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27 Email Subject Lines to Celebrate this New Year’s Eve
It’s that time of year: It’s the final push for your email marketing campaigns, and you need to come up with some incredible New Year’s Eve themed subject lines to amplify your end-of-year email campaigns.
Your team is depending on you to produce some remarkable results, and you’ve been tasked with boosting open rates. You know the 8 formulas for getting your emails opened, and you’ve heard all about using the EMV Index, and you may even know about using power words in email subject lines. But it’s the end of the year and your creativity is running low, so here are a few creative suggestions to get your mental wheels turning (since holiday brain is hard to combat.)
We’ve assembled tips to creating the best New Year’s Eve subject lines sure to help you tap into proven, successful tactics for increasing the results from your end of year email campaigns.
Leverage a sense of urgency
Humans have an innate fear of missing out (FOMO) that often compels them to act. Have you ever seen an ad that says you only have a few hours left to take advantage of a crazy discount and immediately ran for your wallet? If so, you understand that urgency can be a powerful motivator when it comes to acting quickly.
Within an email context, creating a sense of urgency has been proven to work. One study tested using urgency in an email subject line by stressing the limited number of seats for an event–and saw a 15% increase in their open rate.
So how can you write email subject lines that leverage urgency for your end-of-year campaigns? Here are a few ideas:
1. Countdown the few hours left to get 30% off!
2. Midnight deadline for your tax-deductible donation
3. ONE MORE DAY to shop our holiday sale
4. Starting NOW: $2019 off!
5. Save 40% before the ball drops!
6. Last chance for a calmer year
7. 3 more days to save on a stress-free resolution
Takeaway: Give your readers a reason to act right now by creating a strong sense of urgency in your email subject line.
Bonus: You can also extend your offer to get a bit more mileage out of it and let people who didn’t open—or those customers who opened but didn’t click through to your website—get another shot at your offer.
See how Legacy Box does it in this email example:
Create an information gap
Curiosity can also help boost your email open rate. How? Researchers found that creating an information gap was highly effective at motivating humans to act because it cognitively induces a feeling of deprivation. If you’ve ever clicked on a BuzzFeed article, it’s probably thanks to this same tactic. You just had to know what that unexpected person’s reaction was, right? We all do it.
You can create an information gap in your email subject lines by making readers curious, like in these examples:
8. We increased new customers by 50% in 2018 with this simple switch
9. Invitation for you: Join our Secret Sale
10. Wait…you missed this?
11. New year, new {organized} you
12. Free what?
13. Can’t go wrong with this New Year’s resolution
14. The best of 2018 (and a hint at what’s to come)
Takeaway: Curiosity created by an information gap encourages readers to open your email and find that missing piece that’s itching at their brains.
Offer an email exclusive preview
You can build excitement and anticipation with an email subject line that teases something coming to your business in the new year. Giving your email subscribers first access to new content means they’re getting access to exclusive material–and reminds them that they are part of a limited group of people who get special, members-only benefits.
Psychologists have proven that when humans recognize scarcity, they place a higher value on the limited resource. So when you write an email subject line that reminds them they’re part of a special group of people who get early access to things like new items coming in the new year, they’ll see more value in opening your email.
Some examples that tout exclusive previews for the new year:
15. Coming Soon: A Preview of Our 2019 Collection
16. Get the First Look! Subscriber-Only Sneak Peek
17. $75 annual plan: Stock up on Premium!
18. Start the year with style! Check out 2019’s top salons
19. Our New Year’s resolution to you
This email from Headspace clearly communicates that their subscriber is running out of time to lock in the special deal for the upcoming year:
Source: Really Good Emails
Takeaway: Make your subscribers feel like VIPs by writing email subject lines that remind them why they’re on your list in the first place.
Year in review: Your best work
Subject lines that tout your best promotions, content, products, etc. from the past year inform subscribers that you’ve cherry-picked the best of the best for them. And, by removing the legwork for the reader and showcasing your best work, you tap into a very basic psychological principle: Avoid pain, seek pleasure.
Here are a few ideas for subject lines that look back on the year in review (and promote your best content):
20. Top 10 Chicago Hot Spots in 2018
21. Thank you for an amazing year! 2018 Year in Review
22. Let the celebration begin! ?
23. The most popular blog post we wrote in 2018: Read now
24. The year in stats: Our favorite data from 2018
This email from Yes Lifecycle Marketing uses their year in review email to update their subscribers about all the great work they’ve accomplished with their clients:
Source: Really Good Emails
Takeaway: Let your year-end email subject line make life easier for readers by showing them your best material from the whole year.
Planning for the new year
The dawn of a new year is probably one of the few times when people become more open to change or trying new things. It’s a hard stop to the previous year and a fresh slate for new beginnings. People get gym memberships. They make resolutions. They plan for a better, more successful year.
Check out this email from Paper & Stitch that combines curated content highlighting top trends for the next year with the options to shop new arrivals:
Source: Really Good Emails
You can tap into that positive frame of mind by writing an email subject line that showcases your own insight for a successful new year–whether that’s through your best tips, an insightful case study, or a strategy you’ve created.
Think along the lines of:
25. 5 Tips for Growing Your eCommerce Business in 2019
26. Want to double your business in 2019? Start here…
27. Everything your business needs for 2019
Takeaway: Help readers plan for the year ahead by writing an email subject line that tells them exactly how they can be more impactful in 2019.
Wrap up
You have endless opportunities when sending year-end campaigns, but you need your subscribers to actually open your email if you’re going to bring in that last bit of revenue before the ball drops. And to get your subscribers to open your email, you need a clever—and timely—subject line to grab their attention.
In order to bring in last minute revenue and connect personally with your biggest fans, take advantage of the opportunities presented at the end of the year when your subscribers are looking forward to great things to come. With these clever subject lines on your side, your audience is sure top open, click-through, and engage with your final email campaigns of 2018.
