5 Subject Lines That Get Responses from a Prospect
How many emails did you get last week?
We all send and receive what seems like hundreds of emails a day. (Which, by the way, is a heck of alot easier to manage using Spiro, the first Proactive Relationship Management Platform. If you want your prospects to stop ignoring your emails, the trick is a kick-ass sales subject line.
You are here to sell, not to waste your time sending boring emails that never get opened. So spice it up a bit and try something new. And then watch your open rates sky rocket, giving you more real prospects to sell something to.
Here are 5 sales subject lines guaranteed to work:
1. Let’s Get Personal
Someone who has taken the time to make their subject line a little personal gets big points in my book. And I’m not talking about just starting the sentence with my first name, followed by some generic sales text.
One day I got a cold email from a salesperson whom I didn’t know. I would have been hesitant to open the email, if it weren’t for his unique approach. His subject line was, “Drone Flying”.
If you don’t know, I’m REALLY into drones, and mention it on my social media profiles. Clearly this guy had taken 10 extra seconds to research me, find something unique to say, and included that in his email subject line.
2. The Allure of Mystery and Intrigue
People are curious beings. Write sales subject lines that pull people in and makes them wonder what is behind door #1. Tease them; intrigue them; make them come to you; give them an offer; flatter them — something different.
I have had impressive open rates when using a charming and flattering subject line. I sent an email to Paychex employees with the title of “We Love Paychex”. The body of the email went on to explain that many of their coworkers were using our product, so hence my love of their company. Check it out:
This email had a very high open rate, and why not? Who wouldn’t want to read an email professing love for your company?
3. Keep It Simple Stupid
If your prospect hasn’t responded to your initial email, perhaps it honestly got buried in the vast wasteland known as their email inbox. Don’t resort to desperate language about why they need to get back to you ASAP.
Be authentic and try a simple email subject line of “Email Buried?”, with the body of the text referencing your first email and inquiring if it just got lost in the shuffle. This not only gets their attention, but also alleviates any feeling of guilt the recipient may feel in ignoring your previous email.
And by the way, Marcelo replied to my email in like 2 minutes.
An even simpler subject line that has given us great success, is just using one word… “Hi”.
This email from our customer service associate Samantha was opened an amazing 81% of the time.
4. Funny, Like I’m a Clown?
We’ve said it time and time again, but here’s a reminder: humor in sales works. Being funny and poking fun at yourself makes you appear more relatable to your clients. So try getting a little laugh from your email subject lines as well.
Be daring and use the opening of a joke in your subject line, and then the punchline in the body of your email.. It’s okay if it’s cheesy, or doesn’t relate at all to your product, after all, you just are trying to get them to open your email. Another tactic is to use a silly subject line, such as “don’t go breaking my heart…” to make them smile, and then immediately click open…
5. Spiro to the Rescue!
Don’t know what to write? That’s okay! Spiro comes with 6 built in email templates that are great for almost all occasions. Instead of creating your own sales subject lines, use our pre-tested ones to easily follow-up on proposals, meetings and check in with prospects with just one touch.
Why should you spend time coming up with emails when we have already done the hard work for you? Try out Spiro today!
A version of this blog was originally published on the HubSpot Sales Blog.
