There’s much debate in the email marketing world about the importance of email subject lines.

Where do I stand on the matter?

Oh, I definitely think they’re important. Very important.

Look, it’s a widely accepted fact that when writing an ad or sales letter, the headline is the most important part. After all, if the headline doesn’t grab the ideal prospect’s attention, then it doesn’t matter how good the rest of the ad/sales letter is, because it won’t get read in the first place.

And trust me, exactly the same applies with your email subject lines.

In fact, I’m going to say they are even more important than headlines are in a sales letter/ad.

Why?

Because think how many emails people receive every day. Most of these never get read. And if the email you send to your email list doesn’t get read, then your email marketing campaign isn’t exactly going to be the most profitable thing in the world…

So now you know how important it is to make sure you write email subject lines which persuade the people on your email list to open your emails, just how do you write them? What exactly do you need to say? Should you keep them short?

These are all common questions.

But fear not, my friend. For I’m about to reveal all.

Okay, in terms of length, you should aim for between 6-9 words. You can go for longer ones if you want, but just be aware that if people are on their phones, then they’ll only be able to see a certain number of words in the subject line field. Just something to keep in mind.

In terms of what you should write about in your subject line, now that’s an interesting debate.

You see, many people stick to writing “How to” subject lines. For example, the headline of this article is “How To Write Killer Subject Lines”. The thing is, whilst these can be very powerful, they’ll lose a lot of their “punch” if you use them too often.

Instead, “curiosity” based subject lines can be far more powerful. As Gary Halbert (arguably the greatest copywriter and direct-response marketer ever) said, curiosity is the most powerful human emotion. After all, I’m sure you don’t like being left in the dark over something. You want your curiosity satisfied. And the people on your email list will be exactly the same. So they’ll read your email in order to satisfy their curiosity.

Anyway, follow this advice and your email marketing should become a lot more profitable.