The document provides five effective formulas for writing email subject lines that increase open rates, emphasizing the importance of personalization, questions, lists/numbers, practicality in 'how-to' subject lines, and urgency/scarcity. Each formula includes examples and explains how they can engage readers and encourage them to open emails. The author encourages strategic use of email to enhance communication and engagement.

1. 5
Email subject
LinE ForMuLAS
That Get Emails
OPENED
IMMEDIATELY
from Kenny Jahng

2. There will be over 4 Billion email accounts by end of 2015.
The average person receives over 575 emails per week.
That’s a lot of email! It’s increasingly harder for organizations to
get the attention of someone “on your list.”
That’s why the subject line is the most critical sentence in your entire email.
Here’s 5 easy formulas for writing email subject
lines to get your emails opened immediately:

3. 1
KENNY
Hello
personalized subject lines
Use your email list database and use the “insert variable”
function to include the person’s name or some other
personalization in the actual subject line.
Examples
Rich, you won’t believe who’ll be at church this Sunday
I was wondering how many are in Morristown, NJ

4. 2
qUESTIONS AS YOUR SUBJECT LINE
Examples
Do you have a better question I can use?
When should our retreat be held?
Questions force the reader to engage even momentarily.
You can also write questions so that they
aren’t fully definitive but somewhat leading.
Curiosity is the trigger to move them to click open.
Ask good questions. Get good results.

5. 3
LISTS & NUMBERS IN THE SUBJECT LINE
Examples
4 Things To Do Before The Upcoming Retreat
30 Simple Ideas For Family Devotional Time With The Kids
Numbers and structured lists help readers know exactly what they’ll
get. It also sets the expectations that the content will probably be
scannable. Remember, if the list is related to a call to action
(you want them to do stuff), then you probably want a low number in
the subject line; if you are providing a resource list, higher numbers
increase the potential for a reader to find *something* valuable
making it worth it to click through to open the email.
525
1012
7

6. 4
HOW TO SUBJECT LINE
Examples
How to read the entire New Testament in 90 days even if you
have 2 kids, a dog and a spouse (life!)
How to Pray - 3 of my favorite ways to approach prayer time
If you can be practical on a very tactical level, you become
super relevant. These are emails that can get printed,
forwarded, etc. (You want that!) Make sure you focus on the
benefit, not just the actual process or steps you’re
walking through in the email.

7. 5
SCARCITY / URGENCY IN THE SUBJECT LINE
Examples
Only 2 seats left for the parenting workshop as of 10am
Last year’s program sold out in a week.
This year seems to be quicker.
Time is ticking, and you don’t want your friends to miss out.
This is the email subject line that uses transparency to
motivate people to follow your call to action. You can’t use
this too often or people will tune it out. But when done well,
it presents the offer as a service to the recipient.

8. Email is still the killer app.
Using email strategically allows you to scale
personal relationships and increase engagement.
If your organization wants help on mastering email messaging with
your audience or community, contact Kenny Jahng at
www.BigClickSyndicate.com
or connect with him @KennyJahng on Twitter.

9. <http://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Email-Statistics-Report-2011-2015-Executive-Summary.pdf>
* Industry figures from: Radicati, Sarah and Hoang, Quoc,
* “Email Statistics Report, 2011-2015,”
* The Radicati Group, Inc. Web. Accessed February 2015.