Experts
say that not including a subject line is one of the biggest mistakes you can
make. The subject line often determines whether an email gets opened or not and
how the reader reacts. An email with a blank subject line will likely get
deleted, lost, or immediately irritate the recipient, who is forced to open the
email to figure out what it's about.
And that’s why almost all articles about subject line optimization tips
or articles about how to write a subject line start with: ”write the subject
line first” and that’s also why we at FastDeliver give the user ability to
write the subject line and preview text before even starting to write the email
N.B: Preview text is the text shown after the subject line in emails list to the
recipients

So, what decides the quality of the subject line? Simply, these tactics
- Benefit
- Curiosity
- FOMO (fear of missing out)
- Power words
- Exclusivity
- Lowered risk
Apply these simple tactics in writing your subject line and your open
rates will be boosted.
Let’s break them to know more about every tactic
If your recipients see there will be any benefit for them, they will
immediately open your email, there arises also the importance of building an
accurate email list not just purchasing it, so you can detect what interests
them
Examples of benefit words:
- Drive traffic
- Boost sales
- Improve at work
- profit
Humans tend to reveal any unknown – we don’t like having gaps in our
knowledge. You can leverage this desire for revealing the unknown by leaving
your subject line open-ended so subscribers will be curious and leaving the
subscribers no choice other than opening you email if they are interested and
aroused by your mystery topic
You can make recipients curious by asking questions, promising something interesting, or simply saying something that
sounds strange or unusual. A good way to create curiosity is to use these
formulas:
- “[Number of ways] + [Pain points your product solves] that you should avoid”
- “[Number] + [Tips/Strategies/Hacks] to [Achieve
your goal]”
Examples of curiosity words:
- Mystery
- Unknown habits
- How I reached _________
- A surprise
- Gift
- Fear of missing out (FOMO)
A Purely psychological tactic that’s really
very hard to resist is the FOMO, FOMO can be used in the subject line to drive
feeling like scarcity and urgency
Examples of FOMO words:
- Expiring offers
- Missing out
- One day only
- Ends by midnight
- limited
If you really understand your recipient’s needs,
you should know their biggest pain points. Use those pain points, convert them
to power words that solve their problem and reinforces their business/personal
position or situation to get subscribers to open your emails.
Examples of Power words:
- Premier
- Complete
- Bonus
- Profit
- Growth hacks
- promote
The psychology of exclusivity is a powerful thing. When people feel
like they're on the inside, it gives them a sense of belonging that could build
loyalty and compel them to convert better on your emails.
The right phrasing can make your recipients feel special -- and the effect can
be magical.
Examples of Exclusivity words:
- VIP Only
- Exclusive
- before anybody else
- Competitive
- Only to subscribers
- Insiders requests
- Private Invitation
No one wants to risk dealing with you, especially if you are cold
mailing them to sell a product or service. They will want to lower the risk if
trying something new, they wouldn’t risk buying an item if it’s not tested or
not guaranteed. So you must make sure to lower this risk for them if it’s cold
mailing they might not believe you at the beginning but this will help to lower the risk
Examples of Lowered risk words:
- Certified
- Refundable
- Free trial
- Guaranteed
- Money-back guarantee
- Tested
- Secure
- reliable
So, the trick is that you don’t just use one of them, everyone
can do this, but rather use a combination of two or the three or even more of
them and the more you apply the more quality is your subject line.
Now let’s take some sample subject lines and analyze them
How I got 7,068 Subscribers in 57 days
Tactic: Benefit,
Power, Curiosity
Grow your business with these simple tactics
Tactic: Benefit,
Curiosity
[Weekend Only] 30% discount on all gifts
Tactic: Benefit,
Power, FOMO
Be the first to apply these new tactics to increase your YouTube
channel views
Tactic: Benefit,
Power, Curiosity, Exclusivity
Purchase now to get 30 days money-back guarantee
Tactic: Benefit, FOMO,
lowered risk
Get offer now before it’s gone
Tactic: FOMO,
Exclusivity
Amazing added value to your business
Tactic: Benefit,
Curiosity
Guaranteed 674+ leads for you
Tactic: Benefit, Lowered
Risk
Double your video quality using this simple trick
Tactic: Benefit, Curiosity
There’s a lot of sample email subject lines to show and analyze, they
are all over the internet, but if you focus a little bit, you will find that
the best subject lines with most open rates are following this strategy.
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