Ever purchased a product and received a subtle nudge to buy another?
Upsell emails are strategic messages designed to sell additional products beyond your customer’s initial transaction. They are a great way to make more revenue from your existing customers and boost your revenue overall. If sent at the right time and with the right message, upsell emails have the power to become a selling engine for your business —especially if you have an e-commerce!
But it all comes down to timing the email correctly and getting your customers to open the email. After all, that’s the pre-requisite to get the customers to click your link. In this article, we’ll explore the art of crafting irresistible upsell email subject lines. But before we dive in, let’s first explore what upsell emails are!
What are Upsell Emails?
Upsell emails are a strategic tool businesses use to maximize revenue from existing customers. These emails aim to persuade customers to purchase more than their original intention.
Typically, upsell emails suggest related products or services or propose upgrading to a higher-priced version. By leveraging customer data and preferences, upsell emails can effectively tailor offers to individual recipients, increasing the likelihood of conversion and enhancing customer lifetime value.
Picture this— you’re looking at some cool laptops online and have added one to your cart. Suddenly, you get an email telling you about a cool new keyboard to go with it. Bam! That’s how an upsell email works!
Now, it might not be the email you’re expecting as a user, but these emails work like a blessing for businesses. As we have said before, selling to existing customers is always easier. And upsell emails take advantage of that!
Note that, a upsell email only works if your users find it appealing enough to open it. Creative and lucrative subject lines are key to opening your upsell emails. If you send upsell emails with proper subject lines, you can definitely get your desired outcome!
50+ Best Upsell Email Subject Lines
Subject lines are the key to making your recipients open your emails. Ultimately, what subject line you come up with will depend on your product, audience, and what you are trying to sell. But here are some ideas that might be a great match for your upsell emails.
FOMO Subject Lines
As you already know, FOMO works well in every email marketing spectrum. If you can utilize FOMO properly in your upsell email subject lines, your conversion will increase along with the email open rate. Here are some examples that you can take inspiration from:
- Last Chance: Grab Your Exclusive Upgrade Before It’s Gone!
- Hurry! Limited Stock is Available on Our Best-Selling Bundles!
- Don’t Miss Out! Special Offer Ends Tonight!
- Act Fast: Exclusive Access to New Products, Limited Time Only!
- Time’s Running Out: Upgrade Now and Enjoy VIP Benefits!
Personalized Subject Lines
Personalizing email subject lines is equally essential as personalizing your email. When you personalize your upsell email subject line, it gives the recipients the sense that they are the only ones getting the special treatment. Altogether, personalized subject lines not only increase your sales but also help build loyalty among your customers. Here are some examples:
- Hey [Name], Discover Your Perfect Match: Recommended Just for You!
- Based on Your Preferences: Handpicked Selections Inside!
- [Name], We Thought You’d Love These: Check Them Out Now!
- Tailored for You: Special Offer Based on Your Purchase History!
- Exclusive for You, [Name]: Personalized Savings Await!
Subject Lines with Offers
What’s the point of sending emails with lucrative offers if your users don’t open your emails in the first place? As long as they are not opening your emails, your offers don’t mean anything. And guess how you can make them open your emails? —by including the offers on the subject lines!
Here’s how you can do that:
- Unlock Savings: Upgrade Today and Get 20% Off Your Next Purchase!
- Shop Now and Enjoy a Buy One, Get One Free Offer!
- Upgrade Your Plan and Receive a $20 Gift Card as a Bonus!
- Upgrade Today: Special Discount Inside Just for You!
- Limited Time Offer: Upgrade Now and Save Big!
Subject Lines with Social Proof
When it comes to convincing a user to take action, what other people say online about your product or service is a crucial factor. And if you can bring the social proofs right to the doors of your users, you make the decision-making process even easier for them. Here’s how you can do that:
- Join Thousands of Satisfied Customers: Upgrade Your Experience Today!
- See What Our Customers Are Saying: Upgrade Your Plan Now!
- Don’t Just Take Our Word for It: Upgrade and Experience the Difference!
- Rated 5 Stars by Our Customers: Upgrade Your Plan Today!
- Join the Community: Upgrade and Enjoy Benefits Loved by Many!
Subject Lines Highlighting the Benefits
Your users are going to open your email only if they find anything worth opening the email for. If you can let your users know about what benefits they might receive by taking action, chances are they will open your emails immediately. Here’s how you can make them do it.
- Upgrade Now: Enjoy Faster Shipping and Exclusive Access!
- Unlock Premium Features: Upgrade Your Plan and Save Time!
