15 Cold Email Subject Lines That Get Replies

Cold emailing can be a powerful tool for businesses and individuals looking to connect with potential customers, clients, or collaborators. However, getting someone to open and reply to a cold email is no small feat. One of the most important factors in getting a cold email opened is the subject line. A subject line that is interesting, relevant, and compelling can make all the difference in whether or not someone decides to give your email a chance.

What makes a good email subject line?

1. Keep it brief.
2. Personalize it. 
3. Make it interesting.
4. Offer value.
5. Create urgency.
6. Avoid clickbait. 

1. Keep it brief.

The ideal length of an email subject line varies between mobile, desktop, and tablet devices, so keep this in mind as you craft the perfect one-liner for your sales email. On average, the maximum subject line is about 60 characters long before it gets cut off by the email provider. We recommend a subject line of 41 characters so that each word appears on desktop, mobile, and tablet devices.

2. Personalize it.

Personalizing the subject line to include the prospect’s name is always a smart way to go. 74% of marketers claim to enjoy an average 20% increase in revenue when personalizing emails. People want to hear from, talk to, and buy from other people, not from big brands and companies. Rather than sending your sales emails from a generic address like sales@imtryingtosellyousomething.com, use your personal email address or an alias that includes your first name to give your message a more human appearance.

3. Make it interesting.

We’ve all been taught not to judge a book by its cover, but sales email subject lines don’t count. Before prospects get to your email, they’ve got to make it through the subject line first.Making the subject line interesting could mean a number of things, so use this list to find an angle that you think your prospect might care about.

- A recent news story in their industry.
- A new statistic about their industry
- A question about a project they just started or finished
- An ask for their help

The key to each of these angles is this: they’re all about the prospect. You’ll have plenty of time to pitch your product in the body of the email and on future calls. The primary goal of your subject line is to get the prospect to click, read more, and decide if they’re interested enough to respond or take action.

4. Offer value.

Does your company offer a product or service that the prospect has been looking for on social media? Do you have a promotion that could free up your prospect’s budget for other activities? Can you help the prospect reach their goals faster? All of these options offer value to the prospective customer and are enticing angles to include in your subject line.

5. Create urgency.

Time sensitivity is a common filter that many of us use to prioritize our inboxes, so it’s understandable that our prospects operate their inboxes the same way. Even if your prospect isn’t particularly interested in making a purchase right now, there’s still some benefit in knowing that they could miss out if they don’t at least see what the limited-time-only promotion is. Creating urgency, where appropriate, is a tried-and-true tactic to get your emails opened and read, but don’t rely on this all the time. You could risk annoying your prospect with constant urgent requests.

6. Avoid clickbait.

Along the same lines of annoying your prospect, avoid creating email subject lines that can’t live up to the actual email, product, or service itself. Insinuating urgency, value, or importance where there isn’t any can leave a bad taste in your prospect’s mouth at best, and lead to your domain being marked as spam at worst. 

With that in mind, here are 15 cold email subject lines that are sure to get replies:

1. "Quick question about [topic]"
   
2. "Thought you might be interested in [topic]"
   
3. "Would you have time for a call about [topic]?"
   
4. "I saw your recent work on [project] and wanted to reach out"
   
5. "Looking for [something specific]? I might be able to help"
   
6. "Collaboration opportunity: [brief description]"
   
7. "Introducing [your company/product]: [brief description]"
   
8. "I'm a big fan of your work and wanted to connect"
   
9. "I think I can help with [problem your recipient is facing]"
   
10. "Free [resource/consultation] for [recipient's industry]"
    
11. "I found your company while searching for [something relevant]"
    
12. "I have some ideas for [something relevant to the recipient]"
    
13. "Quick favor to ask about [something specific]"
    
14. "I came across your company and wanted to see if we could work together"
    
15. "I have some [valuable resource] that I think would be helpful for your business"

It's important to keep in mind that the subject line is just the beginning. The content of the email itself needs to be well-written, relevant, and engaging in order to truly get a reply. However, a strong subject line is a great way to get your foot in the door and increase the chances that your email will be opened and read.