Subject Lines That Grab Clicks

Write Emails that Get Read

If you’ve spent more than five minutes in any sort of business professional field, you probably know the heartache that comes from sending emails into the void and getting… nothing… in return. Writing emails can be tough. It can be time consuming. So, here are some tips to get those hard-to-write emails read.?

What’s in a name? Not much, if you believe Shakespeare. What’s in a subject line? Everything. Your email “lives” or “dies” based on the subject line and the subject line alone. A good subject line, therefore, has to entice a click, make a connection, and prompt a response or it will get sent straight to the bin.?

Entice A Click?

Let’s start by acknowledging one unfortunate truth. It’s way easier to not read an email than it is to actively engage with one. As the ones sending the message, therefore, the ball is in our park to make people want to read what we’re sending. Enticing that click starts and ends with the subject line.

To entice a click, your subject line must be short, direct, and should include an action item for the recipient to complete.?

Let’s start with an example of what not to do. Today, I received an email with the subject line “TV everywhere.” Good lord. Your guess is as good as mine what the rest of that email was about. I didn’t click it.?

Here’s an off-the-cuff example of a better option: “Building Ethics Into Business: Join my Webinar Dec.10th.” Right now, you know the who, what, when, where, and why of this whole email. You know everything you need to know to entice that click in one second. Now it’s time to make the connection.

Make a Connection?

Flash back to that subject line for a second. “Building Ethics Into Business: Join my Webinar Dec. 10th.” There are many sites, advisors, and instruction manuals on writing that will tell you that’s too specific. It tells you too much. It doesn’t give a reader that “huh” factor that makes you curious and makes you want to click it. All those sources have one thing in common. They are looking for the maximum number of clicks on the email.?

Their interest is solely on the number of people that open the email, not the number of people that join the webinar. If 10% of people open the email and 0% join the webinar, they’re happy. You’re not. They want you to fall into the clickbait trap.?

Your subject line has to make a connection to something the recipient needs, wants, or is interested in. If the recipient isn’t interested in Business Ethics and doesn’t click, that’s fine. You only want the people interested in Business Ethics to click in the first place. You don’t want every person to open the email; you want every person who opens the email to attend the webinar. You do that by making it clear, in the subject line, what is in it for them and by prompting a response.

Prompt a Response

So, how do you prompt a response? Simple: action words. Turn your passive language into active language by giving your subject line a call to action.?

This is not rocket science, yet people still manage to get it wrong. Remember that bad subject line, “TV Everywhere?” That doesn’t prompt a response. You want your reader to be instantly able to identify what it is they can do with your email. In our subject line example “Building Ethics Into Business: Join My Webinar Dec. 10th,” the response prompt is “Join.”

Placing your response prompt in the subject line is a subtle, but powerful, psychological tool. It tells your reader that there is something they can actually do with this email. That fairly simple factor–the ability to act on the email–makes it much more enticing to read.?

And then, congratulations. You’ve got a subject line that entices a click, makes a connection, and prompts a response. Now, carry forward these same learnings into the body of your email. Make sure that you are providing actionable info that is important to your reader and you will see responses rolling in. Go get it!