SJ Line Madness - Daniel Levis
SJ Line Madness - Daniel Levis
SJ Line Madness - Daniel Levis
MADNESS
For EMAIL
Marketing Mastery
437 Proven EMAIL Subject Lines
to Plunder, Pillage and Profit
By Daniel Levis
Email Subject Lines Made Easy, Fast, and Fun!
A long time ago, in a galaxy far away (Los Angeles), there was a wacked-out radio
segment called, “Chicken Man.” I don’t know if it was syndicated across the
country, but the point is…
After the superhero, Chicken Man, would save the day, a deep slow voice would
thunder out his name… “CHICKEN MAN-N-N-N-N-N-N!”
And the point of this admittedly strange introduction is that subject lines ARE EVERYWHERE.
And once you go through this little book, you’ll be pulling exciting, riveting, can-not-be-ignored subject
lines out of the air.
That’s because I am about to reveal not just the 437 highest earning subject lines from ten years and
thousands upon thousands of emails (you’ll find them on page 18)…
…But also the thinking process that allows me to consistently write subject lines that seize people’s
attention and open the door to millions in online sales for myself and my clients.
Let me suggest you download a complete 26 email campaign, word for word, for further study. You
may also wish to avail yourself of a few templates that make creating high-performing campaigns like
that much easier, regardless of what kind of product or service you happen to be selling.
So let’s get started. (This document is actually a little excerpt from my $997 EMAIL ALCHEMY course,
hence the odd references to “module this and module that” that you’ll find sprinkled throughout the
text.)
From now on, I’d like you to spend a couple minutes every day watching what comes pouring into your
inbox.
See which e-mails really grab you… don’t just delete them… notice WHY!
And notice which ones you just “have” to check out, even though you promised yourself you were NOT
gonna waste your time reading a bunch of stupid e-mails.
Your emotional world is a free and fabulous laboratory for subject-line mastery.
So really pay attention and slow down… NOTICE how and why you react. Ask yourself WHY you opened
it, saved it, or sent it to the cyber graveyard.
Was it disgust?
Or…
And notice the different kinds of subject lines that affect you… and which affect you the MOST.
Teasers
Open loops (i.e., mini cliffhangers)
Teachings
WARNINGS
Curiosity
Slang
Outrageous Claims
Urgency and Deadlines
News and Current Events
Twists on Common Expressions
Twists on Aphorisms (wise and witty sayings)
Humor
Movie Openings
Famous People
Fairy Tales
Predictions
Celebrities
Announcements
I have a file where I continue to capture subject lines. In fact, sometimes I write an e-mail “around” the
subject line… just because I like it so much.
As examples, here are a bunch that I’ve got in the works… sometimes it’s just a catchy word or two that
grabs my attention… but that’s all you really need!
Just grabbing a few now and then will IGNITE and FOCUS your brain. You’ll automatically start seeing
subject lines everywhere! Make sure you’ve got 25 collected by the time Module 2 comes around.
Because I’ve received a number of “Hot Seat” requests, hoping I’ll critique my member’s e-mails.
But the first thing I think as I’m reading them is, “What is the current relationship with the subscriber?”
How much do they know about you and your product or service already?
How much do they know about the subject matter in the first place, etc., etc.
These are the questions you have to keep in mind as you’re writing.
They determine the level of familiarity you can use, the jargon, the length, the tone.
These are also the questions I keep in mind with MY OWN list.
So here are a couple examples of the process I use… keeping the above questions in mind.
EXAMPLE #1:
I’m thinking that I want a benefit… some good BAIT as Robert Collier says.
So I put down the word, “profit,” so my subscribers know we’re talkin’ about MONEY!
But I’m thinking these are pretty bland and remember I also want to include a laundry list of all the
sections and benefits that come with E-Mail Alchemy.
Since I know there are about 7 to 10 bonuses in each module, I put that down with profits:
10 Easy Profits
Easy Profits 10 Ways
10 Reasons for More Profits
That’s getting better… including “a number” in there is always a great idea, because it implies
“specificity” instead of generalities…which are vague and imply “puffery.”
Specifics imply something that’s REAL and not just made up to trick you.
And I could go with that… but it just doesn’t have the “zing” I want… it’s almost there, but not quite.
So I let it go for a bit and- start working on the e-mail itself… just jotting down a few ideas about the 10
reasons for more profits… and I start listing them.
After 10 or 15 minutes, I come back to the subject line… I play around with it bit more.
I think about unexpected twists… I look at the word profit… the word “greed” pops into my mind.
I write it down:
Greedy Profits
Their Crimes of Greed
Profit from Their Greed
Then I look at what I’ve written before and try to combine them… and see if I can find an unexpected
contradiction or a paradox that provokes curiosity:
10 Easy Profits
Easy Profits 10 Ways
10 Reasons for More Profits
Greedy Profits
Step 1 – Check Out The ULTIMATE EMAIL SWIPE FILE 5
Step 2 — Get EMAIL ALCHEMY Templates For Selling Your Services Now.
Their Crimes of Greed
Profit from Their Greed
And as I rearrange the words, I come up with… Less Greed More Profit: 10 Reasons.
