The document provides examples of effective subject lines used in email marketing campaigns. It discusses how subject lines should be contextual, urgent, emotional, detailed, intriguing, visual or earned to engage subscribers. Over 50 subject line examples from companies like RedEnvelope, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Urban Outfitters are then presented categorized using the CUE-DIVE method. The examples demonstrate tactics like questions, puns, warnings, promotions and personalization that make subject lines compelling. The document concludes by promoting the book "Email Marketing Rules" which provides best practices for email marketing success.

1. OUTSTANDING
Email Marketing Examples of
SUBJECT LINES

2. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
The goal of subject lines is
often misunderstood; its
influence underestimated;
and its relationship with
preview text ignored.

3. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
But even when you understand
that the goal of a subject line is to
generate openers who are likely
to convert, that subject lines can
drive offline action, and that
preview text is important…

4. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
There’s no secret formula for
subject line and preview text
success. However, there is a
list of ingredients that are
easily remembered as the
CUE-DIVE Method.

5. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
CUE-DIVE classifies subject line
and preview text content as
being Contextual, Urgent,
Emotional, Detailed, Intriguing,
Visual, or Earned. Find the mix
your subscribers respond to.

6. The following outstanding
email marketing examples
demonstrate the concepts,
tactics, and strategies around
Subject Lines and the
CUE-DIVE Method as
discussed in the 3rd Edition of
Email Marketing Rules.
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7. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Vhat vould Dracula vear?
An engaging question, posed in Dracula’s
trademark diction, sets up this email promoting
Halloween costumes.
RedEnvelope, 10/3/06
CUE-DIVE

8. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Get it on. Our warmest, softest
fleece... Abercrombie.com
The “get it on” pun is a perfect match with this
retailer’s young, promiscuous brand image.
Abercrombie & Fitch, 11/2/06
CUE-DIVE

9. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Shop now for Mother's Day or
pay until 2008.
RedEnvelope takes the familiar “pay nothing
until…” language and spins it into a warning
about the wrath of mothers who get bad gifts.
RedEnvelope, 5/11/07
CUE-DIVE

10. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
What holiday tables are
wearing...plus Free Shipping
Using a little anthropomorphism, Crate & Barrel
brings fashion anxiety to tableware. What will
your guests think of your table décor?
Crate & Barrel, 10/22/07
CUE-DIVE

11. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Save $10 on Stay-cation
Shopping!
Demonstrating that Toys “R” Us is tuned into
consumer sentiment, this subject line is one of
the first to use the neologism “staycation.”
Toys “R” Us, 6/27/08
CUE-DIVE

12. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Birthday. Happy birthday. Celebrating
a New James Bond Release
Riffing on how James Bond introduces himself,
this subject line helps promote a new Bond
novel on what would have been Bond creator
Ian Fleming’s 100th birthday.
AbeBooks, 5/28/08
CUE-DIVE

13. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
You lost. Will 15% off make it
better?
Matter of fact, perhaps even shockingly, this
subject line notifies sweepstakes entrants that
they didn’t win. Consolation prize, anyone?
Urban Outfitters, 12/11/08
CUE-DIVE

14. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Want Free Shipping? Use Promo
Code 49SANTA At JCP.com!
Focused on generating conversions rather than
opens or clicks, this subject line tells subscriber
exactly how to get free shipping.
JCPenney, 11/8/09
CUE-DIVE

15. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
“Is it really wrong to love a
doormat?”
This testimonial subject line leverages Valentine’s
Day and the double-meaning of “doormat” to
promote this email about actual doormats.
L.L. Bean, 2/3/09
CUE-DIVE

16. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Gift Tip: Separate these sets
into multiple gifts
With the Great Recession underway, this subject
line tried to connect with consumers who were
struggling to stretch their holiday gift budgets.
Sephora, 11/17/09
CUE-DIVE

17. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Fantasy No. 339...
With a nod to erotica fiction, Victoria’s Secret
sent several emails that December using the
“Fantasy No. X” format. Who doesn’t want to
know women’s fantasies? (That said, 300+
fantasies seems rather daunting.)
Victoria’s Secret, 12/19/09
CUE-DIVE

18. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
We know when Tiger is coming
back.
Tapping into speculation around Tiger Woods’
return to golf after his sex scandal, this
newsjacking subject line promotes the release
of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.
GameStop, 3/9/10
CUE-DIVE

19. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
We still have all this money to
give away.
Appealing to subscribers’ self-interest, Kohl’s uses
this subject line to promote that Kohl’s Cares is
giving away $10 million to schools and needs
their customers to vote for deserving schools.
Kohl’s, 8/11/10
CUE-DIVE

20. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
90 Years in Seattle - We Know
Rain!
Eddie Bauer leverages their hometown’s rainy
reputation in this subject line to promote rain
coats, umbrellas, and other wet weather gear.
Eddie Bauer, 2/8/10
CUE-DIVE

21. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Chad, 118 of your connections
changed jobs in 2010.
An early sign of personalization moving beyond
first-name only, this subject line contained two
personal data points and was a great lead into a
highly personalized email about my connections.
LinkedIn, 1/13/11
CUE-DIVE

22. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Add more fun to your walks
with Suki
Had this subject line said, “with your dog,” it
wouldn’t have been nearly as compelling.
FetchDog asks subscribers for the names of
their dogs, and puts them to good use here.
FetchDog, 8/9/11
CUE-DIVE

23. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Forget about daylight savings
While others were reminding subscribers to
set their clocks back, Brookstone stood out by
advising the opposite in this subject line for an
email promoting clocks that set themselves
and auto-adjust to Daylight Savings.
Brookstone, 10/25/11
CUE-DIVE

24. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
XOUO
Inserting their brand’s initials into the
common expression of affection “XOXO” for
this Valentine’s Day email’s subject line is a
testament to the power of brevity.
Urban Outfitters, 1/31/11
CUE-DIVE

25. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Starfish: you named it. You bought
every last pair. We made more.
The subject line for this email—which tells the
story of LE’s Starfish Pants, which got its name
from customer requests—makes you feel like
you missed a conversation, not just a product.
Lands’ End, 6/8/11
CUE-DIVE

26. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
What bra sold 10,000 after being
seen on the Today Show yesterday?
Using consumer action and media attention for
social validation amps up the intrigue of this
question-based subject line.
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 5/4/11
CUE-DIVE

27. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Dads: This Email is Not For You,
Please Forward It To Your Family.
The forwarding request in this subject line is a
clever device to get dads to open the email to
see if it’s worth forwarding. Saying it’s “not for
you” just makes you want to open it more.
Foot Locker, 6/8/11
CUE-DIVE

28. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Top 5 Gifts Selected by the
Dads of Williams-Sonoma
This subject line was at the forefront of the
then-emerging trend of abandoning corporate-
speak and putting a face on your marketing.
Williams-Sonoma, 6/6/11
CUE-DIVE

29. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
They want to ██████ the
Internet
To support their rallying cry against internet
censorship, this populist movement uses a
series of special characters to create a black
box as if the subject line were redacted.
Avaaz.org, 12/10/12
CUE-DIVE

30. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Just Woke Up? Already Out?
Swing By -- Stores Open at 5 a.m.
Sent as the sun was coming up on Black Friday,
this subject line acknowledged that subscribers
might be reading this email on a mobile device
in bed, in the car, or waiting outside a store.
Lowe’s, 11/23/12
CUE-DIVE

31. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
You have 23 files waiting in
Google Drive
Google made this announcement about the
transition from Google Docs to Google Drive
relevant to users by telling them in the subject
line how many of their files were affected.
Google Drive Team, 9/13/12
CUE-DIVE

32. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Time to use your flex spending
account!
Like a helpful year-end “use it or lose it”
reminder you should get from your FSA
manager but don’t, this subject line makes
you grateful and receptive to Warby Parker.
Warby Parker, 12/27/12
CUE-DIVE

33. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
●|||||||● Your Jeep newsletter is
here.
Using special characters, Jeep creates a very
good representation of their logo, adding great
branding to this subject line.
Jeep, 9/5/13
CUE-DIVE

34. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Your bio's been updated. View
what's new.
A twist on the typical update request, this
subject line notifies you that Vizify has taken
action on your behalf. Of course, subscribers
will be curious to know how their bio changed.
Vizify, 10/3/13
CUE-DIVE

35. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
ThinkGeek's roses are #FF0000,
violets are #0000FF...
Geeking up the staid “roses are red, violets are
blue” rhyme, ThinkGeek uses the eye-catching
(and possibly head-scratching) hexadecimal
color codes for the two hues in this subject line.
ThinkGeek, 1/23/13
CUE-DIVE

36. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
You have $37.90 in Moosejaw
Rewards Points Waiting to be Spent
You’re more likely to shop where you already
have money on the table, and this rewards
notification email’s subject line gives subscribers
a compelling reason to back and shop.
Moosejaw, 12/6/13
CUE-DIVE

37. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
FLOTUS-worthy frocks.
In addition to capitalizing on Michelle Obama’s
popularity, this subject line uses the FLOTUS
abbreviation for First Lady of the United States,
keeping the text short while also sparking the
curiosity of those unfamiliar with the term.
ModCloth, 8/29/13
CUE-DIVE

38. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
And our #1 wine is… The
Wine.com 100 is here!
More evidence that retailers are finding
success with a content marketing approach,
this subject line feels like it’s promoting a top
100 wines magazine article.
Wine.com, 12/4/13
CUE-DIVE

39. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Three emojis, two symbols, and two
abbreviations gives this subject line the
interactivity of a pictogram. This level of visual
storytelling also means the subject line is
extremely compact.
Democratic National Committee, 8/20/14
CUE-DIVE

40. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Your kid said something
awesome
This maker of interactive children’s games
keeps parents engaged by emailing them
video clips of their kids responding to their app.
What parent can resist a subject line like this?
ToyTalk, 3/2014
CUE-DIVE

41. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Mrs + Mrs / Mr + Mr / Mr + Mrs
The triples, abbreviations, and punctuation in
this subject line make it eye-catching. And
arriving just 10 days after Supreme Court
actions led to 30 of the 50 states legalizing gay
marriage made the email timely.
Blue Nile, 10/16/14
CUE-DIVE

42. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
The open rate for this subject
line will be 28.72%
This bold and audacious subject line was
perfect for promoting the email marketing
agency’s new subject line performance
predicting tool, Touchstone.
Alchemy Worx, 7/1/14
CUE-DIVE

43. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
Happy Fourth of July! ≡
Fireworks tonight?
The retailer creates a minimalistic American flag
using special characters in this subject line that
promotes an Independence Day sale.
Vera Bradley, 7/4/15
CUE-DIVE

44. Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines
This email marketing agency is always
experimenting in their Email Weekly newsletter.
This subject line jokingly drives home the
uneven subject line support for emojis.
Action Rocket, 10/23/15
CUE-DIVE

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46. About
Email Marketing Rules
Email marketing’s power is matched only
by how incredibly misunderstood it is.
Updated and greatly expanded, the 3rd Edition of
Email Marketing Rules demystifies this vital channel.
Chad S. White, the author of more than
3,000 posts and articles about email
marketing, takes you step by step through
150 best practices, provides extensive
tactical checklists, and gives you strategic
frameworks for long-term success.

47. If you want to improve your email program by…
 Setting the right program goals
 Building high-performance lists
 Ensuring your emails are delivered
 Crafting relevant messaging
 Automating your messaging
 Developing solid workflows
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3rd Edition of Email Marketing Rules now!