets specific and scoops my pain point up along with a few others.

If any of these verbs or adjectives apply to me, I’m in. The result is a larger engaged audience.

Most media outlets shy away from long-form content, so to see GQ pump out this 2,500-word piece was refreshing. The word choice of “beginner’s guide” is smart because it implies actionable steps you can immediately take (and which the article contained).

Formula:

“The [Adjective] Guide to [Thing People Want To Do]”

4: “How Should You *Really* Be Cleaning Your AirPods”

Do you have an approach or routine that works? Well, you’re probably wrong and a disgusting slob. That’s what this headline from MindBodyGreen asserts, and it’s effective.

What makes this headline pop is the use of the word “really.” If your reader is an expert, it still seeds a doubt that the way they’ve cleaned their AirPods (or the way they’ve approached nurturing their relationship/building a business/writing viral articles) has been incorrect or misguided this entire time.

The word “really” acts as an urgency trigger. Ignoring this email could mean more wasted time in life spent doing something incorrectly. Everyone hates wasted time.

Just take any how-to headline you have laying around, stick the word “really” in, and see what happens. “Actually” would also work well.

Formula:

“How To *really* [Activity/Result]”

5: “I’ve tried $10,000 worth of serums, and this is the one that I’m sticking with for life”

Yes, another one from Well+Good. This winner implements a key principle direct-response copywriter Claude Hopkins first identified in his seminal book Scientific Advertising: People love seeing expensive stuff and living vicariously through experiences that cost a small fortune.

Interestingly, the amount of dollars dropped implies experience. (And if you go on to read the article, it’s clarified that the author didn’t pay that amount of money, but rather has consumed that volume of the product as a professional beauty editor for years.)

It implies rigor and experience but in a different way than our Stanford psychologist example. This is rigor that we can relate to.

Formula:

“[Person/Brand] has spent [# of hours/dollars] on [Experience/product] and [Subsequent decision in hindsight]”

Take the time to practice headlines every day and consume a variety of newsletters from various publications. Since their page views are a healthy part of their revenue model and their list sizes are in the tens or hundreds of thousands, you can bet they stay at the forefront of headlines that work.

Here are the formulas again for reference:

·        “[Credibility Marker]: Headline”

·        “[Compelling information], based on [Information unique to the reader]”

·        “The [Adjective] Guide to [Thing People Want To Do]”

·        “How To *Really* [Activity/Result]”

·        “[Person/Brand] has spent [# of hours/dollars] on [Experience/product] and [Subsequent decision in hindsight]”

May your next email subject line be both compelling and irresistible!