That has a more solid feel to it… short for mobile phones… mentions $$... a contradiction that makes the
mind stop and think… plus an actual, specific number the mind wants to find out more about, and you
have to keep reading to do it.
I write the e-mail and come back to the subject line when I’m done and see if it still fits… which it does,
so it’s a rap.
EXAMPLE #2:
This is also an example of ALWAYS having your radar up for marketing fodder.
I heard a quick video clip about the meteor that exploded over Siberia, and the newscaster said, very
dramatically, “This was up close and big.”
It’s not a powerful word choice, but the idea is that you want to be doing this constantly… picking those
words and phrases that SEEM to be going one direction, then twist ‘em ever-so slightly… and
occasionally, turn them totally upside down.
So how would I use that as a subject line… up close and personal… up close and personhood… up close
and impersonal… up close and worse than you can imagine, since “worse” rhymes with the “pers” in
personal.
Nothing much came of this, but I wrote it down in my subject line notebook. You never know when it
might come in handy.
EXAMPLE #3:
I was reading an e-mail about a book by the brain guy, Dr. Amen. It said:
Dr. Amen is a six-time NY Times bestselling author and has been called a “modern-day Freud” by
ABC World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer, and “America’s Favorite Psychiatrist” by the
Washington Post. His new book Unleash the Power of the Female Brain is based on the largest
I thought, “Woah… that ought to get everyone’s attention…BOTH women and men”.
Men don’t want to accept the fact that women are more capable.
So I’ve got a subject line ready to go: Women More Capable Than Men?
For E-Mail Alchemy, I could spin a story about emotions and women being stereotypically more
empathic… and that we sell to emotions and justify with logic… then bring in the men.
The subject line could read: Women More Capable with E-Mail?
If I was selling a weight loss product, I could spin it to say: Weight Loss: Women More Capable… and just
leave it at that… very open ended.
You could use this concept for just about any product or service… but you DO have to practice spinning
stories to fit with anything… which is a SKILL that you CAN learn.
It’s exactly what I’ve done with the massive template libraries I’ve built into my EMAIL ALCHEMY suite of
trainings. Sample a few here if you need a quick series up and running quickly.
It’s also why I have the section about Edward DeBono in Module 2… because being able to create
unexpected associations will help you tremendously.
FINAL EXAMPLE:
It’s the oft-repeated recommendation to read the National Inquirer, or Weekly World News… and the
recommendation still applies today.
Step 1 – Check Out The ULTIMATE EMAIL SWIPE FILE 7
Step 2 — Get EMAIL ALCHEMY Templates For Selling Your Services Now.
So here are a few headlines from some old Enquirers and Weekly World News that I just grabbed off the
shelf… because I DO HAVE THEM IN MY HOME… I’m not ashamed.
NOW… your job is to take 10 of these and MAKE THEM FIT into a subject line you could REALLY use.
Instead of “Oprah’s Enemies List,” I could (and maybe will) turn it into, “E-Mail Enemies List.”
Because people just LOVE lists and they love TOP 10 anything. It just engages the brain with “What
comes next?”
And we also want to know the difference between them… and want to know who or what is number
ONE… and I also am desperate to know who’s the WORST… who is the despicable #10?????
Step 1 – Check Out The ULTIMATE EMAIL SWIPE FILE 8
Step 2 — Get EMAIL ALCHEMY Templates For Selling Your Services Now.
So get to work… you CAN make these fit. It may seem hard at first, but that’s just because the
“association muscles” are a little flabby.
Before long you’ll be able to relate everything to anything… and make it make sense.
Really… you can do it… just give it a little time and effort.
But that also why e-mail is so great… because you can create an ongoing campaign.
You’ve got more time to hook people from different angles and with different lures.
And as you know from Modules 1 & 2… and from the webinar… before you can even think about subject
lines and hooks, you’ve gotta KNOW about your audience.
As a matter of fact, I recently saw a campaign where a major marketer sent out a 40-question survey to
help you discover your marketing strengths.
Of course, at the same time, he was figuring out the SPECIFIC hooks and mindset to sell to YOU.
Because the tighter you can match your message to your market,
the easier it is to sell and the more you can charge.
That’s why I’ve got my audience IN MIND the whole time I’m writing.
For instance…
If they’re the serious types, I’d better not yuck it up too much.
Then maybe I can get away with less introduction and go for the jugular sale.
Then I may be able to tell stories about my life and they might give a hoot.
If they’re 50-year-olds, I probably shouldn’t talk too much about new “apps” and Lady Gaga.
4) Male or female?
Females as a rule, aren’t going to go for my hard-ass, tough-guy-swearing that I’d probably throw in for
mid-thirty-biker types.
5) And most important of all, does what I’m writing pass the BIG TWO tests: WIIFM and Who Cares?
Note: WIIFM = What’s In It For Me.
Unfortunately, I see big-time marketers tell family stories as if their audience cares… about their dog and
kids and aunts and uncles.
But unless there’s a GREAT reason or a fascinating tie-in—and you KNOW they want to know about you
and ACTUALLY CARE—then you’d better not be dragging your family life into it as if your customers give
a fat rat’s derriere.
