This subject line trick boosted my open rates by 30% overnight

A few months ago, I sent what I thought was the MOST VALUABLE EMAIL EVER to my list. It had step-by-step instructions for setting up a sales funnel that one of my Design Build Scale students had used to generate $3K in her very first week of online business.

The subject line? "Funnel Strategy Documentation"

--crickets--

The open rate was so abysmal that I actually checked to see if my email provider was broken. (It wasn't. My subject line was just that boring.)

This is like cooking an incredible gourmet meal but putting it in a container labeled "food substance." No one's opening that container, no matter how delicious it might be inside! Well, maybe except this guy:

After spending 10+ years as a software engineer and 6+ years running my online business, you'd think I would have mastered this... But the truth is, even tech experts struggle with the human psychology side of things.

Here's my revelation: The perfect email subject line formula isn't about being clever or cute. It's about creating a gap between what your reader knows and what they want to know.

The brain is wired to seek closure. When we see: "The 3 words that doubled my open rates..." "I tried this subject line trick and..." "This email mistake cost me $3,000..."

We HAVE to click to close the knowledge gap.

So I re-sent my epic funnel email with the subject line: "This funnel made $12K in a weekend (full breakdown)" and guess what? 42% open rate compared to my previous 12%.

(In fact, check the subject line that made you open this email about subject lines.... meta, right?)

Instead of guessing which subject line will perform better, let Systeme.io do the heavy lifting for you with A/B testing!

Here's how to set it up:

• Click the 'Create A/B Test' button when creating a new broadcast email

• Set your test duration (I recommend 24 hours for a one time email, or 2-3 hours if it's for a limited time promo)

• Choose your email ratio (I typically test with 10% of my list)

• Select "best open rate" as your winner metric (since we're testing subject lines)

• Create two different subject lines for Variant A and Variant B

For example, I recently tested: Variant A: "3 tech tools you can ditch today" Variant B: "Are you wasting money on these 3 tools?"

Systeme.io sent each variant to 10% of my list, waited two days, then automatically sent the winning version (B, by the way!) to the remaining 90%.

The best part? You can even test different preview text and email content if you want to get really fancy!

This week, I want you to look at your last 5 email broadcasts and identify:

1. Your highest-performing subject line (by open rate)

2. Your lowest-performing subject line

3. What patterns do you notice? Length? Emojis? Questions? Curiosity gaps?

Then, for your next email, create an A/B test with two different subject lines based on what you learned.

But before you do that... join me TOMORROW for my free workshop where I'll show you how to get ALL your tech DONE in 7 days! You'll discover:

• The 3 essential pieces of your sales machine (so you can start making the income & impact you're meant for)

• How to set up your entire tech ecosystem WITHOUT spending a fortune

• My step-by-step process for launching quickly, even if you're completely non-techie!

YES, I'M READY TO FINALLY LAUNCH!

Let me know what you discover about your subject lines! Comment below and share your highest and lowest performing ones – I love seeing these patterns!