Best Cold Email Subject Line Examples & Tips From Experts

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.

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.

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.