15 Best Subject Line Examples We’ve Come Across (Updated)

We always say that a cold email subject lines are like a key to a door. Today, I present to you examples of attention-grabbing subject lines that will work like the right key to the right door and open up a conversation with your prospect.

We analyzed the best sales email subject lines at Woodpecker and uncovered a really interesting thing that may help you.

Keep on reading to find out what it is.

Why is it so important that a sales email has a good subject line?

The subject line is one of the few things, if not the most important one, prospects judge your emails by. It’s one of the first things that pops up when they open their mailbox. It’s the thing that makes them open and read the rest of the message.

How to write a good email subject line for reaching out?

It’s a tricky task:

• Make it too salesy, they will mark your email as SPAM
• Make it too click-baity, they will lose trust
• Make it boring, they will forget to open your email

With all that in mind, how should you approach writing a subject line for reaching out?

We analyzed dozens of subject lines and identified the best ones. But we didn’t stop there. We challenged ourselves to go one step further. We decided to group the subject lines to uncover the pattern behind their effectiveness. And we did. Here it goes — the most successful sales email subject lines appealed to the needs that prospects may have been experiencing in their businesses.

What’s great about focusing on needs when crafting a sales email subject line?

By focusing on our prospect’s needs, you catch a prospect’s attention (the first principle of a good subject line — checked). But that’s not all. Remember how important giving value is? A sales email subject line that focuses on needs is already promising value that the prospect can get from the email.

We should always define the value our prospect can get from replying back to us. And throwing prospect’s needs in the equation may be exactly what we need to make them open and read our email.

Value Proposition – How to Tell My Addressee What I Want from Them? >>

What kind of needs did we discover?

There are three sets of needs that we discovered. But before we examine them, let’s look at the list of best sales email subject line examples. Maybe you will be able to spot the needs by yourself.

• Want to scale up X?
• A fresh view on X
• A painless way of doing X
• The time has come. Change X
• Have you considered doing X?
• Do you have any X challenges?
• Have you heard about/tried X?
• Are you irritated by your current process?
• Got an impression that you need a helping hand
• There is a more efficient way to do X
• I have an idea on how to improve your X
• Have you thought about switching X?
• I hope the word has spread about X
• Is your X efficient?
• It’s high time to start X

As you can see, those subject lines are pretty vague. Since they are so, they pique the addressee’s interest. They invite the addressee to open your email and read more. Yet they don’t overpromise. You can’t see any numbers, signs or expressions connected to money that would trigger SPAM filters.

So what are the three needs I was talking about?

After trying to define why those good email subject lines met with success, we identified three need patterns.

• Need to improve
• Need to change
• Need to innovate

Can you see it now? Here’s a graphic to visualize it.

What are some best practices for writing a sales email subject line like that?

We don’t recommend copying those email subject lines 100%. As you know, anything that’s on the Internet has probably been used thousands of times. Think about the way you can incorporate the strategy of focusing on the needs of the prospect. How to do it?

Make your professional subject line touch prospect’s current concerns

Take a look at your Ideal Customer Profile. What those people work on every day? Can you see some bottlenecks that your solution can help with? Are they frustrated with their current workflow? Do they need to change something? Are they ready to do it? How does your offering fit into this?

Those are all the questions you need to ask yourself before you can work on your email copy. You don’t need to get specific. Start with an outline.

Now that you have a narrow view of the concerns of your ICPs, take a step back and extract general needs. I must admit, it does sound a bit complicated. But it’s not. Just follow this.

Take a look at the above subject line examples once again. As you can see, the needs that I put there are very general. And they touch the journey from a current not-so-cool state into a way brighter future.

Put some emotions in your subject line

Do you see the adjectives in the subject line examples I gave you? Let’s look at them. There’s painless, fresh, efficient… Do these words evoke some emotions in you? I hope so. And I hope those emotions are positive.

So here goes my piece of advice – imbue general needs you found with positive emotions. Paint a picture of carefree cooperation. How does it sound to you?

Or…

Make the subject line a question

Well… I explored the power of question somewhere else on this blog. The thing with questions is that they make your brain actively trying to find an answer to those questions. You cannot control it. It’s automatic. Guess for whom it’s also automatic. For your prospects, of course.

Put a question in the subject line and fire up your prospect’s brain. Isn’t that simple?

Make your subject line short but relevant

The subject line is here to grasp the attention and give a general idea of what’s inside the message. So there you have it. Avoid writing too much. Grasp their attention. Make them want to read more. The best way to test if you found the best sales email subject line is to ask your colleagues for a verdict.

But don’t compromise on relevancy. Relevancy doesn’t mean putting their name in the subject line. Actually, you don’t need to put any snippets in the subject line providing you have personalized inside the copy. The shorter a subject line is, the better.

Test different subject lines

You have a few equally good subject lines and can’t decide for one? Instead of making blind guesses, test which one will get more opens. The fastest and simplest way to find that out is to do an A/B test. Create at least two versions (can be more) of your cold email that will differ only in the subject line and send them to a group of similar contacts. Make a subject line choice backed up by the insights you get.

Align with your brand voice

Your subject line should reflect your brand voice. If your company has a casual tone, your email recipients should feel that from the subject line. Consistency helps build trust, making your subject line more relatable. For example, quirky or catchy email subject lines that reflect your company’s personality can stand out while still being professional.

Create a sense of urgency

Incorporating a sense of urgency can motivate email recipients to open your message sooner rather than later. Phrases like “Limited time offer” or “Last chance to try X” can drive immediate action. Be mindful not to use spam trigger words like “Act now!”—keep the urgency authentic and balanced to create the best email subject lines without sounding too aggressive.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to doing it in Woodpecker >>

Will you try this?

A sales email subject line builds the first impression. It makes your prospect open your email. Or delete it right away. Leverage it in your favor. I hope our revised approach to creating sales email subject lines will be useful to you. And if you scribble a nice subject line, follow this up with a blog post about cold email introduction.

• Cold Email Intro, or How Should I Start My Message? >>

FAQ on effective email subject lines

Here’s everything you need to know about writing email subject lines.

What is an example of a subject line?

A good email subject line grabs attention while remaining relevant to the content inside. For example, “Is Your Current Process Holding You Back?” is both curiosity-inducing and relevant to a prospect’s pain points in business.

What is a catchy subject line?

Catchy email subject lines spark curiosity and engage the recipient. An example would be, “Want to Unlock Faster Growth?” This subject line makes recipients eager to learn more without being too salesy, which is ideal for email campaigns.

Which is a good subject line?

A good email subject line is concise, relevant, and sparks interest. Personalized subject lines like “Let’s Improve [Recipient’s Company] Growth Together” are effective because they connect directly with the recipient and make them feel involved.

How do I make a subject line?

To create a good email marketing subject line, focus on solving the recipient’s pain points, induce curiosity, and avoid spam folder triggers. Use fear of missing out (FOMO) to boost engagement, especially for follow up email subject lines in your email marketing strategy.