Email “FROM” Lines vs. “SUBJECT” Lines
I’ve surveyed thousands of my students about my findings in this post, so please read it carefully.
Here’s the heart of the matter: Whenever you send an email message to your list, to your friends or colleagues, they privately ask themselves these 2 critical questions before taking further action:
1) WHO is this email from?
2) WHAT is this email about?
Test this premise with yourself. The next time you’re about to open-up and read email messages from your Inbox, what question(s) do you privately ask yourself before grabbing your mouse, clicking and reading them?
If you’re like most people I’ve surveyed, the answers are: WHO? and WHAT?
The WHO Question: Answering the WHO? question is easy because it involves the FROM LINE of your email messages. I recommend that your FROM LINE never changes. Here’s what mine looks like:
~ Alex Mandossian ~
Specifically, I put a tilda (“~”), then a space, then my first name, then a another space then my last name, then another space, then a second tilda.
That’s it.
I never change my FROM LINE because doing so may create more work for me or my team responding to aggressive spam filtering services like Spam Arrest that often block email communications if you change your FROM LINE.
Key Point: The reason I utilize the tilda (“~”) sign before my name is because it often puts my email message at the top of the daily emails received by my recipients.
Most email programs sort alphabetically and give the “~” a higher alphabetical ranking than even if your name starting with “A” like mine ;-)
The WHAT Question: Answering the WHAT? question is not as easy because it involves writing the SUBJECT LINE messages that will get opened. Unlike your FROM LINE, it makes sense to change and constantly test your SUBJECT LINE copy until you find the winners.
The SUBJECT LINES that work best for me are brief (7 words or less) and create curiosity. Here are 7 winners that have good pulling-power:
- This ONE is for you…
- Your presence is requested…
- Have you seen this?
- Will you say “YES” to this?
- This is about our appointment…
- It’s not your fault…
- Who’s to blame for this?
I don’t make any claims with my SUBJECT LINE copy because I feel the one and only job of your SUBJECT LINE is to amplify the curiosity in your recipient’s mind so they open, read and click the link in the body of your email message.
The purpose of your email FROM LINE is to motivate and influence your recipients to read your SUBJECT LINE. The purpose of your SUBJECT LINE is to persuade and inspire your recipients to read the BODY COPY of your emails.
It’s that simple.
What To Do Now: First, I want you to decide on what your FROM LINE will look like for all of your email communications. Once you make this decision, always keep your FROM LINE the same and never change it.
I recommend utilizing the tildas or asterisks or dashes (~”or * or -) so you get top alpha-numerical priority inside your recipient’s inbox. Here are a few examples:
* Jane Doe *
~ Jane Doe ~
- Jane Doe -
Second, I want you to become a student of winning SUBJECT LINE copy. This skill comes from testing. Keep a swipe file of SUBJECT LINES that elicited your curiosity. (Again, curiosity is what you want your SUBJECT LINES to elicit).
I gave you a few of my winning SUBJECT LINES in this post and it also makes sense to become a student of what makes good SUBJECT LINES great.
Click here to read David Ward’s seven suggestions.
Click here to get four additional suggestions from Judith Nemes.
If you’ve ever written winning SUBJECT LINE, please share it here in the Reply section of this post. Your courtesy will be most appreciated.
Tags: alex mandossian, email marketing, from lines, inbox, Info Marketing, online marketing, subject lines
If you ask yourself the “WHO” and “WHAT” questions I’ve delineated above, you’ll boost the pulling-power of your emails faster and easier, even if you’re new to Internet marketing.
If you’re not new to Internet marketing, please write down a winning subject line in this REPLAY section.
Thanks for reading,
~ Alex
I agree! When reviewing my own email inbox, I always look at the Who first – then the Subject line second. If I’m not interested in the Who, I don’t even get to the Subject line.
Here are a couple subject lines I use when sending emails:
My latest tip for …
Are you making this mistake?
Thanks Alex!
Steve Sponseller
Intellectual Property Strategist
Alex, I just love you, your blog and you’re consistently well thought out and valuable information. Thank You!
And I have a question for you Mr. test everything. :-) In subject lines have you found that putting the recipient’s name doesn’t work as well is used you? It seems to be true for us… and you?
Here’s a couple that have worked well for us:
Just wanted to say thanks
Wish you were here
We missed you
bye for now (not a subject line, just me saying goodbye.)
