Frame email subject lines to appeal to the higher-level position your audience desires. A manager wants to know what a CMO is doing. This psychological tactic, which plays on ambition, can lift open rates by 24-28% over standard personalization by speaking to who your audience wants to become.

While many marketers use brackets at the beginning of email subject lines, new data from subjectline.com shows placing them at the end is boosting open rates. This tactic works by drawing the reader's eye to a key callout, and contrary to myth, it does not negatively impact deliverability or land emails in spam.

Explicitly telling users what action to take in marketing copy taps into their subconscious willingness to follow instructions. Simple commands like 'open this,' 'save this post,' or 'screenshot this' prompt users to act, leading to measurable lifts in metrics like email opens and post saves on platforms like LinkedIn.

AI-generated subject lines often use title case. Writing your subject line in all lowercase makes it feel more human and less automated, helping it stand out. This tactic can counter the generic feel of AI content and, according to World Data Research, can lift open rates by around 14%.

Switching from clear but safe subject lines (e.g., '3 ways to...') to provocative, curiosity-piquing ones dramatically improved open rates. The speaker notes that if a subject line feels slightly uncomfortable to send, it's probably a good sign.

A counterintuitive yet effective email tactic is capitalizing an entire word in the middle of a subject line, not at the start or end. This simple, cost-free A/B test is trending because it breaks visual patterns in the inbox, leading to a reported 16% open rate increase for B2B and 21% for B2C.

Many marketers mistakenly reveal the entire value of an email in the subject line, killing any reason to open it. To maximize opens, provide a compelling hint or create a curiosity gap rather than giving away the full story.

To make an email stand out, use a subject line under three words and remove the preheader text. This creates visual white space around your message, distinguishing it from the 98% of emails that use preheaders. This visual disruption can skyrocket open rates.

Explicitly telling recipients to 'Open this' or 'Open this email' in the subject line can lead to a significant lift in open rates. This direct command, while seemingly simple, taps into our subconscious tendency to follow instructions and stands out in a crowded inbox.