How to Subject an Email in 2025

Wondering how to subject an email in a way that actually gets it opened? It’s a small line of text, but it makes a massive difference. Whether you’re just starting with cold outreach or fine-tuning your existing strategy, email remains one of the most efficient and scalable ways to reach prospects. It's less disruptive than cold calls, gives recipients the freedom to respond on their own time, and can turn a lead into a conversion in seconds.

With automation and templated personalization, sending emails at scale is easier than ever. But none of that matters if your subject line fails to grab attention. In fact, 47% of recipients open emails based solely on the subject line—while 69% may send it straight to spam if it doesn’t hit the right note.

The good news? Writing subject lines that get results is a learnable skill. In this guide, we’ll break down the techniques, best practices, and real-world examples that help you craft subject lines that drive opens—and action.

#1 Make the Reader Curious

Think about the emails you open. Would you open an email if the subject line didn’t pique your curiosity? Probably not. One way to write a cold email to interest prospects is to give them a little teaser of what’s to come. A simple question can go a long way. They’ll want to open the email to find out more.

Example: “Question about [goal]”

Source: HubSpot

#2 Address Their Pain Points

Address the prospect’s pain points right out of the gate. This is a very effective technique for getting potential customers to open your email. You don’t even need to get too specific for your industry, but you might see better results if you do. It’s usually not too difficult to make an educated guess after conducting research. What are the major professional problems most of your prospects are dealing with?

Example: “Disengaged customers?”

Source: Close

#3 Mention a Shared Contact

If appropriate, always mention a mutual connection. It could be someone that went to the same school, a mutual acquaintance, or even someone in the same LinkedIn group. Finding referrals, or any kind of common ground, and including it in your subject line can increase your open rates.

Example: “Joe Smith suggested I reach out”

Source: Timetoreply

#4 Personalized Subject Lines

By personalizing your email subject lines for sales prospecting, you can increase your open rates by 5%. That might not seem like much, but it’s certainly worth the extra effort.

By adding some human touch to your subject lines, you’ll look much less spammy to your prospects. For better results, try to add something beyond just their name.

Example: “Hey, [name], I loved your blog post on [website name]”

Source: RingCentral

#5 Keep it Short and Concise

We all have a finite amount of time to get work done during our day. The last thing any of us want to do is spend too much time reading emails from strangers. By keeping your subject lines short, your recipients can read more of the message preview, which means they’ll also see the first sentence of your email before opening it. So you’ll want to ensure that your first sentence is just as impactful as your subject line.

Example: “Time to meet?”

Source: Outreach

#6 Make the Email About Them

This isn’t the time to introduce yourself, your company, or your offering. Sales prospecting emails are all about them. What value do you add? What’s the benefit of opening your email? Put yourself in their shoes. Include resources, helpful tips, or materials that can help them solve a problem.

This isn’t the time to be too sales-oriented. Save that for your call to action. Your subject line is all about building rapport and connecting with the recipient.

Example: “Can I help you reach [specific goal/result]?”

Source: Pipedrive

#7 Research Your Prospect

Target your recipients’ interests for better results. Read their website and LinkedIn profiles to find out more about them. People appreciate when someone has put forth the effort to get to know them before reaching out. It shows how much you care. And if you can’t find their email, use an email lookup tool that allows you to find business emails based on the company website.

Example: “Julia, Increase Your SE Rankings Today!”

Source: EasyMail7

#8 Test Email Subject Lines

Test which email subject lines for sales prospecting work best. That way you can scale your prospecting campaigns and determine what works for your industry and offering.

Through A/B testing, you can create multiple versions of the same email, just with different subject lines. You can test these emails on different audiences to see which emails got higher open rates. This way, you can take some of the guesswork out of sales prospecting.

“While every company’s email program is different, you should at least include testing in your campaigns regularly, if not in every campaign. Determine what works best for your company and marketing program and stick to it.”

- Tom Wozniak, Forbes Councils Member and Head of Marketing at OPTIZMO

#9 Keep a Clean Email List

If emails are consistently bouncing or not getting opened, you should remove them from your cold email list. If you keep sending to those email addresses, you could damage the deliverability with your other recipients.

It’s also wise to segment your prospecting recipients into different industries, titles, interests, or topics. Segmentation makes it easier to personalize emails and send highly relevant information.
Just remember that the perfect email subject lines for sales prospecting won’t help you get responses unless you do the right research beforehand. Part of this research is finding email addresses that are linked to a prospect.

Skrapp.io, for example, is an email lookup tool that helps you find real email addresses for professionals at any company. Whether it's through LinkedIn, a company's websites, or using our in-app features, we help you build accurate email lead lists for your next email campaign.

Try our prospecting email tool to find the verified contact information you need to fill out your email list.

#10 Understand How to Subject an Email for Maximum Impact

Learning how to subject an email is all about understanding your audience and what motivates them to click. Your subject line should either solve a problem, spark curiosity, or offer value immediately. But the tone and intent also matter—what works for a SaaS executive may not work for a small business owner.

Think of your subject line as your first impression. Ask yourself: If I received this subject line, would I care enough to open it?

Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Avoid clickbait—false promises can hurt credibility.
• Stay relevant to the email body content.
• Use action-oriented language when possible.

Example: “3 ways to cut costs without sacrificing growth”
Source: ActiveCampaign

#11 How to Subject an Email Based on the Funnel Stage

Understanding how to subject an email also means tailoring your message based on where your prospect is in the sales funnel. Someone at the top of the funnel might respond better to educational or curiosity-driven subject lines, while mid or bottom-funnel prospects need more direct and value-driven messaging.

Here's a breakdown:

• Top of Funnel: Focus on value or pain points.
  Example: “Struggling with [industry problem]?”
• Middle of Funnel: Offer insights or social proof.
  Example: “How [competitor] boosted revenue 30%”
• Bottom of Funnel: Push for action or decision-making.
  Example: “Final step to unlock [benefit]”

Matching your subject line with your prospect’s journey improves open rates and sets the stage for a more meaningful conversion.

Learn How to Subject an Email and Get More Opens

Understanding how to subject an email is a powerful skill that can directly influence your sales success. A compelling subject line not only increases your open rates but also sets the tone for the entire conversation. From sparking curiosity to addressing real pain points, the strategies outlined here are proven to work when used with the right audience and timing.

The inbox is competitive—but with the right approach, your email doesn’t have to get lost in the noise. Apply these tips, test consistently, and you’ll quickly see the difference a strong subject line can make.

FAQs: How to Subject an Email