Subject Lines That Win: 7 Patterns That Outsell Clever

Where This Fits

• Scorecard → foundations sound

• One Pain, One Persona → ICP tight

• Trigger Mining → timing on point

Now: subject lines that earn the open without sounding like clickbait.

7 Proven Patterns (with formulas)

Copy the formula, swap tokens (e.g., {persona}, {metric}, {trigger}). Keep total length ~25–45 characters.

1. Trigger → Problem
   Formula: {trigger}} → {pain}?
   Example: Series B closed → forecast variance?

2. Outcome in Time
   Formula: {outcome} in {timeframe}?
   Example: Cut AWS variance to <5% in 2 cycles?

3. Peer Proof
   Formula: How {peer_company} {outcome}
   Example: How Drata cut cloud surprise spend

4. Problem Question
   Formula: Still {pain} at {company}?
   Example: Still 3‑week onboarding at Nimbus?

5. Role → Metric
   Formula: {persona} on {metric}
   Example: RevOps on pipeline hygiene

6. Tool Gap
   Formula: {tool} → {tool}: {gap}?
   Example: HubSpot → Salesforce: field map?

7. Simple Ask
   Formula: {time} to {benefit}?
   Example: 10 min to steady SOC 2 prep?

Subject Line Kit: 20 Fill‑Ins + A/B Test Grid

We bundled a 20 ready‑to‑use subject line starters and a A/B testing grid into one Notion page you can duplicate and edit.

What’s inside:

• 20 starters mapped to the 7 patterns in this post

• A/B grid with columns for Send Size A/B, Opens A/B, Winner, Notes

• Setup tips for sampling (100–300 per variant) and picking a winner

Tip 1: After duplicating, set “Send Size” and “Opens” columns to Number and add a footer to sum totals.

Tip 2: Pair a clear subject with a specific preview line. Example →
Subject: SOC 2 in August?audit-ready checklist
Preview: Auto-collect logs & tickets so your evidence pack is done before week 4.

Guardrails (so you don’t tank deliverability)

• Length: 2–6 words or ≤45 chars is the sweet spot on mobile.

• Avoid spammy terms: free!!!, guarantee, act now, urgent.

• Use normal casing: Title Case or sentence case, avoid ALL‑CAPS.

• Don’t fake threads or RE:/FWD: kills trust and domain health.

• Match subject → body: bait‑and‑switch drives spam complaints.

Spin up a two‑variant subject test in under 10 minutes—create a duplicate step with two subjects, send to small samples, and keep only the winner for scale. Every message body is one‑of‑one per lead (no regurgitated templates).

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