Best Cold Email Subject Line Examples & Tips From Experts

Selling Signals content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

Cold email subject lines are the short messages that appear in cold leads' inboxes before they open an email; they essentially serve as a preview of the email. The goal of the subject line is to grab the recipient’s attention and influence them to open and read the sales email. Salespeople can craft effective cold email subject lines by following a specific subject line framework and best practices, or they can use field-tested email subject lines as templates for their own. 

• Standard Cold Email Subject Line Framework: Learn the framework for writing subject lines that get your emails opened. Read more below.
• Examples of Powerful Email Subject Lines: See examples of cold email subject lines submitted by sales experts who know they work. Read more below.
• Tips for Writing Cold Email Subject Lines: Review some special tips for crafting an email subject line, each sent in by an experienced sales professional. Read more below.

Standard Cold Email Subject Line Framework

Salespeople use cold email subject lines to evoke feelings of curiosity, urgency, or desire in their leads, and therefore influence them to open the email and read their sales message. It can be difficult to grab the attention and interest of a lead because you’re competing with hundreds of other emails from salespeople, marketers, and people they know. Fortunately, there’s a framework you can use to help your subject line stand out from the crowd. 

Here is the best framework to follow when writing a cold email subject line: 

• Stick to Roughly Nine Words: A short email subject line is economical in regards to the lead’s attention span and the available space in their inbox for the preview. You want the lead to be able to read the entire subject line.
• Personalize the Subject Line: Including information about the lead that you found during research or know from your ideal customer profile will help you connect with them and get their attention. 
• Give the Lead a Reason to Open the Email: Mention a pain point, goal, challenge, benefit, or something else that the lead will want to know more about. Also tie your subject line to your email’s pitch. 
• Consider Sentence Case: Writing your subject lines like you would a regular sentence, with only the first word capitalized and the remaining words lowercase, can help you come across as more conversational. 

A quality cold email subject line that follows this framework will help you win the battle for your lead’s attention. Keep in mind that these are more so guidelines than rules, so you have the liberty to break them if need be. Below we share examples of effective cold email subject lines that for the most part adhere to the framework above. Some vary from the framework but are still viable options due to their upsides and impressive psychological tactics.

Top 11 Cold Email Subject Line Examples From Experts

We reached out to business, marketing, and sales professionals to figure out which cold email subject lines have brought them the most success. Below we share these great subject line examples and explain why they work. Feel free to use them verbatim for your cold emailing efforts or tweak them to fit your target audience.

Jar Kuznecov

Owner

Can I Help You With [Reaching a Specific Goal]?

“Rather than outright offering your services, skills, or expertise, you're asking the recipient if they require your help. This tactic shows that you understand their situation but does not make any overt assumption about your ability to solve it. This slight change of using a question rather than a statement can make a positive difference in your open and reply rates.”

— Jar Kuznecov, Water Softeners Hub

Peter Shankman

Host

It's OK If You Delete This Email.

“The subject line above has worked more than once. It sets me up right off the bat as someone who understands that they're busy, and they don't necessarily have all the time in the world for someone they don't know. I've gotten a bunch of replies from people who have said the subject line is what caused them to open and read the email.”

— Peter Shankman, Faster Than Normal

Farhan Advani

Marketing Director

Are You Prepared to Overcome [Specific Challenge]?

“This subject line indicates your understanding of the recipient's challenges. You'll have to do some research to make an informed guess at what challenges are most pressing to them. If you have that information, you'll be able to spark the prospect's interest in a potential solution.”

— Farhan Advani, Buy Here Pay Here

Andre Kazimierski

CEO

Let’s Talk About [Topic/Idea]!

“When writing a cold email subject line, you want it to be personalized and engaging. 'Let’s talk about [topic/idea]!' works great because you’re able to tailor your topic based on the interests of your prospect. It sparks curiosity in your reader and increases the probability that the email will be opened.”

— Andre Kazimierski, Improovy

Daivat Dholakia

VP of Operations

[Name], Looking Forward to Seeing You at [Event]!

“This subject line is perfect for when you know a prospect will be — or even might be — attending an industry event. It assumes a level of familiarity, which ticks that personalized box, and also shows that you share some of the same interests, which hits the mark for engagement.”

— Daivat Dholakia, Essenvia

Tony Martins

Founder

Did You Know That [Competitor] Outranks You for [Keyword]?

“This subject line is very effective because it conveys to the recipient that you have conducted research on them as well as their competitor. Furthermore, you've brought to their attention the fact that their competition is doing something better, and you're telling them why. This piques their interest, and as a result, emails with this line always have a higher open and click rate for me.”

— Tony Martins, Profitable Venture

Tim Connon

Founder

Urgent [Demographic] in [Location]! This Is Important Information You Need to Know!

“You want to start with the word 'urgent' or 'attention' plus 'important information for,' then put in whatever type of consumer you are looking for. When a prospect reads words like that, it hits their subconscious and they are compelled to read and want to learn more about this information, which is exactly what the main body of your email should be. These are powerful psychological words. Think about a radio program — when they announce an 'urgent' weather issue, it captures your attention immediately.”