With appreciation,
Beth
Alex,
Excellent information, as always. Avoiding sending dreary and dull emails takes time and effort. Considering all the emails with no subject line, misleading and deceptive subjects, plus the obvious spam, it’s no wonder people won’t open their emails! Keep up the great work.
Scott
oop’s… please use this one.
Alex, I just love you, your blog and your consistently well thought out and valuable information. Thank You!
And I have a question for you Mr. test everything. :-) In subject line have you found that putting the recipient’s name doesn’t work as well as it use to? It seems to be true for us… and you?
Here’s a couple that have worked well for us:
Just wanted to say thanks
Wish you were here
We missed you
bye for now (not a subject line, just me saying goodbye.)
With appreciation,
Beth
Hi Alex!
Thanks for the informative and helpful post!
One of my all-time best openers from a head line has been:
“I never thought I’d say this, but…”
Just waiting enough time to lapse before I use it again! ;-)
Lani
SO simple and so right ON!!!
Without a doubt, the FIRST thing I look at when scrolling through my email is the ‘WHO’. The second thing is the subject line.
The brilliance of your post here, Alex, is that you thought to point this out, out loud! LOL
Such an easy, yet valuable tip to be aware of and apply.
Thanks much!
–Mary K
¸..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* Light
EXPECT MIRACLES!
Hi Alex,
Interesting about using a tilda or asterisk etc to get to the top of the inbox list.
And I appreciate you sharing your best subject lines as well as the other suggestions from David Ward and Judith Nemes.
One line that works for me is, “Will you help me with this?” Since I don’t use it often, and my list obviously trusts me, they are willing to open the note to see if they can help.
Cheers
Gregory Anne
Alex,
As one who’s received hundreds of thousands of emails from every sort, I will just say that I appreciate the way your posts arrive in the consistant FROM field. Many marketers are in my folders with various FROM address formats and I do occaisionally change my Outlook sort from DATE to FROM when searching for something. Having to chase more than one addy for a marketer is not something I’m likely to do for long, so the consistancy is likey the real keyest of the key points here.
I am now going sit quietly and consider how my FROM line will appear moving forward. I have launced a new business this very week and it’s the perfect time to consider this most excellent advice.
Many Thanks
~ Randy Barnes ~
ps- …with lots of versions left to try!
The most effective subject line I’ve ever used was “I need your help” the open rates were amazing and so was the response to the e-mail.
Thanks for the tips, Alex! I’ve been doing a monthly teleconference service for Quantum-Touch, Inc and I needed this valuable information about subject lines for the next invitations I send out!
Bless you for your great help and inspiration~
Randy Sandknop
Rodney,
Thanks for your tip. That’s a very compelling subject line to get opened.
~ Alex
Randy,
Thanks for your “FROM” line comment. You bring up a good point – the SEARCH feature – that’s another great reason never to change the “FROM” line.
Appreciate your reply,
~ Alex
Gregory,
I like that SUBJECT line you suggested for two keywords: 1) “you” and 2) “this” … the goal is to get it opened and make it relevant enough for a click-through.
Thanks for your reply,
~ Alex
Steve,
The great thing about your “SUBJECT LINE” suggestion is that it can be applied to any topic.
Thanks for your comment,
~ Alex
Good stuff Alex…I noticed that “Re:subject line here ” increased my open rated dramatically.
I tried after noticing when my wife or mother emails me from their job, they usually have a Re: at the beginning.
And typically, if I see Re: I immediately look at that email.
I’ve only seen one marketer do it, and when he did, I noticed his email out of all the others.
I tried it, and it is consistently getting me more open rates than subject lines without it.
My next test will be to split test the exact same subject line with and without it to see what happens.
see ya
Thanks for this advice, it’ll surely help us to think up more curiosity-creating subject lines in the future. It’s extra relevant because I just had to come up with one to let people know about a new book. I used:
“How to double your chia recipe collection right now?”
The first 25 letters/spaces fit in most of the message and it focuses on ‘you’ and asks ‘how’ and also has ‘right now’ because really who wants something later? We brainstormed a bunch of them, and that one came out on top. I hope it can help to inspire someone, like your blog post can.
Thanks Alex!
Just how do you Test and Track for subject lines. I noticed you sent me Two emails today 20 min apart. I have you starred (since you are My Superstar Marketing coach), but I’d like to know technicaly how the subject lines are tested. Do you Use Infusionsoft for this? icontact type email service? Homemade time tested analytics?
