ArticlePress Writing and Speaking

Email copywriting has become a huge opportunity for copywriters lately with nearly all companies moving online, and it can actually be pretty lucrative.

However, if you don’t know how to write email headlines that get opened – you’re dead in the water. In my mind, the email headline (AKA the title or subject of an email) is actually MORE important than a headline for a regular piece of sales copy.

Why?

Because with an email headline, that’s all they see at first. If your headline sucks, that email isn’t going to get opened. With a headline in regular sales copy, they could at least have the ability to check out the other parts of the copy and see if something grabs their attention.

With that said, let me give you 5 ways to write email headlines that get read:

1. Be Original – I see emails that come to me ALL THE TIME that are pretty much duplicates of something else I’ve read. This is especially true during product launches when people are promoting other products. And guess what – they don’t get read! If you want people to open your emails, do something a little different.
2. Get Crazy With It – Another thing that ALWAYS works is getting a little crazy with your email headline. Say something shocking in it, be completely bizarre, or even just showing a lot of personality works well too. People like to see things that are a bit “off the wall” and doing it in the subject of an email is a great way to do it
3. Pretend Like The World’s Ending – You probably know that I hate being negative, but if you really need something to work, it works like a charm. In just about every case, negative subjects will convert higher than a positive subject. Make it seem like something horrible will happen if they don’t read the email and you’ll get incredibly high clickthrough rates.
4. Be Unpredictable – I know many gurus (usually Internet Marketers not copywriters) who are worth millions, yet they write horrible emails. And it's mostly because they're almost always SO predictable. Instead of coming up with a unique headline promoting a new product they put something that doesn’t grab your attention and just says the entire message of the email within the email headline. The ONLY purpose of the subject title is to get people to click open the email…that’s it!
5. Give An Incomplete Thought – This is something you’ve probably never heard. Instead of telling them what they’re about to learn, say something like “At First I Thought She Was Crazy, But Then I Realized…”. See how that email headline would make you want to find out what I’m talking about?

If you simply stick to 1 of these 5 techniques for boosting your open rates with riveting email headlines that get read, you’ll have a HUGE leg up on most of the other email marketers out there.

Because after all, getting the email read is the first and most important step.

So take these guidelines and start putting them to use. Then check your email stats and watch your open rates go through the roof.

Related posts:

1. Copywriting Tips: 5 Tips To Write More Persuasive Copy
2. Internet Marketing And The Role Of Email Marketing
3. Bulk Email Storage
4. Email Management
5. Email Contact Management