Have you ever seen a seductive email headline that drew you in completely? While you swore off promotional emails 100 times before, now you craved to know more. You felt a bit weird, but the kid on Christmas feeling in you erupted like a volcano.
We all have experiences where the email was a beacon on our attention. Maybe the headline was so weird curiosity got the cat. Perhaps the copy hit all of your emotional soft spots. Whatever the case, you had to learn more.
The email headlines below did the trick. Some of them are from my swipe files. Others from research I conducted over the past few weeks. As we peruse through the list of weird email headlines, we investigate them to see what makes them tick. How are they successful?
Weird Email Headlines
Headline: “This Kicks A$$”
Marketer: Mark Hultgren
Open Rate: 15%
Notes: This email was for a product launch for an Offline Social Manager. The email raked in over $2000 from a list of 3,000 subscribers.
Headline: Blog Traffic Replay
Marketer: Andy Nathan
Open Rate: 25%
Notes: The headline was for a webinar series I did with a partner earlier this year. I included this, because the replay had a higher open rate then the webinar itself. Never forget the power of recording your webinars for additional monetization later.
Headline: Hey
Marketer: President Obama
Open Rate: N/A
Notes: For everyone who says email marketing does not work, look no further than the president. He raised the majority of his $690 million for the election from quirky fundraising emails like the Hey email.
Headline: “50 Pizzas Rolled Into One Pie”
Marketer: Barbara Rozgonyi
Open Rate: “30% higher open rate.”
Notes: “This email went out with a press release for a client. Our client also got great coverage from reporters who wanted to interview the restaurant to get the story behind the headline.” Not all emails should focus on sales. A lot of them are community-building efforts with your list.
Headline: [VIDEO] What complete failure in marketing taught me…so you can gain
Marketer: Amber Gupta
Open Rate: 39% open rate.
Notes: I was more impressed about the conversion rate than the quality open rate here. This email was for a product sale. However, before a subscriber saw the product they went to a leads page where they filled out a quick form. The conversion on the form was 10%, However, 100% of those who joined the list also bought the product, because the form was pre-selling the prospects. I love it when a good marketing funnel comes together.
Headline: …is this you?
Marketer: Rick Roberts
Open Rate: 50% open rate to 1200 people.
Notes: The size of your list makes no difference compared to how many people on your list read your emails. When you get their attention, it is easier to keep it.
Headline: This sales page lies
Marketers: Neil Murton
Open Rate: A 50% increase on the usual open rate
Notes: I included this headline, because it has a powerful “open me” factor in humans. We have to know the gossip. However, be careful with titles like this. Used too often, and you will not have a high open rate for long.
What do we learn from these headlines? Each of these headlines has something in common: They draw the reader to ask a question. From President Obama’s “Hey” to Barbara Rozgonyi’s “50 Pizzas Rolled Into One Pie” headline you say to yourself, “what is this?”
I think a good headline should leave hints to the topic, and leave more questions than answers. No one wants a spoiler alert when watching a movie. (Hush! Do not tell anyone, but Lincoln dies at the end of the movie.) A good headline draws you into the narrative, so you read the email.
The weird ones work, because most people go about their days not expecting an email pattern interrupt. However, when a headline works, it lures you in to learn more.
Learn more about tying in your email headlines with your entire lead generation efforts at: EmarketingExperience.Com.