I glanced curiously through 25 new messages displayed on first page. There were only 3 e-mails that pulled my attention and made me open them immediately. Also, I opened 4 additional e-mails because they came from sources that I was expecting e-mails from.

And, what about rest?

There was nothing in subject line that would've been beneficial for me. Therefore, I didn't even bother opening rest of e-mails. Maybe, I'll go through them later when I have more time to spare.

Who knows! Maybe those e-mails that I didn't open had something of a great value to me. But, marketers sending them didn't spend enough time to word subject in a way to grab me by my shirt and make me open them without even thinking about it. Well, at least 3 of them did.

How's your "opening ratio" of e-mails that you're sending to your list?

We live in a "Headline Society." With free time becoming increasingly rare and with a massive amount of information coming at us from infinite number or sources, people use headlines as time-saving devices. They direct their movements and attention to headlines that spark interest.

Analyze yourself and see what grabs your attention first, content or headline?

If your headline doesn't instantly reach out and touch prospect, chances are that rest of your message doesn't stand a chance.

And, remember that subject line of your e-mail is nothing else but a headline. It's first thing that people see before they even look at your entire e-mail. It's your only chance to interest and influence recipients. It will either grab their attention or not.

Your subject line will tell recipients whether they should "read on" or "move on". If your subject line fails to attract a sufficient readership, nothing else matters. The body of your e-mail quickly becomes irrelevant. Your entire effort might be doomed.

Ideally, you want to make your e-mail recipient be "fully alert" and pay attention to your message, same way you would pay attention to a fire truck, an ambulance, or a police car coming down road with sirens on.

You have to burst out with your strongest, most provocative, explosive choice of words. Something that compels recipients of your e-mail to read further and take action.

So, how would you get that accomplished?

A successful subject line consists of carefully selected words that achieve any, or all of following:

1) Deliver a benefit,

2) Present a compelling offer,

3) Reveal attention grabbing news.

But regardless of approach you choose, at end of day you want to accomplish following with subject line of your e-mail:

a) Attract attention and create curiosity;

How do you do this? Unfortunately, if you want to expedite process, you need to spend some money. There are many people that will tell you that it can be done for little or no cash, but this is a much longer process.

Tips to expedite process.

1 Get a mentor. One who is willing to show you ropes. Even basic stuff they have forgotten or take for granted that everyone should know.

2 Subscribe to a few good teaching newsletters. If you join to many, you spend most of your time reading instead of doing.