- Upgrade Your Membership: Access Exclusive Content and Rewards!
- Upgrade Your Experience: Enjoy Priority Support and Special Discounts!
- Upgrade Today for More Savings, More Benefits, More Happiness!
Curiosity-Driven Subject Lines
If you can grow curiosity in your users through the subject line, the chances of conversion increase immediately. To write subject lines that can make your audience curious, you have to understand your audience first. Knowing their pain point and addressing them can be a great subject line idea. Here are some examples:
- Discover the Secret to Unbeatable Savings Inside!
- Curious? Open to Reveal Your Exclusive Offer!
- Something Big is Coming: Get Ready to Be Amazed!
- What’s Inside? Only One Way to Find Out…!
- You Won’t Believe What’s Waiting for You Inside This Email!
New Product Introducing Subject Lines
Since your existing users already use one of your products, they are the best audience for sending upsell emails. But unless you tell them about the new product in your subject lines, they’ll probably not open your email. That’s why product launch email subject lines are important for your upsell emails.
Here’s how you can introduce your new product in the subject lines of your upsell emails.
- Be the First to Try Our Latest Features: Upgrade Today!
- Upgrade Now for Exclusive Access to Our Newest Products!
- Discover Our Exciting New Release: Upgrade Your Plan!
- Upgrade for Early Access to Our Latest Innovations!
- Upgrade Today and Get a Sneak Peek at Our Newest Offerings!
Subject Lines to Introduce Reward Programs
Letting your users know about different reward programs is also an excellent way to increase upsell. You must lure your customers in by letting them know about special programs in the subject lines. Here’s how you can do that:
- Double Your Rewards: Upgrade Your Membership Today!
- Upgrade Now and Earn Bonus Points with Every Purchase!
- Unlock Exclusive Rewards: Upgrade Your Plan for VIP Perks!
- Enjoy VIP Status: Upgrade Today and Reap the Rewards!
- Upgrade for Extra Benefits: Earn More with Every Upgrade!
Subject Lines Introducing Free Trials or Samples
Subject lines including information about free trials or samples also work like a charm in making recipients take action. Here are some examples:
- Upgrade for a Free Trial of Our Premium Services!
- Try Before You Buy: Upgrade Now for a Complimentary Trial!
- Upgrade Today and Receive a Free Sample of Our Newest Product!
- Unlock Exclusive Features with a Free Trial: Upgrade Now!
- Enjoy a Free Trial: Upgrade Your Plan for Instant Access!
Subject Lines with Bundle Offers
If one offer does not work, hit the inbox with bundle offers. Mentioning bundle offers in the subject line can increase the overall conversion by a huge margin. Here’s how you can do that:
- Upgrade Your Plan and Save Big with Our Bundle Deals!
- Get More for Less: Upgrade and Enjoy Exclusive Bundle Discounts!
- Upgrade Today and Receive Additional Products at No Extra Cost!
- Upgrade Your Package and Unlock Special Bundle Offers!
- Bundle Upgrades: Get More Value with Every Upgrade!
Subject Lines to Appreciate Your Customers
At the end of the day, whether you can make any upsell or not comes down to whether your customers are loyal to you. Showing appreciation to your customers in the subject lines is a great idea! Here are some examples:
- Upgrade Today and Receive a Special Thank You Gift!
- Our Way of Saying Thanks: Upgrade Now for Extra Benefits!
- Upgrade Your Plan and Enjoy Exclusive Appreciation Rewards!
- Upgrade for a Bonus Reward: Our Appreciation Awaits!
- Upgrade Now and Receive Our Sincere Thanks for Your Loyalty!
Tips for Writing Click-worthy Upsell Email Subject Lines
Now that we have gone through the ideas of how you should write your upsell email subject lines, it’s time to craft yours. Safe to say, it’s no rocket science as long as you follow some of the basic roles. We have researched for you, and here are some things you should watch out for while preparing the subject lines for your upsell emails.
Personalize Your Subject Lines
Personalization is more than just calling people by their names. Personalizing your upsell email subject lines is as important as personalizing an email.
To make the upsell offer more relevant, you need to use information about their past sales, browsing habits, and preferences. If a customer has already bought the basic version of your product, for example, you can make the subject line more personal by mentioning features or upgrades that go well with what they bought.
This amount of customization not only gets people’s attention but also shows that you know what they want, which builds trust and makes it more likely that they’ll buy.
Highlight the Benefits
It’s important to focus on how upselling solves the customer’s problems or improves their experience. Instead of describing features, stress what the upgrade will do for you.
