{"id":2632,"date":"2014-05-20T12:36:34","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T16:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.emailcritic.com\/?p=2632"},"modified":"2020-04-19T11:49:22","modified_gmt":"2020-04-19T15:49:22","slug":"b2b-subject-line-examples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.emailcritic.com\/b2b-subject-line-examples\/","title":{"rendered":"B2B Subject Lines That Mean Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a Product Manager for a SAAS provider, I get a lot of B2B marketing emails. I’ll be honest \u2014 I delete most of them. Heck, I didn’t even opt into receiving many of them. The irony that an email marketing product manager is getting spammed is not lost on me.<\/p>\n

But every now and then, a great B2B subject line grabs my attention. And if I’m lucky, a horrible subject line will show up right after it, helping me appreciate the good one even more. That happened this morning.<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at my inbox in its standard view:<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Right away, two things jump out to me:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Vidyard’s subject line is good.<\/b> It’s short and engaging. A good subject line is always both of these things, and that rule of thumb is doubly true for B2B marketers \u2014 you\u2019re not just competing for your recipients\u2019 time; you\u2019re competing against priority, budget, immediacy, company interest, and myriad other factors that aren\u2019t even in your radar when you click Send on your campaign. What you can control is the length and tone of your subject line, and it should always be short and engaging.<\/li>\n
  2. Qlik’s subject line is long. <\/b>The screenshot above tells you there\u2019s more to this subject line than Outlook is willing to show me. While it\u2019s true my inbox pane is vertical and probably narrower than most, I’ve allowed Qlik 48 characters including spaces to engage me. But Qlik chose to waste 20 of those characters giving their subject line a subject. The lead-in phrase, “Webinar Invitation:” is wasted space.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Let’s take a look at Qlik’s full subject line:<\/p>\n

    \"Screen<\/p>\n

    Now, that\u2019s a long subject line even without the wasted lead-in, but it\u2019s not horrible. In fact, the question-as-subject-line approach is solid. It\u2019s just too long. How about any of these:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Would your application benefit from better reporting?<\/li>\n
    • Is your application delivering the best analytics?<\/li>\n
    • Can dashboards help your application performance?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Any of those subject lines would’ve been a great attempt at getting me to open your email. Moreover, Qlik\u2019s weak subject-line game does a disservice to their email, which is really good. In fact, its header \u2014 \u201cEmbedding Analytics in Your Application\u201d \u2014 would make a great subject line. Posting it as a question (\u201cWould you benefit from embedded application analytics?\u201d) would make it even more engaging. I\u2019d totally open that email and register for that webinar.<\/p>\n

      What are some good and bad B2B subject lines you get in your inbox? Post them in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      As a Product Manager for a SAAS provider, I get a lot of B2B marketing emails. I’ll be honest \u2014 I delete most of them. Heck, I didn’t even opt into receiving many of them. The irony that an email marketing product…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88901,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,26],"tags":[102,187,45,193],"yoast_head":"\nB2B Email Subject Lines: Great and Not-So-Great Examples<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If I'm lucky, a B2B email subject line grabs my attention followed directly by a horrible B2B subject line. 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