Thanks again for everything you do for our Industry,
Your Travel Buddy, Greg Snead of Detroit!
“You’re Truly Blessed” http://www.AskAboutYTB.com
Alex, just a suggestion…
Test stopping the flashing on your sign up box after 3 times or so and see if people stay on your page longer.
That flashing drives me NUTS and can’t focus on reading what you wrote and usually just hit the back button…
Thanks
Alex, do you use the tilda tool thru 1shoppingcart???
Great post, Alex – Thanks!
The tilda “trick” and the raising curiosity subject lines are priceless pieces of info.
Thanks again!
Hi Alex….
Thanks for the tip on the tilda! That’s a really great point….
I have found this to be very effective so far for me in my subject line! “Are you prepared????”
Thanks again for a great post!
To Our Success,
Philip J. Mutrie
http://www.52OnlineBusinessTips.com
http://www.SuperSqueezePageSecrets.com
Twitter ID: http://www.Twitter.com/philmutrie
Laney,
I like your ONE LINER. It’s a bit long for me, but definitely a curiosity builder. If I were you, I’d re-utilize it ever 30 days. No one will notice, but you … you’ll notice a jump in click-throughs :-)
Thanks for your comment,
~ Alex
Philip,
Great SUBJECT LINE. For my group, one “?” works just as well ;-)
Thanks for your comment,
~ Alex
Shirley,
You can use the tilda technique through 1ShoppingCart, Infusion, aWeber, ConstantContact or any other bulk emailing eBusiness software.
~ Alex
Rich,
Don’t mean for my blog to drive you nuts, so I’ll take it out altogether. I was meaning to do that anyway, so your comment pounded the final nail in the coffin.
Thanks for your comment,
~ Alex
Alex,
Timely tip on taking care with the Title line. It’s too easy to get sloppy or vague with that.
Thanks.
Greg,
I test NOT with “open” rates, but with “click-through” rates.
Most marketers would argue that it’s the “open” rate that requires testing with a subject line and they’re right. But opening an email doesn’t do a thing for my pocketbook; a click through does. Therefore, I don’t need to send HTML email to test the pulling power of my SUBJECT lines. I don’t test all of them, but when I have a winner, it’s because I got more click through – namely, more people clicking the link in the body of the email.
What this means is A/B split testing SUBJECTS with corresponding A/B links within the BODY TEXT of the email. For example: “Have you seen this?” is a SUBJECT LINE A with Link A and “You’ll never believe this…” is a SUBJECT LINE B with Link B. I know I’ll get lots of comments from smart marketers why testing “open” rates with HTML email is better and faster, but I have just as many counter-arguments as they have arguments.
In the final analysis, just be mindful of the importance of your SUBJECT LINE and what it says, and know that your FROM LINE is 5X more important than your SUBJECT LINE. Period. Case closed :-)
Thanks for your comment,
~ Alex
Emily,
Test this one too: “This is how I double my chia recipes…”
It’s shorter. It’s truthful. And it’s about your story. Give it a shot.
~ Alex
Joe,
I’ve tested the same thing and it does improve pulling power of open rates (HTML), but I haven’t see the same impact with click through. But if it’s working for you, stick with it and congrats for testing!
Thanks for commenting,
~ Alex
Thanks for the tip man, I was really in need of some
good headlines.
- Hassan
I really enjoyed your tips. However, we have a slightly different use of email than most. We use ours to confirm reservations for various tours. We have a number that are not getting through the spam filters. Any suggestions?
Hey Alex–great post! Hitting me right where I live, as you already know…:)
I’ve found that a question in the subject line tends to get opened a bit more frequently than statements. Something about the human nature of not wanting to leave a question unanswered, I think.
Love to catch up sometime…call me if you need anything.
JW
Hi Alex, I guess we should be more bold in giving you our thoughts. I want to say “Thanks” for removing the flashing distractions.
I bold solid red arrow is all you need to get my attention. If you think it’s important enough to use the BOLD Red Arrow. I will always check it out.
Can you share with us if there’s an inexpensive easy way for us to be able to add our photos for branding purposes (full length body shots) that you and other great marketers like Jack Canfield
http://www.thesuccessprinciples.com/ use?
I’m 67 and slow to load flash and a lot of distracting movement does not appeal to me or to those I currently market to (retirement age folks), but I think your sites and Jack’s sites are very professional AND user friendly and the photos really personalize the sites so that the user feels they know you.
