Spent 6 months sending cold emails with the wrong subject line format before a random prospect replied back and told me

I had been putting the company name first in every subject line (like "Growth idea for [Company]") because I read some blog post in 2020 that said that worked. Then last Tuesday this VP of Marketing replies with "FYI your subject line goes straight to my spam folder, put the benefit first instead." Tested it that same afternoon on 50 new leads - 12 opens instead of 2. Anyone else have a tiny tweak like that totally flip your results?

2 comments

2 Comments

simontorres2d ago

Wait, you were putting the company name first this whole time? That's honestly wild to me. I figured everyone knew to lead with the value add by now, but I guess blogs from 2020 really do live forever in our heads. Your 60% open rate jump is insane though. I've had similar tiny tweaks in other things like changing a single word in a subject line from "help" to "save" and seeing double the clicks. Makes you wonder how many other simple rules we're all following that are actually killing our results.

wade7672d agoRising Star

Disagree completely honestly. Leading with your company name builds trust right off the bat. People need to know who's talking before they decide if the value add even matters. I tested it both ways with my list and the company name first actually did better by about 10% over a few months. That 60% jump sounds like a fluke or maybe your audience just happened to be in a weird mood that day. Too many folks chase these little tricks and forget that consistency and brand recognition are what actually keep people opening over time.