As much as we all hate getting unsolicited emails, a surprising amount of enterprise business starts with cold outbound emails that a prospect decided to read. And the most important lever you have, as a seller or marketer, is your email's subject line. But how do you craft the perfect subject line?

It is easy to find plenty of advice - personalization, keeping it concise, highlighting the pain-point, highlighting an important feature, creating a sense of urgency, creating FOMO, utilizing numbers/metrics/statistics, A/B testing... the list goes on and on.

Fundamentally, the problem is simple and goes beyond email subject lines - you have a lot of information to share but only a limited capacity to do so. The strategy then is to craft something concise and so compelling that the receiver wants to learn more and takes action to get the rest of the information you couldn't share.

This concept is often referred to as "information gap" or "curiosity gap." Psychologists have studied curiosity quite extensively, there are many models of it and much has been written about this in the context of marketing. And most likely, many of you have already experienced the "information gap" tactic being used on you, albeit in a negative way - clickbait. Well, the title of this blog post itself is veering into almost-clickbait territory :) Movie posters and trailers are another example. Despite a deluge of clickbait on the internet, information gap can be an effective tool for marketers and valuable for the recipients.

So, the answer is to create a curiosity gap. Now that we know what we need to do - how do we go about creating such a subject line?

A common approach is to create a subject line where the information gap is a set of facts. Here are a few  examples:

• Free webinar on <subject> - details inside!
• The 5 key factors to remember for <subject>
• The #1 solution for <problem> used by <big brand names>

These are all valid tactics. But you'd want a subject line that evokes a deeper desire, something that feels more important and does not look like clickbait. What should the subject line talk about?

Before we go further - let us take a step back. You've created a product because it addresses a real pain-point(s) for your target audience. But beyond that, solving that problem or pain-point for your buyers/users creates real business value for them. It could be in the form of cost savings, productivity gains, operational efficiencies etc.

Now comes the hard work.

• The first thing you need to do is clearly articulate a vision of what the world looks like when your target audience is already benefiting from using your product.
• You should then frame it in sharp contrast with the unfortunate reality of today where your solution is not yet being used.

Getting back to the email subject line - the most effective subject line evokes a clear sense of this "promised land." It is compelling because it is relevant to your audience. And because it implicitly acknowledges the pain-point(s) they are currently facing. They'll feel like you understand them. What is the information gap you've created? How to get there, and the answer being - with your product.

A vision of the promised land - that is the secret.

Want to learn more? You know where to find us.