Subject line
Definition
A cold email subject line is the one line a recipient sees before deciding whether to open. In B2B, the ones that get opened name something specific to the recipient: an address, a role, a product, or a date.
A cold email subject line is the one line a recipient sees before deciding whether to open. In B2B, the ones that get opened name something specific to the recipient: an address, a role, a product, or a date.
The subject line has one job, which is to get the email opened by the right person, and it does that by being about them. "Rooftop units on 1400 Commerce Dr" gets opened by the property manager of 1400 Commerce Dr. "Partnering for your facility needs" gets deleted by everyone.
Two things that hurt. Anything that reads like marketing: exclamation points, "quick question," "re:" when there's no thread. And anything clever. A subject line that makes the reader work to figure out what it's about loses to one that just says it.
An example
A staffing firm emailing a hiring manager about a role that's been open since July uses "The Senior Accountant role, open since July 14." The date is the whole point. It tells the manager the sender knows exactly which seat and how long it's been empty, before she's read a word of the body.
What to put in it
The address, for contractors and facility services. The role and the date, for staffing. The product name, for manufacturers. The deadline, for compliance-driven sales. The renewal, for brokers. Whatever the one specific thing is, it goes in the subject line, and nothing else does.
Related terms
Cold email formula · Cold email · Cold email open rate · Cold email sequence
If you want this run for you, see our cold email agency, or cold email for commercial contractors.
Book a 15-minute fit call
Tell us your industry and your deal size. We’ll tell you whether we’d take the account and which signals fire in your market.