Email Subject Lines - interesting take on an old idea

I've started a similar topic here on subjects. I think the more innovative they are the bigger change of opening is.

I think the targeted ones work quite well, i.e. if you know about the charity fair in your town and get an "Invitation for our Charity Fair in XXXYYY" you will see at a glance that it's not supposed to be another massive anonymous mailout.

Also, vouchers for shops you know you've subscribed are fine, as well. Suppose you do your stationary shopping at MyLocalStore, and they've picked up you buy lots of, say blue pens - sending you a "£5 off voucher on your next blue pens shopping at MyLocalStore" would most definitely be at least opened.

Lastly, the "out-of-the-box" ones, I've received things like "Does your fridge affect your credit rating?" - it's simply irresistible not to open mails with these subjects.

Of course, I know where to click when I see "£100m waiting to be transferred into your account"

However...

Source: spectopictures.com 

More often than I care to admit - writing the email subject can take longer than the email itself. I constantly find myself second-guessing the recipient with a will they/won't they open it attitude.

I've been lucky enough to work on some great accounts and always had an element of pride when developing a campaign - no matter what the product. So it is always frustrating when I don't get the click through rate I wanted. Perhaps your 'No Win No Fee - Google Manual Penalty Recovery' example just got lucky - it could have gone either way for me.

Probably like most things in marketing - take a risk - see if it works - if it doesn't, try again - if it does, job done.

So true and to an extent it is almost more important, without a good subject line no one's going to answer, in some cases you can get away with your branding alone but this is extremely rare, so unfortunately you're competing with every other marketer trying to get their attention in their email.

Just opened an email myself, had a subject line of - 

Quick chat soon Clive?

Opened it thinking, it must be an old contact only to be met with -

"I hope all is well. I'm trying to contact the person who handles online marketing for ..."

What a shame, thought i was meeting up with an old friend for a beer at least!

But just proves the point above, i opened the email, read some of its content, mission accomplished for the sender, well it was until i hit the delete button 

Got one from Interflora today reminding me it will soon be my birthday!?

In case I want to send myself flowers