And by the way, creating this for you is a great exercise for me, too… because it makes me focus on the
process I actually go through to write and create subject lines.
You should do the same thing…WATCH YOUR OWN REACTIONS… especially in light of the “DeBono
Principle” I gave you last time.
Oh… and I guess I’ve got one more teensy little rant…
There’s a book called, “Don’t Make Me Think,” about web design and layout. You don’t have to get it,
you’ve just got to remember the title.
Because that’s something else you should keep in mind with all your writing… “don’t make me think.”
And along with that goes…”Don’t make me work… don’t make me lift a finger… don’t make me figure
anything out… don’t make me make the slightest effort… BECAUSE I WON’T!!”
So here are a few ideas I grabbed while looking at e-mails and the front page of my browser… and just
letting my mind make connections.
Here are a few examples…miscellaneous bits and pieces and words I’ll probably be using soon (I put in
arbitrary breaks to give your eyes a rest).
You can tell I’ve got my eye out for the odd, the ridiculous, the sensational, and the “off center”…
…And any controversial topic that I can draw them in with… without being too offensive (unless that’s
your intention… to have a kind of “shock-jock” e-mail positioning).
Sinkhole
Slay
Apology
Dies
Tensions Soar
Speaks Out
Heating Up
Death Threat
Bamboozled
Scrambling
Miracle
Massive Action Made Ridiculous…
Flash Back
Cess Pool of Wealth
Landslide Profits
Busted Flat
Massive Exodus
The Trouble With
Patsy
Intimate
Lurid
Lies
Anorexic
Dirtballs
Thugs
Black Hat Tricks
Bankrupt
Lame Brain
Systems
5 Most Hated
Big Stick is #1 Trick
Lizard Brain Backlash
The One Person That…
Disabled
Survives Scare
So and So Needs Help
Anything to do with religion
Anything with men versus women
Lastly, here are a few more words and phrases to work into your DEADLINE subject lines:
Last Kiss
Swan Song
Midnight
Witching Hour Deadline
Cut Off
Drop Dead Deadline
Final
Last Call
Ending Now
Irrevocable Deadline
Closing at 12
Last Chance
Very Last
Winners Deadline
No More Begging
$1.00 Trial Ends Today
Free Trial ends at 9 Tonite
Adios
Sayonara
(other foreign goodbyes)
Midnight Terminator
Curtain Falls at…
Ax Falls at…
Step 1 – Check Out The ULTIMATE EMAIL SWIPE FILE 13
Step 2 — Get EMAIL ALCHEMY Templates For Selling Your Services Now.
Finish Line
Expires
Last Reminder
Only Reminder
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Your assignment, and this is like a broken record… KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN… and ACTIVELY be collecting
subject lines from your reading — e-mails, and all of the print you see around you.
WRITE DOWN 25 EACH WEEK! Take the action to do this. Fire the neurons in your brain that make you
learn as you write and that make you KEEP learning.
No matter how many times you’ve heard the word “Secret,” it still gets people’s attention.
So does “New.”
But we, as marketers, often get sick of our marketing and assume our customers and prospects are, too.
Unfortunately, no one is paying that close attention to you… no matter how much we want them to.
YOU notice how it’s a little crooked on one side… but no one else even knows you’ve had a haircut.
Or no one even notices you’ve suddenly got glasses… they wonder what’s different. Did he shave off his
moustache?
Also, anything that skirts the issues of sex, politics, religion, male and female relationships, money
problems, scandal… all those inflammatory topics that destroy family gatherings… that’s precisely what
you want to imply you’re talking about in your subject lines.
And as I said in Part III, use anything with news, fear, facts, envy, curiosity, proof, scarcity, benefits, a
hook, specifics, entertainment, time pressure, and a big promise.
But the denser you make it, with as many of the above as you can squeeze in, the better.
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Crushed By XXX
Quiz:
Brilliant XXX
Anatomy Of A XXX
Live XXX
Rare XXX
Raw XXX
Blaspheming XXX
5 Reasons
Fearless XXX
Banned XXX
Mandatory XXX
50 Shades of XXX
Boycott XXX
A Crazy XXX
Short Video
Atrocious XXX
Riches in XXX
On-Site XXX
How To Attract
Sure those will get your email opened, but I don’t care about just getting the email opened. I want
SALES! And I’m sure you do, too. There’s a whole science to it I cover in detail in the full EMAIL
ALCHEMY training.
And if you want wild profitability, then you need all three of these crucial elements in your subject lines
most of the time.
If writing attention arresting subject lines and riveting, desire-inducing emails to sell your stuff sounds
like a lot of work, you’re right. It is.
But when you do it the way I teach in my EMAIL ALCHEMY course you can sell just as much with simple
emails as your competitors do with Hollywood style videos and fancy web page graphics, which are even
more costly and time consuming to create.
And if you want the ultimate short cut to explosive sales for your service business, check out this starter
pack of EMAIL ALCHMEY templates. You can have a killer 3-part follow up series generating exceptional
sales inquiries by this time tomorrow.
Cheers!