Write it like a colleague would.
A subject line that looks like marketing gets read like marketing. Write it the way a colleague would: short, plain and about them.
Three emails in Dan’s inbox
On this page
The subject is read first
In the inbox, your subject sits next to your name, before a word of your email. People sort their mail in a second: colleagues and customers on one side, newsletters and pitches on the other.
Colleagues write short, plain subjects, like “invoice for march” or “your Leeds page”. Marketing writes Title Case, exclamation marks and promises. If yours looks like marketing, it gets sorted with marketing.
The teardown
The same email, before and after. Tap or swipe the card to flip it.
How to write it
Name their thing.
Their page, their product, their team or their town. “your checkout page” is about them before they open it.
Keep it short.
Two to five words. On a phone, long subjects get cut off anyway.
Write it plainly.
Like a note to someone you work with. No Title Case, no exclamation marks, no emoji.
Match your first line.
If the subject says “your checkout page”, the first line should be about their checkout page.
Keep it honest.
No “Re:” or “Fwd:” on a first email. It’s a trick, and people who spot it won’t trust the rest.
Check your subject line
Paste the subject of an email you’re about to send.
A quick style check, not a spam test. It runs in your browser and nothing is sent.
Six subject lines to copy
Each one names something of theirs. Replace every field before you send, and use the last one only if it’s true.
your {{page}} page
question about {{project}}
idea for the {{team}} team
your {{role}} job ad
{{city}} {{service}}
{{name}} suggested I write
Before you send
- Two to five words
- No Title Case, exclamation marks or emoji
- About them, and matches your first line
- No fake “Re:” or “Fwd:”
Then check the first line: delete your first sentence.
