It’s quite astounding just how many emails we receive. According to a report from the Radicati Group, in 2018, businesses worldwide sent and received a staggering 124.5 billion emails every day.

Here, Joe Barron, a Content Manager at Cognism shows how simply an email header can make all the difference to your conversion.

Email is, of course, a cost-effective way to reach lots of clients quickly, so it’s an attractive option for scaling B2B and SaaS companies with limited resources.

However, it only works well if you do it right. You have to stand out from the hundreds of other emails your prospect is going to receive that day. One effective way to stand out from the crowd is by making your email subject lines as good as they can be. Here are a few examples of real-life experiments with clients:

For a startup accelerator, who wanted to target founders and CEOs of tech startups, the line ‘Disruptive Start-Ups Needed’ was used, which produced outstanding results of a read rate of 53.7%, a response rate of 6.52% and a click-through rate: 13.02%.

Why did this line work so well? Firstly, it’s short. It’s always wise to use 50 characters or fewer in your subject lines so that it can be easily read on mobiles (mobile traffic accounts for nearly half of all website traffic in 2019). This line comes in at 27.

This subject line acts as a headline, accurately describing what is going to be in the email. It’s also targeted at the right audience and buyer persona; after all, what startup doesn’t like to be thought of as disruptive?

For a digital marketing agency, the subject line ‘Collaborating with {{COMPANY NAME}}’ was used. This was because the agency was looking to reach B2B marketing managers or heads, this subject line worked really well, gaining a read rate of 47.84%, a response rate of 5.24% and a click-through rate of 5.7%.

The most striking thing about this subject line is that it’s personalised with the recipient’s company name. It has been shown that personalised emails are 26% more likely to be opened. It also creates intrigue, making the prospect want to open the email to find out more. Like the previous startup accelerator line, this line is short (35 characters), so it can be fully seen on a mobile screen.

For a recruitment agency, the line ‘Hot weather, hot candidates!!’ was used, as the agency was targeting recruitment and HR managers.

This resulted in a read rate of 35.36%, a response rate: 5.54% and a click-through rate: 3.29%.

The great thing about this line is that it’s seasonal, taking advantage of current events to make an impact (in this case, the hot summer weather). It’s also provocative; humour is a great way to grab someone’s attention. Finally, it’s extremely short (29 characters).

When trying to get the attention of email recipients for B2B sales, sometimes a different approach is needed. A Data science consultancy used the subject line ‘Data Science and Analytics at {{COMPANY NAME}}’.

This attracted both sales and marketing executives into a pipeline, coming from impressive read rates of 43.8%, a response rate of 3.59% and a click-through rate of 6.41%.

Why did it work so well? As well as being short (46 characters, under our recommended number of 50), it goes straight to the point. It respects the time of this busy, executive-level audience by using simple and clear language. It is also personalised to the company.

Events companies need to think differently, so when a company was looking to find attendees for B2B events and trade show’s, simply using ‘{{PROSPECT NAME}}’s Invitation’ worked a treat, being read by 55.39% of recipients. It was also responded to by 10.18% and showed a click-through rate of 14.91%.

It stands out because it’s highly personalised, including the prospect’s full name. This gives it a much higher chance of being opened; everyone wants to read an email specifically addressed to them.

In this way, the subject line acts as a Call To Action, inviting the prospect to open the email and find out more. As with all other super subject lines, this one is short (41 characters).

Your inbox is a crowded place, so imagine how much these examples stood out. There’s often success in the smallest details, so start with your email subject lines today.