15 Scroll Stopper Email Marketing Subject Lines You Can Use Today

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First published FEB 01 2020 - Updated JAN 2023

email marketing subject lines

Ready for some amazing email marketing subject lines?

Want to make your emails compelling and interesting so the people who receive them actually look forward to getting your messages?

Even better yet, click on them so they can open them in their inbox!

To help you out, we have collected some cool scroll-stopping email marketing examples that you can (hopefully) make bank with.

Keep in mind, every one of these hand-picked email subject lines has compelled some early morning freak (like me) to click open the email…

And I’m real particular what I click on! 🙂

Hopefully you can adapt them to have the same dazzling affect on your customers and clients too!

But first…

Why use email marketing?

Just before we jump into the wonderful list of email examples let’s back up a bit as to why it’s so important to use email marketing in your business.

I won’t bamboozle you with statistics. Just know that emails still work pretty good. I bet you’ll send one today, and you read a few yesterday. Right?

Me too.

Ok so maybe just some teeny-weeny statistics then…

The average expected ROI is $42 for every $1 you spend on email marketing. 81% of small businesses rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel, and the average open rate for a welcome email is 82%.

- Oberlo

Email is just a really, really good way to keep in touch with people.

If you can automate those emails, even better!

So if you’re asking “is email marketing dead?” then well, if you’re thinking like that, it probably is! Feel free to build your list on social media for as long as you want! 🙂

Social media is definitely one option, but sending out emails works real good for everyone else.

Why else do websites entice you to opt in to their email newsletter?

They know what works, despite what some people think!

Does email marketing still work?

You open and send emails, right? I was going to say email marketing works best when you automate your emails and you email consistently.

But there’s lots (more) factors at play, and at some stage we’ll explore them.

As for automation…

Just wait to you see how freaking phenomenal this is!

Email automation is a bit like discovering another planet! 🙂

Of course, to automate, you’ll first need a whole bunch of emails written beforehand, tailored to your business and customers needs.

Once you have these emails ready to roll you can set them into an “automation.” It sounds robotic, but you’ll be eternally grateful afterwards!

Email and marketing automation

Then what you do is plug these emails into a “automated” process that auto-sends them out at certain times and dates…

Or if your customer takes a certain action (like opens an email, clicks a link, buys your cool stuff, etc).

Let me try to explain it with an example...

Let’s say Mr. Fandango signs up (opts in) to your website.

Your email system triggers and Mr. Fandango receives an email instantly which might be a thank you for subscribing to your cool stuff.

Then let’s say your cool little automated email system is ready to send Mr. Fandango another welcome to the party email.

But wait.

You might not want to send him an email immediately after the first email.

Maybe you want to send him a second email on a Monday (or any day, for heaven’s sake, just not a weekend!)…

And it’s got to be after 10am, in his timezone.

Yep - you can easily do this with email automation!

Or something like that!

You get the idea. 🙂

Well that’s what email automation can do for you. And why I use this.

Because I’m very “visual” I like to “see” the layout of the automations.

Kind of like you’d look at a blueprint or detailed map, and plan your route carefully before you even thought about trekking to Everest Base Camp!

Here’s what I mean by that:

email marketing subject lines
A simplistic email marketing automation.

That’s not an ideal example – but it kind of show how a really basic email automation works.

Kind of like this...

  1. Person subscribes
  2. Person receives immediate email
  3. Your email system waits for 1 hour
  4. Your email system sends 'did you get this?' email
  5. And so on...

Now let’s have a look at those scroll stopping email subject lines. (You want to STOP them scrolling so they can click and open your emails, right?!)

The best email marketing subject lines…

I’ve found. (So far…)

The email subject lines are exactly as they arrived into my email box (apart from the bold emphasis).

  1. The only email you’ll want to open today. (Seriously).
    If you make this claim then you better have a great email to back it up! From my man David Sharpe at Legendary Marketer


  2. $1,000 for your thoughts?
    Would your customer open this? (Hard to resist, right?) You’ll also need a strong email to back it up. From Kirstin Hunter @ FutureSuper.


  3. Instead of criticising, do this 
    From Ramit Sethi, best selling author who comes with great financial and monetary wisdom. This type of email subject line grabs people’s attention.


  4. 👀 we’re watching you… 👀
    Eye emojis included. (No caps). Kind of fun little ‘curiosity’ email subject line from Russell Brunson at ClickFunnels.


  5. I lost my savings overnight…
    This one from Spencer Mecham @ Buildapreneur.com He always writes great emails. And inside those emails are GREAT little stories.


  6. Can you respond to this?
    This type of email subject line will get your customers punching the reply button. You’d reply, right? You could also use your customer’s first name and say something like; Martin, will you do me a favour?