— Tim Connon, ParamountQuote Insurance Advisors

Ryan Yount

COO

[Mutual Connection] Suggested I Contact You.

“It’s estimated that the average professional receives 126 emails per day, meaning they can’t read all of them, respond, and handle other pressing responsibilities. To attract responses, you need a tactic to pique the prospect’s interest by sounding relevant. Otherwise, your cold email will fail to generate the expected lead. Mentioning a mutual connection, such as a person or event, in your subject line is effective because it personalizes your email, establishes a sense of familiarity, and builds trust, thus increasing the chances of your email starting a conversation.”

— Ryan Yount, Luck Luck GO

Tyler Garns

CEO

Must-Have Resources to Aid in [Challenge]

“This subject line is extremely successful since it tempts every audience to look at it because it could be the answer to their problems. This subject line is best for those trying to start a relationship with a cold lead by sharing helpful content like ebooks, videos, blogs, and more. It simply means that you are willing to assist them. Remember that the more specific the challenge, the better.”

— Tyler Garns, Box Out Marketing

April Maccario

Founder

[Name], We Have a Gift Voucher for You

“This is likely best for B2C brands looking to get people onto their online website or into their store. This cold email subject line is convincing for the recipients to open the email because you’re addressing them personally with a voucher. Giving them vouchers will encourage them to shop at your business and use it as much as possible.”

— April Maccario, Ask April

Claire Francis

Account Manager

Meeting Invite: [Date/Time] with [Your Name]

“When in doubt, consider sending an assumptive meeting invite to a lead. It’s okay to let your first email be the calendar invite itself, especially if you’ve tried cold calling this lead with little success. Having an email paired to an invite showing up on their calendar that has a detailed agenda can be a quick way to get on their radar, and they'll accept it without too much thought.”

— Claire Francis, Insight Global

7 Best Cold Email Subject Line Expert Tips

As you create your own subject line, there are some tips you can follow to produce the most effective one possible. Read on to learn what expert sellers and businesspeople have to say about crafting cold email subject lines for their lead generation efforts.

Scott Hasting

Co-founder

Use a Topic From the Lead's Podcast or Book

“When you use this, you create a sense of personalization and interest at a deeper level. It means that you have spent some time listening and reading their work, so this will result in a higher click rate and opening rate. It even has a higher conversion rate, so be as personal as you can!”

— Scott Hasting, BetWorthy LLC

Craig Miller

Co-founder

Include Specific Data About Their Business or Site

“This makes it a lot personal and it signifies that you studied their account well in order to produce data. For instance, you can put their site's traffic and domain ranking/domain authority rating, then suggest ways on how to improve that. This way, it will result in high click and opening rates.”

— Craig Miller, Academia Labs

Kyle Boerner

Director of Sales & Marketing

Lead With Pain Points, Not the Product

“Did you know that pain killers outsell vitamins every year? Talk about a sense of urgency! If you've done the necessary research and created rock-solid buyer personas, you'll know the top 5–7 pains for each customer. On average, it takes 5–7 cold emails to get the first open (NOT using this strategy), so what better way to accelerate your path to engagement than pain points. But don't just list the pain point; list the 'relief' with the pain. For example, 'automate non-selling tasks,' where non-selling tasks are the pain and automate is the relief.”

— Kyle Boerner, Veloxy

David Latimer

Head of Sales

Ask an Open-Ended Question

“For cold emails, think about it. If you use a close-ended question, you have a 50% chance of being wrong. With an open-ended question, you have a much higher chance at your desired result.”

— David Latimer, Petzyo

Eric Ang

Director

Use Curiosity-Piquing Words

“Accentuate a subject line with words like ‘bizarre,’ ‘unusual,’ or ‘unbelievable.’ An example would be ‘5 bizarre marketing tricks you need to try.’ Most of us are curious by nature and will click on emails that have an odd subject line. Make sure you deliver by rewarding their curiosity with useful content!”

— Eric Ang, One Search Pro

Yeremia Poco

Co-founder

Use a Benefit-Focused Subject Line

“As a small online business owner, I send quite a lot of cold emails or proposals to my potential customers. And one tip that I always use is the benefit-driven subject line. Instead of telling them who I am or what I am selling, I use a subject line that shows some benefit they will get by reading my email. For example, 'How to speed up your computer with these 3 tricks.' That subject line shows you a benefit inside the email, so the audience is more likely to open it.”

— Yeremia Poco, Eggplain

Christopher Liew

CFA & Creator

Add Numbers to the Subject Line

“Adding numbers in your subject lines makes people want to click your email more frequently. They are anticipating the value they can get from your email. This is why this strategy works most of the time. Based on statistics, a headline with an attached number to it outperformed a how-to post by as much as 200%.”

— Christopher Liew, Wealth Awesome

Bottom Line: Cold Email Subject Line

Cold email subject lines influence a lead to not only open but read your sales email. They can do this by creating feelings of desire, curiosity, or urgency. Remember, if you don’t get a response, be sure to follow up and also revisit these examples and tips. Then after you’ve crafted your subject line, you have to write the email body — to learn how, read our article on how to write a cold email that works.