By now, you’ve seen that there is no golden rule for finding the perfect subject line for an email. A/B testing is a very effective tool for fine-tuning messages based on subscriber behavior:
- Write two versions of the subject of your email.
- Divide your audience into two control groups and send each one of the versions of your email.
- Analyze metrics like open rate and clicks to determine which version drives better results.
It is important to focus on a single variable in the email subject line for each A/B test. For example: with or without emojis, with relevant information or using intrigue, etc.
A/B testing is available on Brevo’s Marketing Platform Business and Enterprise plans.
Check your email marketing statistics
Finally, don’t forget to regularly review all the statistics of your email marketing campaigns to see how your subject lines are working within a strategy, and if they really contribute to generating conversions beyond opening emails.
In addition to open and click rates, also look at chinese overseas africa database other key performance indicators (KPIs) such as soft and hard bounces and unsubscribe rate.
83 examples of effective subjects grouped into 9 types
This collection of over 80 subject line examples is based on persuasion techniques that lead a prospect to move forward with conversion. The best subject lines can appeal to urgency or surprise, but also to relatively opposite emotions like anticipation or assurance.
The examples are organized into nine subject types, although these are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Some include emojis, exclamation points, or numbers to improve readability and draw the reader’s attention to the inbox. When appropriate, the sender’s mark and/or a comment about the example are indicated in brackets.
We have hand-picked these examples from a database of over 20,000 emails, sent with different email marketing platforms between 2021 and 2025. In each of the nine subject line types, we selected between 8 and 11 subject line examples based on two main criteria:
- Variety of industries and email there are therefore many more people marketing campaigns
- Effectiveness in applying one or more of the above persuasion techniques
Sense of urgency or FOMO
Brevo AI- generated subject line suggestions .
Generating a sense of urgency in the subject line of an email is one of the best practices in digital marketing to convince subscribers to open it. In digital marketing, the fear of missing out on something useful or important is known as FOMO ( Fear of Missing Out ).
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Limited-time promotions are often exploited with dynamic verbs, emojis, and exclamation points. These subject line examples ee leads use different wording, avoiding the most common keywords that are often classified as spam :
- Update 13.11: Hurry up and upgrade your New Year gifts! [World of Warships]
- The party ends TODAY (50% off + free GIFT) [Patadegayo]
- Last day: The price you were waiting for is back [El Confidencial]
- Time is running out: Flights from €23 [Vueling]
- You’re running out of time! / [Pre-header] Save -15% on Technology and Gaming during Fnac Days.