Hey Reader!

I’m an Aries with a spontaneous nature and a short attention span, so I’m kind of terrible at planning.

This has led to some terrific outcomes, like a spur of the moment 2 month road trip to Guatemala.

I’ve also suffered the slings and arrows, i.e., taking my asthmatic lungs on a 3 day hike above 11,000 feet without an inhaler. 😬

It’s a mixed bag, just like anyone's stash of traits and habits.

But as a person without a lot of built-in organization, I’m good at coming up with strategies to make the most of my native intelligence. 😁

One of these is using A/B testing to make sure I’m wielding the best subject line possible.

Subject lines are important! It might feel like a bit of an afterthought, but without a good one your email may languish in your readers’ inboxes without being opened.

😳

All that hard work for nothing…

“Your subject line should always be a concise phrase that tells the reader exactly what the email is about.”

That’s the first thing Google delivered to me when I asked it about subject lines and I’m going to say that I do not agree. If I did I would have headlined this email something like “A/B testing subject lines - it works”.

And perhaps you would have opened it? 🤔

I like subject lines that leave the reader wanting a little bit more. And because I have a business that relies on personal connection, I like to keep it very unbusiness-y. (A word I have just this minute coined.)

If you want to write terrific subject lines that get your emails opened I’ve got a guide for that! I call it Big Click Energy because that’s exactly what it’s got going on. 😉

But even when you’ve got good game when it comes to writing subject lines, you’ve still got to work at it. Which is why I write at least ten for every one of my emails.

I do it because I want to give myself the opportunity to write some stinkers. This way I can really go for it and just write them one after another until I hit on something I like.

If I love the first, or third, or sixth one, I keep going anyway, because I might come up with something even better.

I’ve made the mistake of rushing to get the email out and slapping on a subject line that sounds good in the moment, only to see my open rate drop. 😥

So I take the time to write a bunch of them.

Then I choose my two favorites and plug them into the A/B testing in Kit and let the people decide.

Kit sends my email to 20% of my list, 10% with each headline. After a couple of hours they settle on the one with the most opens and that's what the other 80% of the list sees.

Often it’s my favorite. Sometimes it’s not. 🤷

But it’s another tool that’s likely offered on your email marketing platform. Use it! It’s easy, and it can make a difference in how many people are actually reading your fabulous email.

And practicing writing those subject lines will make you better at it, because, well, practice has that effect. Go get Big Click Energy to learn all my tricks to writing the best subject lines around. 🏆

Yours in planning, even when it doesn’t come naturally,

Julia

​Peter Gabriel knows all about going big, and so does this email. Forward it to someone who’s been thinking too small.

​