Email Opening Lines for Every Marketing Situation
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Email Opening Lines for Every Marketing Situation

CAMPAIGN MONITOR - MAR 12, 2020

How important are email opening lines to your marketing campaigns?

Every digital marketer knows email titles are crucial. Using killer subject lines is the equivalent of putting your best foot forward.

But what will greet them upon clicking on your emails? Read on to learn how to introduce your marketing messages and how to craft email opening lines for every situation.

What are email opening lines?

The first line of the inside text is your email opening line. Some marketers also use this part of the message as preheader text (or vice versa).

Need a refresher on preheader text? Our video below can show you how to use it in less than two minutes.

Subscribers already know you’re selling something. You can pique their curiosity with a great subject line, but it’s the job of an email opening line to motivate them to read all the way up to your CTA.

People subscribe to mailing lists for a reason. It’s critical to remind your audience of that initial spark of interest each time you introduce a new email marketing campaign.

55 email opening lines for every situation

Each type of marketing email serves a different purpose and requires something unique from its opening lines.

Find below a quick marketing message primer, along with suggested email opening lines for every situation.

1. Welcome emails

This is the first message you send to new signups. Welcome emails can thank subscribers for signing up. Some may ask people to help customize what kind of messages they want to receive in the future.

Source: Really Good Emails

Here are some examples of welcome email opening lines:

People expect welcome emails, so they’re 10 times more likely to click and raise your overall open rate.

Our infographic shows just how effective welcome emails are.

2. Promotional emails

Promotional emails tell subscribers about your brand. This information typically comes with coupons or other special offers.

Here are some examples of promotional email opening lines:

Ninety-three percent of subscribers will use coupons sent to their inboxes, and forty percent of consumers share online deals emailed to them with their friends too.

3. New product launch or announcement emails

When a brand announces a new product, it’s rarely done through a single email. To build anticipation, a product launch email campaign may consist of a series of automated messages.

Here are some examples of new product launch or announcement email opening lines:

Brands may create a segment to receive exclusive content before a site-wide rollout. First impressions from these subscribers are important—customer-generated reviews in emails can help increase conversions by up to 270 percent.

Fortunately, CM Commerce makes it easy to feature product reviews in your emails.

4. Replenishment or re-up emails

Replenishment emails remind and urge customers to reorder or resubscribe.

Here are some examples of replenishment or re-up email opening lines:

Re-up emails are high performers, with open rates averaging about 50 to 60%. Their average click rates are not far behind at 40 to 50%.

Is email automation worth it? Find out by reading our guide.

5. Email newsletters

Almost all newsletters today get sent to virtual inboxes. These scheduled bursts of information note current news, build connections with subscribers, and pave the way for conversions.

Here are some examples of email newsletter opening lines:

It’s worth noting here that brands report a drop in open rates—more than 18%—when they use the word “newsletter” in a marketing email.

Get loyal newsletter subscribers by reading our guide.

6. Holiday emails

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, Christmas, and the New Year are great opportunities to drive conversions and a mass major revenue for your brand.

Source: Really Good Emails

Here are some examples of holiday email opening lines:

Email marketing is directly responsible for about 20% of online store visits during the holidays. Customers also make bigger purchases when they receive holiday email offers, often spending over 130% more.

7. Testimonial emails

Testimonials can provide a fresh marketing perspective for your subscribers. Why not let your customers inspire each other and do some peer storytelling to help along your conversion rate?

Here are some examples of testimonial email opening lines:

With an effectiveness rating of almost 90%, testimonials make for amazing digital content. If you include reviews in your emails, future customers may spend over 30% more.

8. Upgrade emails

These messages can entice subscribers to try a premium service or move to a higher subscription tier. Upgrade emails are a great way to move prospects forward to the next stage of their respective customer journeys.

Here are some examples of upgrade email opening lines:

You can offer a trial period, but don’t expect the tactic to work with everyone. Only about 15 to 20% of free trial subscribers become paying customers.

9. Abandoned cart emails

It’s the job of abandoned cart emails to nudge people gently to the checkout page. With CM Commerce, you can create motivating abandoned cart reminders that use personalized offers and discounts based on buyer behavior or cart value.

Here are some examples of abandoned cart email opening lines:

With social proofing, these targeted emails can lead to a 12% recovery rate of abandoned carts.

10. Re-engagement emails

When subscribers stop interacting with your emails, it’s time to launch a re-engagement campaign.

No one loses here. If they don’t reply, it’s better for your performance metrics to remove non-responsive subscribers from your mailing list than it is to keep them around.

Here are some examples of re-engagement email opening lines:

Re-engagement emails are crucial because retaining leads is up to seven times less expensive than acquiring a new one.

Get the comprehensive guide to email engagement.

11. Donation or fundraising emails

If you run a nonprofit or need to send out a one-time call for support, a donation or fundraising email is your best bet. At the heart of these messages is an appeal to the generosity of your subscribers.

Source: Campaign Monitor

Here are some examples of donation or fundraising email opening lines:

Online correspondences have the potential to raise more funds in a shorter time. Email is ideal because more than 60% of people prefer receiving inbox messages over dealing with social media messaging.

Are your nonprofit emails living up to the benchmarks?

Wrap up

Opening lines introduce your marketing emails. Every email marketer has different types of messages in their strategy toolkit. Earlier, we delved into the definitions of these marketing messages and provided email opening lines for every situation:

Let your opening lines act as virtual handshakes that begin productive conversations.

Want to balance the best email opening lines for every situation with the perfect closing statements? Learn how to write the best CTAs for your marketing campaigns today.

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