6 Weird Email Subject Lines That Increase Open Rates

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Today I’m going to give you six email subject lines that convert like crazy and then I’m going to show you a successful campaign that I’ve developed.

You can use this as a template or as inspiration for your own email campaigns.

So let’s go straight into my autoresponder and have a look at some of the six best performing headlines that I have used.

Email subject lines

This is not the Profit Copilot email list, this is one of my lists in the independent news niche – I have adapted and tested these headlines across multiple lists so I know they work.

My Highest Open Rates

The highest open rate we have received has come from Mick Meaney vs The Establishment. Now I’m going to get into why that works in a second but let me run you through some of the other subject lines that I’ve got for you.

Here they are:

  • The moment I realized it was all a scam
  • The Deadly Threat The Mainstream Media Refuse to Report
  • Mick Meaney vs The Establishment
  • Warmongers Have Opened Pandora’s Box
  • You won’t believe the awful truth about Monsanto
  • How The Elite and Greedy Corporations Are Destroying Thousands Of Years Of Agriculture

If you go to use any of the subject lines, what I want you to do is adapt it to your niche.

My Formulas

Use these formulas:

“The Moment I Realized It Was All A Scam”

Think about the ultimate worst instance that could happen to somebody in your niche.

So, The moment you realized _____ – put in the worst possible thing that could happen.

“The Deadly Threat The Mainstream Media Refuse To Report”

Here you could say; The Deadly Threat That {-Dissociative Group-} – (a group that your prospects hate) – Refuse To Tell You.

We have different groups that prospects either wants to join or wants to avoid.

Dissociative groups are the groups that people try to stay away from. They do not want to be associated with those groups – as opposed to aspirational groups, the groups that they do want to be associated with.

There’s a push and pull thing happening.

I’m actually going to go through some of these in a bit more detail.

“Warmongers Have Opened Pandora’s Box”

So who is the dissociative group that your niche wants to blame?

“You won’t believe the awful truth about Monsanto”

Again I’m highlighting dissociative groups.

“How The Elite and Greedy Corporations Are Destroying Thousands Of Years Of Agriculture”

In other words; how are the dissociative group destroying something precious in your niche?

Use this as a template to increase your open rates.

And you may have noticed something interesting. All of these subject lines I’m using cause rubbernecking.

Think about the times you’ve driven past an accident on the road and you turned to look at it, that’s rubbernecking.

We use that emotion – that natural desire to turn and have a look, because all these subject lines only serve one purpose and that is to get people to open the email.

And that’s why they have such a high open rate.

The Email Content

Let’s have a look at the content of one of the emails.

Subject line: Mick Meaney vs The Establishment

Body: Listen Bob, as you know, I’ve been warning you about the dangers of the Establishment since 2005.

And now THIS has happened.

Doesn’t it just make your blood boil?

Tell everyone you know,

Mick

Let me show you what is happening here. Let’s really break it down; the first thing to pay attention to, is the subject line.

Overview

Readers will be attracted to this conflict that someone they know is about to embark on or is currently involved with, and it’s the conflict that they are drawn to.

The vs is very important because that tells them there is a conflict, there is a fight going on, there is something to watch, there is some kind of entertainment for them to look at.

This creates a lot of curiosity and it also creates an element of polarization because you have this ‘You vs Them’ structure.

People will naturally want to take a side and they will be drawn to this to decide which side they want to take, even if they already know on a subconscious level that they are going to side with you because you are attacking the dissociative group, or the dissociative group is attacking you.

That is why this subject line works so well.

It could be Profit Copilot vs Scam Artists or Profit Copilot vs Fake Gurus. So hopefully you can see how this structure works.

Let’s have a look at the actual body. Now, this is where things get really interesting and I’m going to have to break it down for you line by line.

I’m going to make it really simple but there are some very advanced psychological tactics going on here and a heck of a lot of persuasion.

The Psychology of NLP

You’ll see why every word on this email has earned its place.

That’s something John Carlton says; every word has to earn its place.

So I’m going to show you exactly why each word has earned its place on this email.

This is important. If you know anything about NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), you will know that we exist in many different states.

One of those states is an auditory state, so we want to appeal to that. We want to acknowledge that because when somebody is reading, instead of being in a visual state as you might think.

Every Word Serves A Purpose

They are actually engaging their internal dialogue and that is an auditory track. So they are listening to themselves read the email.

We want to acknowledge that and increase the suggestibility. So we say, “Listen“. This is NLP trick or technique I suppose, and then we give them the first name because someone’s name is the sweetest sound they can hear.

We are engaging them in two ways immediately. As soon as they start reading the email, it’s like this psychological persuasion hook that just scoops them in and pulls them further into the body of the email.

Then, “as you know“. We break this down further because we want to increase the suggestibility here. We want to almost compliment them. We play to the ego a little bit. Just a little bit, by saying you already know this, we are not telling you anything new here because you are smart, you are with it.

And in doing so, we are increasing there suggestibility because of course, they know. They will be nodding along, “yes, I am aware of that“.

Then we go down to, “I’ve been warning you“. This positions you as a leader. This copy is all very suggestible and agreeable.

About the dangers of“. Here you put in the disassociative group, or it could be an idea. And it also does something else too. It also tells them that you care about their welfare.

So, I’ve been warning you about the dangers of dissociative group. So you care about their welfare, you are interested in their progress or them as people. You are looking out for them.

Then we have, “since“. This is another really important element because here you are providing historical evidence. You are creating the illusion of stability and consistency.

And then towards the end of the email, you say, “And now THIS happened“. The word THIS will be a hyperlink and the sole purpose of this is to trigger curiosity and to get them to click the link.

Doesn’t it just make your blood boil?” Again curiosity, so we are really laying it on thick here, it’s the rubbernecking thing.

Then, “Tell everyone you know“. Here we are asking for further action. We are creating momentum so it’s a small call to action and you’re almost embracing a level of activism, and that is one of the ways I structured my emails and you can use this as a template.

Why This Works

The main things to include is the rubbernecking, the curiosity factor to put a little bit of ego in there, and suggestibility in there.

Find a way to increase the momentum, get them to become part of something, to embrace a mission that they can help you with. If you give people a role. If you assume a role for someone there is an increased chance that they will accept that role and then go ahead and take the action that you want them to. So here you are creating a little bit of a role for them.

You’re playing to the ego a little bit. You’re creating an Us vs Them situation. You are polarizing things. Basically, you’re almost forcing them to take a side, and of course, because you are using the dissociative group, they are going to side with you. This will help align your email list and your prospects further to you and your cause.

Of course, it also helps if you really do believe what you’re emailing about. So, be genuine. Find the cause. Find something in your niche that you genuinely believe in, because if you conduct this kind of stuff on a regular basis and you don’t really believe in what you’re doing, people will just see through that and they will go listen to somebody else who will give them that authenticity that they need.

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