📩 Final top 10 email subject lines of 2024 (+ 3 tips)

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Well, you made it through Christmas, so congrats. I’ve patted myself on the back already.

Today, I’ll lay out the top 10 subject lines in my inbox the past 30 days. These are some of the best of 2024 because email inboxes are flooded during this time of year and I still opened these.

After that, I’ve got This Week’s Marketing Wrap-Up packed with good stuff and the Ad of the Day.

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Top 10 Subject Lines of December 2024 (& why they were so slick)

Let me say this first. 

There are four brands’ / individuals’ emails I open even when the subject line is not great. Why?

A few reasons:

• I like the sender

• Their content is consistently great

• They have strong opinions (legit ones, not manufactured hot takes)

• They send regularly (insanely regularly in one case)

• I recognize the sender name quickly (don’t underestimate this)

Mostly, I feel like they make serious effort with the emails they send me. They don’t mail it in. Pun intended? You decide. 

Alright, here’s the top 10 subject lines for the past 30 days

No particular order:

#10 Unhinged Democrat has MELTDOWN when Scott Jennings LAUGHS in her face on live tv 

#9 🎄  A holly, jolly shakedown 

#8 Tipping culture is getting out of hand

#7 Be Careful What You Follow

#6  2024 Wrapped 

#5 🐝8 Reasons Congress Deserves Raises

#4 Why (Some) Women Are Attracted to Violent Men - Livestream

#3 How the Money for the Rest of Us podcast built a six figure membership platform

#2 The "typo" on the Liberty Bell

#1 📧 5 Best Newsletter Niches

Those were copy pasted just as they appeared (with and without emojis, and title case as it appeared).

Subject Line Notes

Starting from the top. “Unhinged” is an epic word. Makes me laugh and curious to see what makes a person enter an unhinged state. I know the content won’t be high-brow, so the content is guaranteed to pay off.

“Shakedown” is rarely used in a subject line. I’m betting it’s the first time I saw it all year. 

“Tipping” is something on everyone’s mind this time of year. And it’s been in the news most of 2024.

“Wrapped” was a nice swipe by the sender to capitalize on Spotify’s thunder. The term was searched 155k times this month versus 20k in September.

Satire pulls my strings and anything about Congress riles folks up - enough to open an email about the topic.

“Livestream” isn’t used much in subject lines. Way better than webinar, in my opinion. 

Numbers three and one hit home for me due to the newsletter aspect and podcast. Knowing your reader is big - more on that below.

“Typo” fires up the curiosity quick, especially on the freakin’ Liberty Bell.

Unique Words

You can see from the notes above that simply using rarely used words in subject lines is a slick move that gets your emails opened. 

That’s good to know when you’re running low on creativity and can’t come up with a brilliant line that matches the email’s content. Just reach for an oddball word.

Final email marketing tips as we close out 2024

I’ve got my top 3 list of things I learned this year with over 250 sends of Inbox Hacking. 

• The best ad copy won’t overcome an email audience that’s not a perfect fit. I wrote the ad copy for a product that produced a ton of demos after it ran in a different newsletter, but didn’t move the needle much when I ran the exact same ad in Inbox Hacking. Know your reader.

• If you use Beehiiv (I’m sick of not capitalizing tech company names that choose lowercase beginnings BTW) and send dedicated promos using its ad network, take time to add your own intro to the pre-populated ad copy. It’s not editorial content but your readers should know you took time to at least read the ad you’re sending them.

• Lotta catch-22s in email marketing. Images are more likely to get clicks. That helps your engagement metrics, which helps your deliverability. However, images can do the opposite simply by being images. It could make the “suspicious email, do you want to show images?” warning pop up for any number of reasons, but especially if you’re ramping up a new newsletter.

Thanks for reading Inbox Hacking & enjoy your weekend. Please share this newsletter with your co-workers & bosses. 

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

Ad of the Day: Solid ad that doesn’t need any sound to appreciate