Sid Grosvenor
Hi Alex,
I LIKE this post! The subject of – subject lines – is perfect, I’m just starting my first email campaign.
I see my first mistake is making claims in the subject line and appreciate your tip the job is to get my reader curious so they open the email.
Also, thanks for the suggestion to open a swipe file – I did this – and you know, this blog and it’s content MADE ME WANT TO READ ALL the comments made – interesting huh?…great marketing Alex! : )
HI Alex,
These are great ideas, thank you! I appreciate the tilda and the engaging subject lines both!
One key for me: Any subject line that has crude language or violent imagery I delete and unsuscribe. This is a real energy/metaphysical no-no and lets me know they are into negatively based instead of positively based business.
Best to you and your family,
Dr. Linne Bourget
“Dr. Appreciation”
Alex,
Thanks for another insightful blog post. I hope that some of the marketers that I subscribe to are smart enough to read your blog. Many of them seem to suffer from the multiple ‘from’ address problem – and it certainly makes it harder to keep my inbox clean, and quite often they are the first to go when I’m weeding out my subscriptions.
I struggle with subject lines. After recently sending several dismal “here’s your update” type of subjects, I’m ready to explore some different methods!
Thanks for pointing me in the winning direction!
Peace,
Bob
http://www.freelawofattractionreport.com
http://www.marketingsuccessaccelerator.com
Thanks Alex.
Even consistently using a “bad” FROM line works better than changing it all the time. Our best SUBJECT line so far: “The secret is out…”
Rick Perkins
http://www.addedyears.com/goodlife
Have I told you lately that I love you? LOL. Very good and thank you so much for alllllll the very useful information you are willing to give.
Becky,
Thanks for noticing :-)
~ Alex
Sid,
The “branding” pictures are you call it is something I helped pioneer for the commercial web back in 1999. All you need is a photographer to take the pics and then a web master to stick them online. A photographer I recommend is: Mary Mazzullo at http://www.SeminarPhotography.com
As far as your age and FLASH, I can’t agree with you about your comment on “distractions” because movement has made me a lot of money and boosted my opt-in rates dramatically. So at the risk of offending a few, I’ve added a lot of value to many. But again, many thanks for your comment and point of view.
~ Alex
Jay,
Thanks for your comment and you know my number, so call whenever you’d like to catch up :-)
~ Alex
Sandy,
Try this http://www.MailingCheck.com <– Free download.
If you don’t use http://www.aWeber.com or http://www.MarketersChoice.net, then I recommend using Mailing Check to check your spam scores.
~ Alex
Lauri,
Thank you :-)
~ Alex
Rick,
Thanks for sharing your SUBJECT LINE. I’ve never utilized that one. Sounds like a winner at first glance.
Appreciate your comment,
~ Alex
Hello Alex.
Just wanted to say thanks. I always learn a great deal from your Blog and enjoy your tips.
~ Nadya_S
Alex,
Branding is always key. Your suggestions to always keep your name consistent is excellent. As a commercial enterprise, we focus on having our people state: Name, Title, Company where just their name would normally go (Mine is: DR Rawson, Chairman & CEO, C4 WorldWide, Inc.). This builds brand for us and recognition for our Associates in 55+ countries.
I haven’t had the time to always read what you’ve written so I’ll step out a bit and ask, Have you also counseled on the signature block? The signature block is a huge opportunity and it seems lost on most of the email I receive from other non-direct entities.
DR Rawson
Hey Alex! Too bad we haven’t spoken in a few years… looks like you’re continuing to do well! Great info here from you as always. Back when I was busy on the web marketing scene, I wrote this about email marketing:
http://www.businessbuildernewsletter.com/articles/Ghengis.htm
Thanks to Glenn that he still has my article on his site. You’ll like the idea that I also wrote about using an indentation on the subject line as well.
Am on of your students since 2000 but what are our returns in Clicks. it just for twitter that mam realising some followers . but what about the clicks and leads.
http://AlexMandossian.com <— Reply on 4/23 post https://www2.gotomeeting.co...
Alex! Great tips as always
~ Alex ~
Thanks for the tip. Great, insightful, and useful – as always.
Best subject line I’ve ever written (and I’ve written over 2000 of them) was…
3 Foods You Must NOT Eat…
Although I write for the health and fitness industry, I think everyone can get an idea from that one for any industry.
