How to Write Captivating Subject Lines
Lesson 6 from: Writing Emotionally Engaging EmailsMelissa Cassera
How to Write Captivating Subject Lines
Lesson 6 from: Writing Emotionally Engaging EmailsMelissa Cassera
Lesson Info
6. How to Write Captivating Subject Lines
Lessons
Class Introduction
07:06 2Importance of Email Marketing
06:54 3Put Readers at Ease
22:14 45 Ways to Nail Your Personal Tone
04:55 5Emotional Theme Ideas for Email
08:10 6How to Write Captivating Subject Lines
09:08 7How to Master “Movie Trailer Moments” in Your Opening Line
03:50 8How to Make the Content of Your Email Riveting
02:42Lesson Info
How to Write Captivating Subject Lines
How to write captivating subject lines. Subject lines are one of my favorite things. I love writing subject lines. They are your first impression, right? So if you think about it, like envision your own inbox right now and there's always like a string, probably hundreds, of emails, maybe more. And you just see the subject line, right? And how many of those are you really opening? I know for me, I'll like hit, and then I highlight them all and I'm like delete. It just, I mean, sometimes I just, I just skim so fast and I think a lot of us do that these days, you know. Eventually when someone looks forward to your emails which is what we're all working to today in this course, that will never happen to you. Because people are like, they can't wait for your email to land in their inbox because you're using theme and story and all the other great things we're gonna go through. But in the beginning, it's like how am I gonna get over that hump, right? Like I really have to, it all hinges on t...
his subject line. So you want them to be really exciting. Okay so here's a tip for you. Evoke curiosity. Now you don't have to use all these tips in one subject line just FYI, these are all different subject lines, I just want to point that out because I don't want you guys to be like there is no subject line in the world that exists for all these tips. So write something intentionally mysterious as your subject line. So here's some examples, you will not believe this, this blew my mind, or I'm over it. Right? So these are really fun because they can tack on to a lot of different emails, right? Also no one has any idea what these things mean. So you almost open it out of pure curiosity. You're like, what is that? Like huh? And then you open it and you're like, oh, that's what it is. So these are really fun, because and often times, even like with the last one that says I'm over it, that one has a little shock factor to it. I think that's fun actually a lot for business to business as well because it's like, a lot of times during the day especially in like your corporate career you're like, I'm over it. (laughing) you just have that thing, where you're just like I'm over this day, right, I'm done. And so you're almost just reflecting back like how they're feeling on a rough day. And so when they see that they're like oh no, you just read my mind. Right, like it came in their inbox. And that's what's the cool thing about these is we can also take like little phrases we hear our clients say a lot and plug them in as subject lines that evoke curiosity because it has that feel of like, ooh, that was creepy. I just felt that and you wrote it. So of course they're gonna open it, because they're like this is magic, how did this happen? Okay, you could do a drumroll effect. So this is something like, and it won't work of course for all emails because it has to lead into something that's drumroll worthy, but this could be like and the winner is, if you were announcing something like that. Or pop the champagne for. You could even use like the pop the champagne for for something that's like a discovery. So let's say you just discovered like the hottest new thing in systems, right? Like you're like, I found this new thing that is gonna blow all your minds. And so you might use that for something even in that respect, right? Pop the champagne for dot dot dot and then they open it and you're talking about this cool new system that you just discovered and you think it's pop the champagne worthy. Alright, tease a story. So this is a real easy one to do because we're all using stories in some capacity. And so why not tease whatever you're talking about? Why not tease it? So the examples here are that time I lost $30,000. So if that was your story you could easily sum it up into that beautiful subject line and dot dot dot. And then why I stopped homeschooling my son. So let's say that was the story that you're telling, right? And your clients are, you know, you work with parents, obviously, who would relate to that. So you might use something like that as your, so again it's just summary of whatever story is in there. And that's a really easy one to do because we all have the stories. Okay, expressing gratitude. These usually have the biggest open rates. So the reason is because they come off just like very very personal, so if you're like, you're the best. So if I get an email that says you're the best, I'm gonna open it. I want to know why. And that's gonna make me feel good. Or if it just says thank you, right? I've done emails like that before where it just said like thanks, or thank you. Well like of course you're gonna open it because you're like, what am I being thanked for? Or of course, a gift for you. So if there is a gift in there, again the gift does not have to be physical. It could be you made them something like an ebook or a, you know something like that. Or it could be a gift like a piece of inspiration. So maybe you like came up with a quote that really changed your day. And you're like this is a gift I want to give to you guys because this quote took me through a real hard time and I think it can help you to. So again, it doesn't have to be a physical gift. And then mind reader. So echoing back your client's words and phrases in your subject line. So if you are a travel agent, let's say. And people are always asking you to book an island vacation that doesn't cost a whole ton of money, you might say something like tropical vacay with money to spare. So again, you're taking the phrase that your clients are saying to you and then you're just flipping it into a subject line. We talked about this a little bit earlier using client's words and flipping them into subject lines, always a good idea because it gives that feel of, ooh mind reader. And then they want to open it. So here's a couple real life examples just quickly, my client Kent Youngstrom, he is a painter and he decorates people's homes with his gorgeous art. And he has a workspace that will leave you breathless. Alright, and that worked really well for him because people were like whoa I want a breathless workspace. Like this sounds amazing. And so of course the email itself just talked a little bit about setting up your space in a way that's inspiring and of course he had his art in there. Another one, this is mine, I just used this recently. New Year, New Secrets. So this worked really well because people were like what's your secrets? And they want to know, they're like, secrets. So it gives that, again it's a little risque and enticing and people love that. So, and really I was just sharing what's up in the new year, like what I was doing. One thing was being here. So, but again they're secrets because I didn't tell anybody that yet. So it still got people excited to see what those secrets were. My good friend Susan Hyatt she is a life coach, she used a subject line, I'm not feeling on today. That worked great for her because people don't feel on most of the time. I loved that email, I'm like, yes. Because a lot of times we have that, even multiple times a day we feel that way. So it was reflecting client's words. And then another example from her, when you start sobbing at your desk. So that was a little bit of a mixture of you know, teasing the story but also reflecting back how we feel, right? We've all sobbed at our desk at some point. If you didn't I want to know your secrets. So what I want you all to do is create a swipe file of inspiring subject lines that come from outside of your industry. So don't look at what people, your competition is doing. Look at outside of your industry. I will tell you right now that Lifetime has the best email subject lines. And so get on their list. You can even set up an extra email account like set up a gmail account or something just for the express purpose of joining newsletter lists and looking at things outside of your industry people use. Look at Buzzfeed, look at Cosmo magazine, and then all you do is, don't go there every day, just like open the email once a month and scroll through and be like, which ones make you want to open? And then take those and use them as inspiration for your own subject lines. So example, you're a mystic spiritual author. So you write spiritual books. My subject line is New Year, New Secrets, so let's say somebody was like I love that subject line but I want to use it for my business. So they might say my secret moon-powered, it should say meditations, not mediations, but that could work too I guess if you're a spiritual author. So for that, again, they're taking the concept that I have of secrets and just working it into something that they're doing for their business. You can just remix it.
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Ratings and Reviews
Stavroula Fotiou
This is an incredibly beneficial course. Not only is it great for individuals interested in improving their email marketing strategy, but also for those who are looking to improve their blog writing skills. Melissa does a great job of getting straight to the point. yet giving great examples and details in order for the viewer to understand her process and ideas. I recommend 100%.
Chris Humphrey
Really solid foundational course! No fluff, just meaty info with a few great surprising bits of brilliance.