I haven’t written about email subject lines in a while but now I want to make it a regular Saturday feature on this blog.

I subscribe to very few email lists in my regular email inboxes because receiving too much email is distracting for me as an email copywriter.

But I have a dormant Yahoo mail account that I don’t use anymore because a lot of crud piles up there.

So I thought I’d go through some if it each Saturday and find the five subject lines that manage to get my attention in all that mess.

Here goes:

1. Cool Hues in Ocean Blues. The Sundance catalog sent this email. The subject line appealed to me because it rhymes and evokes a nice image.

2. Last Chance For Free Shipping, Hurry Ends Tonight. This is another Sundance subject line. It’s a good reminder that a straight-to-the-point subject line always works. Especially if the word “free” is in it.

3. Tips For Getting a Good Flight’s Sleep. This subject line is by Magellan’s travel catalog. I thought it was catchy and stood out from the crowd in my inbox.

4. Why You’re Unique, Special and Great. This subject line is by Mike Litman. Yeah, it’s kind of gimmicky. But it managed to catch my eye in the sea of crud in my inbox. Using the word “you” in a subject line is effective.

5. Capture brilliant ideas with our notebooks and journals. This is by one of my favorite catalogs – Levenger. First, I like that the only use a capital letter at the beginning of the subject line. This looks more natural, less sales-y.

Also, I like that they assume that my ideas are brilliant. And I’ve always had a fondness for notebooks.

See you next Saturday with more subject lines.

My favorite catalog, J. Peterman, is famous for their catalog copy and justifiably so. It’s lifestyle copy at its finest. Whenever an issue arrives I block out time that same day to sit on the couch and read it cover to cover.

Today I’m going to focus on their email copy instead. Their “Up to 63% off everything Beer-esque” was the best email subject line of the week to hit my inbox.

I like that they used a specific percentage – 63% – instead of something more normal, like 50%. In looking over their subject lines for the past year, I see they’ve used the following percentages: 81, 41, 47, 46, 52, 79.

I also like this subject line from last November: “10 items under $71.” They are running a 59% off sale on their website right now (these model roadsters are tempting, are they not?). So J. Peterman likes using those odd numbers and obviously those numbers work for them, so take note.

I’m not a beer drinker but even though this HTML email had pictures of beer and steins I clicked on it anyway, in the desperate hope that their Cortina Turtleneck Dress would be among the beer-esque items for sale.

Hey, that dress would look great with the beer-esque metal Prague chair and the bistro table, so you can’t blame me for trying.

I bought their Italian Riviera dress as a result of their Mother’s Day email last May (a present for myself, cough, cough). The percentage used in the subject line for that email was 20 percent. By the way, I’m wearing that dress in the photo over there in the right sidebar.

Each catalog always has a few dresses that I like so I always, always, pay careful attention to their emails to see if one of my favorite dresses (or the Mrs. Peel leather jacket) are on sale.

It doesn’t matter what their subject line is, I always open their emails, which, as a marketer, is exactly what you want your customers to do.

VN:F [1.9.11_1134]

please wait...

Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

VN:F [1.9.11_1134]

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)