The worst feeling is to sit down and craft a newsletter worthy of an award, only to have an email open rate that’s giving more crickets than hundreds of fans of your work who want to buy from you. You spent hours writing, designing, and tweaking, but if no one clicks that subject line? It’s like shouting into the unknown.
And the even worse part? If your emails don’t get opened, they can’t sell. That “perfect” funnel or dreamy offer? Irrelevant. The subject line is the gatekeeper to your sales.
But instead of staying in email subject line no man’s land, you can craft subject lines that get opened by your subscribers so you can make more sales from your email list.
Let’s talk about writing subject lines that not only get opened, but convert those opens into sales.
Why Your Subject Line Is the Make-or-Break Moment
Your subject line is your first impression. Your email list is getting hundreds (if not thousands) of emails per day. Your subject line is your ticket to standing out and getting clicked open, aka improving your odds of making sales. Because as we established, unopened emails don’t make $$$.
Subject lines can feel like an afterthought. It’s just a short sentence after all. But if you spend hours perfecting the email copy, only to slap a generic “New updates this week!” into the subject line, it’s no surprise that your email didn’t get opened.
Subject lines have to create intrigue to get opened. Boring subject line = a poor open rate on your emails.
Your subject line is the only part of your email 100% guaranteed to be seen. It’s the first step in your subscribers’ decision-making funnel. If they don’t open, they’ll never see your pitch, your call-to-action, or your stellar offer.
In short, no open, no sale.
The Average Open Rate (and Why You Can Beat It)
The average email open rate across industries hovers around 20-30%.
That means roughly two out of three subscribers ignore your emails.
But here’s the good part—you can absolutely beat that.
When you write subject lines that feel personal, relevant, and a little intriguing, hitting 40–50% open rates isn’t a fantasy. The difference between “average” and “awesome” often comes down to simply creating intrigue.
Think about what makes you open emails. Do you like opening an email that just says “Weekly Newsletter”? Probably not. You’re more likely to open an open with a subject line that clearly says what the email is about or hits on an emotional pain point.
Every extra open means more eyeballs on your offer, more clicks, and more potential sales. The key is to make the subject line worth the price of entry.
How an Open Turns Into a Sale (The Real Email Funnel)
Think of your subject line as the front door to your sales funnel. Here’s how it flows:
Subject line → Open → Read → Click → Buy.
It’s that simple, but if the subject line flops, everything after it is irrelevant because your email isn’t opened.
An open rate increase from 25% to 40% might not sound huge, but it gets more eyeballs on your offers. And every unopened email is a customer who never even saw what you had to offer.
When people say, “Email doesn’t work for me,” it’s not the email copy that’s the problem; it’s the subject line.
So if you’ve ever questioned why “email doesn’t work” for you, auditing your subject lines should be the first line of defense.
What Makes a Subject Line Get an Email Opened
Let’s break down the secret sauce for an awesome email subject line. High-performing subject lines usually include at least one of these five ingredients:
#1 Curiosity. Tease the value inside without giving it all away. The open loop of an unanswered question makes people curious, and curiosity leads to following the loop in an attempt to close it.
Examples: “This sneaky mistake is costing you $$$”
#2 Clarity. Be direct. People love knowing what they’re getting. Just say plainly what someone will get, so there are no surprises when they open the email.
Example: “5 small tweaks you can make to do XYZ”
#3 Urgency. Give them a reason to open now. Use this when you’re in cart close mode or have a limited-time offer.
Example “Last chance to grab 50% off!!!”
#4 Personalization. Use your subscriber’s name or reference their situation.
Example: “Hey NAME—still struggling with XYZ?”
#5 Authenticity. Talk like a human, not a billboard. With the rise of AI and ChatGPT being everyone’s sidekick, the less you sound like a robot, the better, even if you’re using AI to assist you.
The best subject lines hit that sweet spot where curiosity meets clarity—and sound like something you’d actually say out loud. Basically, avoid sounding like clickbait, but don’t be boring.
Mistakes That Tank Your Open Rates
There are a few subject line traps even smart entrepreneurs fall into. Let’s dodge them:
- Generic clickbait for the sake of sounding exciting. “You won’t believe what happened next!” doesn’t work anymore—it’s just vague and annoys people.
- Being too clever. If your reader has to think twice to get the joke, they’re scrolling past.
- Generic copy. “Monthly newsletter” screams that this is too long to read. Make your emails sound worth clicking on.
- Mismatched messaging. If the subject line doesn’t match the email, you’ll lose trust (and future opens).
Don’t Use Misleading Subject Lines
The FTC has rules regarding subject lines and other email marketing elements to minimize spam circulating in inboxes.
I’d recommend reading the FTC’s rules regarding email marketing for your own knowledge because the fines are upwards of $50k per email for not following regulations.
**This blog includes affiliate codes and links.