  7. W.I.I.F.M.? 
    Russell Brunson again. Keep outta my inbox, will ya! Curiosity again. All caps.


  8. Free fuel for a year with BP! ⛽
    Another great (competition) email subject line. Make sure the fuel bowser emoji passes the ’email spam filters’ by sending a test email before you HIT send. Check that this type of email is not going into the dreaded spam bin.


  9. How you could become a Digital Nomad
    From Nathan @ WorldNate.com. Anyone who resonates with the idea of becoming a digital nomad will open it!


  10. THE NIGHTMARE IS OVER. 
    Classic Frank Kern genius scroll-stopper email subject line. ALL CAPS. Good sharp to-the-point readable emails from Frank. Lots of links to his stuff. (See example below). Like magic dust, his emails seem to shout “buy my stuff.” Many of us do just that.


  11. You’re in! Here’s step two ✌️
    This was a webinar from Shopify. Who knows what happened to Step 1. Particularly good if you’re awaiting something you just signed up to, like a webinar. Peace!


  12. cheeky little bastard…
    Be somewhat careful who you send this type of email to. You’ll need to know your audience well! This one from Peter Spaepen. A scroll-stopper, don’t you think?


  13. LOVE Your Photos! 
    Question: Do they mean they love ‘your’ photos or to just ‘love your photos’ in general? Either way, it’ll get you to stop the scroll and open the email. Curiosity again…


  14. Sorry… I used the F WORD! 
    From TinyBlox.com.au Who couldn’t resist opening this email ? By the way, these guys make pretty cool tiny homes!


  15. Do your customers want 🍕 or 🌮 ?
    Not a super strong email marketing subject line (even though it came from Active Campaign). However, opened it I did! Those little emojis got me curious. Do your customers want pizza or cake?


How good are some of them subject lines?

But…

Would you click on them if they appeared in your inbox?

And importantly, would your customers click on them? (Test to see!)

Edit, mould or shape those subject lines as needed.

More email marketing examples 

Of course you’ll also need to tailor your emails to “fit” those subject lines too. That takes a mix of word craft and some good old fashioned keyboard time.

Here’s some email marketing examples that can help you with that.

It’s not exactly a walk in the park. But even if you get this email marketing stuff half right, you can do good…

email marketing subject lines
The nightmare is OVER! (Frank Kern example email).

There’s a lot of factors at play of course. Got to have a receptive audience, and be hitting them with emails that add value and help ’em out.

But honestly, even getting this stuff half right can work wonders. And those email automations can be something you can refine and fiddle with any time you want.

Often it’s just a matter of jumping in and testing them out, or using someone else’s pre-done automations.

So after all that, you might be wondering…

Which email marketing service is best?

Well there’s a gazillion out there and they’re all good at what they do.

Most of them have enticing free trials available.

In a previous life I've used Aweber, MailChimp and played around with ConvertKit's cool free page builder.

However if you love automations as much as me then I recommend Active Campaign.

There’s a slight learning curve with Active Campaign but you’ll get that with any email system anyway.

41% of brands don’t send a welcome email within 48 hours. 27% send zero emails in the first three weeks.

- From the Active Campaign Welcome Email Series.

Where Active Campaign really shines is in the marketing automations.

Like I said, it’s kind of a like a birds-eye-view road map to running (automating) your online business.

Once you’ve set up an automation it can save you heaps of time. You’ll need to have those emails already written or ready to go!

Start with this in-depth, excellent 6-email welcome sequence blog post. 🙂

The beauty of email automation

I’ve heard of people setting up full automations that last a year or more.

Heck, the things people will do to get out of work! 🙂

That means you could be on the beach in Thailand, or travelling the globe and your customers will still get your emails and send you money…

…without you touching any buttons or burning the midnight oil!

best marketing tools

Full disclosure: I'm an affiliate for Active Campaign which means I get a small commission if you sign up to them!  Thanks in advance. 🙂

Of course, these long automations take a LOT of time to set up.

You might want to focus on getting a 3 month automation set up first and…

Keep your automation simple!

Like, if they click a link and add their details, they get 5 emails (etc).

You can make it complex if you want too.

Like adding triggers for this and that, adding in tags if they do or don’t do something.

For example, you can check if they open their email and if they didn’t, you can edit the subject line and send that exact same email to them again.

Cool eh?

You can use this stuff with almost anything.

And we haven’t even touched the surface of what you can do with email automations.

I won’t get into it too deep in case the ADHD kicks in!

Just know that your prospects are as busy and distracted as heck and anything you can do to get them looking your way is GOLD.

Enjoy the process, have fun, and try them out.

And let me know when you use those email marketing subject lines!