15 Subject Lines that Stole My Heart: How to Use Curiosity, Open Loops and Dramatic Tension in Your Marketing

Photo by Bess Hamiti

“hey u” read the subject line…

I opened up.

It was from this guy Murray Gray who I had met that weekend at Brendon Burchard’s Experts Academy.

The email was bold and charming and it had me hooked…

He had done his research – knew who I was and what I liked and how to talk to me in a way that drew me in.

Here’s a snippet:

i thought i’d google your name and in this half-asleep state i’m looking at your photos of bangkok and brazil and laos and greece, seeing what you’ve seen, and thinking one single thought:  how cool it would be to go traveling together one day — you with your camera, me with mine –once we both get our content businesses up and running and no longer have any good reason to stay rooted to one spot.

sound good?

the only question that remains is ….  where shall we go?

The funny thing is that in those 3 short paragraphs, he foresaw our entire relationship…

We wrote each other for 7 months before we had our first date. It was the same week I launched Live Your Message. 8 months later we were traveling the world together with our cameras…

I thought I’d share the 15 subject lines he used to steal my heart over those 7 months he wrote to me from London to LA…

1. hey u
2. on cheesy songs and wanderlust…
3. eat, pray, launch…
4. we are what we create…
5. zen and the art of seeing opportunity everywhere
6. DVD mania!
7. the turns and the twists
8. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!
9. Is there a Doctor in the house?
10. objects in the mirror may appear closer than they actually are…
11. the way of the wind…
12. my favorites are…
13. admit 2 to crazyland
14. always remember to breathe…
15. voilà

So there you have it, the evolution of my love affair with Murray Gray.

(A word of warning: if you end up in an email exchange with a copywriter, you may end up married… 🙂

Now let me ask you:

• How did these subject lines make you feel?
• What is it about them that drew you in?

Read these 15 subject lines again.

Notice that almost every subject line creates curiosity and tension.

As the famous novelist Anton Checkhov wrote, “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”

Murray creates an open loop in the subject line that he closes in the body of the email. He starts a story in the subject line that he continues in the email.

This is the dramatic principle that creates books you can’t put down, emails you’re compelled to open and products you’re inspired to buy….

Now, imagine writing your marketing emails with story, romance and dramatic tension…

Do you think it would a difference in your open rate?

Your conversions?

You bet it would…

What’s one subject line you’re inspired to write? Let me know in the comments.