Craig Ballantyne
Craig,
Awesome SUBJECT LINE…thanks for sharing it.
~ Alex
Absolutely powerful material…Alex is simply the best…
I listen to him and implement his tested proven strategies…
BRAVO!!!!
Paul Hoffman
Alex:
Like the way you suggest invoking curiosity.
For me, subject lines under 50 characters get better responses.
Now, because my newsletter subject line gets posted on twitter [via aweber] as soon as the broadcast goes out, I’m really conscious of subject lines. I know I’ve got a good one when people on twitter sign up soon after the update gets posted.
This week’s newsletter subject line was “Talking like Shakespeare Today?” – Thursday was Talk like Shakespeare Day in Chicago and William’s 445th birthday. The issue was about how to speak your customer’s language.
Barbara
@wiredprworks on twitter.com
P.S. Intriguing subject lines are also a must for PR – “50 Pizzas Rolled Into One Pie” got lots of opens and coverage, including a call within 15 minutes from one of our targeted restaurant reviewers.
Thanks, Alex. I never knew about the tilda trick. Good to know even though I don’t think it would matter much in my inbox where I view emails by date received (or would it?).
I don’t really agree with several of your subject lines but if they’re working for you that’s all that matters. Specifically, I’d pass over these three:
# Have you seen this?
# Will you say “YES” to this?
# This is about our appointment…
To me, they look like pitches. And the last one — while I might open it, would tick me off if we didn’t have an actual meeting. Actually, I did get an email with a similar subj line yesterday. That’s how I know I’d be ticked off. I DID open it and felt like I’d been spammed.
Lest I just mention those I don’t really like without offering any I do, I’ve found this one always gets opened:
“thanks from (company name goes here)” (no quote marks)
I use this when I send a follow-up “thank you email” to an editor who’s written about a client or used a product release I’ve sent her. But part of the open could be that they know my return email address.
Rickey,
Great SUBJECT lines. Thanks for sharing them.
~ Alex
Hi Alex – thanks for the tips. I usually look at the FROM line – if I don’t expect something important from that person, subject line decides whether I open email and when I open it.
Greetings,
I suggest you check with your students to determine if they appreciate your placing these tildas etc., in your from name field in order to get your email to be displayed high in their Inbox.
My research reveals more than 63% of those responding to a private survey on this subject objected to it. 31% admitted to unsubscribing from newsletters solely because of it.
Your first name begins with an ‘A’ and this means you will aready appear toward the top. Why risk the 31% possible unsubscribes? And Alex, people do unsubscribe but rarely do they tell you why. Think about this. And think about the advise you’re giving to others too, in this regard. How will they view you if they suddenly find people unsubscribing from their mailing lists because they followed your advice?
Mike,
Thanks for commenting.
Tell me about your specific research – Who was involved and how many people? B2B or B2C recipients? Why was it a private survey?
Many bulk emailing applications often just use the email address, which I didn’t cover in my post. Examples include: “no-reply@” or “info@” and email in the “FROM” line is info@AlexHelpDesk.com which gets an auto-responder if mailed by the recipient.
Finally, I’m glad you brought up the “advice” issue because it merits me blogging about advice vs. recommendations vs. tests … I prefer not to advise, but I do like recommend often (based on my experience) for student to test on their own.
If you re-read my blog post, I didn’t advise the tilda technique. I mentioned that I utilize it and the spirit of the post was to NEVER change the “FROM” line.
Nevertheless, thanks for pointing out the tilda issue (which could be looked at as “advice”) so if you’re up for it, tell more specifically about your research and where it came from because it contradicts my experience.
Many thanks for your comment,
~ Alex
Salam n Hola
Another excellent tip from you Alex. Thank you!
If only I had read this a little bit earlier. I just sent out an email campaign to a number of my list. Could have used this and captured more click throughs from it.
Luckily I have one more list to test this on and really measure the difference.
Thanks again Alex.
~ Hadee Roslan ~ (see.. I’m putting this to practice already.. ;-) )
WOW! Lots of information here! Keep up the awesome work as always!
~ Brad Pollina ~
Interesting post. Justin Premick recently wrote one on his blog for AWeber about how long your from line should be which I found to be helpful, as well. You can check it out if you are interested:
http://www.aweber.com/blog/email-marketing/from-line-length.htm
Thanks for the great tips. :)
–Ashley