For instance, if you’re selling a premium subscription, highlight the benefits, like getting access to special material, advanced features, or features that save time in the subject line. By clarifying the benefits, you make it easier for people to see why they should upgrade, increasing the chances of conversion.
Create Curiosity
Being curious is a strong psychological cause that can make people want to open your email. If you want people to be interested in your subject line, imply something interesting or useful without giving away all the information.
For example, you could hint at a new feature or special deal without revealing all the details. This would make people want to open the email and find out more. By making people curious, you get their attention and get them to interact with your email material, which leads to conversions.
Add Social Proof
Social proof gives people peace of mind and proves that your upgrade offer is worth it. Adding recommendations, reviews, or user-generated content to your subject line can help people trust and believe what you’re saying. You could, for instance, use an interesting quote from a happy customer who improved and saw big benefits. Showing social proof immediately removes any questions or objections that people might have, making them more open to your upsell offer.
Include FOMO
FOMO is a psychological effect that takes advantage of the worry that you might miss out on something important or unique. Using FOMO in your subject lines can make people feel like they need to move right away. You could use words like “Limited Time Offer” or “Act Now Before It’s Too Late” to make people feel like they need to act quickly and take advantage of the upsell offer before it’s gone.
Using FOMO, you can take advantage of people’s natural desire to make sure they don’t miss out on chances. This will encourage them to act quickly and convert.
Add Offers and Incentives
Adding tempting deals or bonuses to the subject lines of your upsell emails can make them much more appealing. Whether it’s a discount, a freebie, or a special offer, make the value offering clear from the start to get people’s attention. You could use words like “Get 50% Off Your Upgrade Today” or “Unlock Exclusive Rewards with Your Upgrade” to draw attention to the great deals that come with the upsell. Promoting the real benefits and awards in your emails is a powerful way to get people to read them and eventually buy something.
Some Working Upsell Email Subject Line Examples
Examples are always the best teachers, and it’s the same for upsell emails. There’s no cut-throat formula for writing subject lines of upsell emails. However, since the upsell emails of the following brands worked, it is safe to say they did something right with their subject lines.
Focusing on Sales
Subject Line: Spoil yourself this Saturday with a Footlong deal
In this email, we can see that Subway directly focused on making a sale through their email. Subway was running a 50% discount on Footlongs and it’s a great deal for fast-food lovers. Thus, they emphasized their subject line on the sale. Additionally, their sneaky choice of words like “Spoil” intrigues curiosity —making the customers more likely to click and read their email.
Capitalizing on FOMO
Subject Line: Last Day for $200 + Free Treats!
FOMO is a very powerful technique in all fields of marketing. It’s a technique where businesses try to make a sale by creating a sense of urgency in their users.
This example shows how Wool and Oak infused FOMO in their subject line. Their subject line mentions “Last Day” to grab their amazing offer of $200 + Free Treats. Quite easily, that’s the easiest way to create a sense of urgency as well as showcase your offer. It’s straightforward and immediately gives the recipients a reason to open. And of course, once Wool and Oak got them to open the email, they were always going to try to upsell more products!
Triggering Curiosity
Subject Line: Cross grocery shopping off your to-do list
Curiosity has driven mankind to evolve throughout the years. Even in this modern digital world, it still works. We can see that Uber has utilized that phenomenon in their subject line. They targeted a pain point that most users probably struggle with Groceries. This ought to make their users open the email.
Informing About Abandoned Cart
Subject Line: Oh no! An item you love is almost out of stock. Don’t wait!
Abandoned cart may seem like sad news, but with proper email, you can successfully close the deal. That’s what WORLD MARKET is trying to do with their upsell email. In their email subject line. They did not just mention the abandoned cart, rather, they also infused a sense of urgency by mentioning “out of stock”. With this subject line, the recipients will almost immediately open the email if they don’t want to miss out.
And guess what can be included in the email body? Your upsell offers!
Start Upselling Already
Upselling is an overused technique in the e-commerce industry. However, the efficiency levels of upsell campaigns vary.
This is because most businesses don’t focus on a few triggers they should be utilizing. So next time you’re working on your upsell emails, focus on these three things:
- Value proposition: Make sure you’re not offering something they have seen already. Give them something worth checking out.
- Timing: Understand how people may respond to differently timed emails and when they are most likely to check out your upsell offer.
- Subject line: Make sure you personalize your subject lines and show them the value right away. Mention your offer and use urgency-inducing tactics to get the recipients to open your upsell email.
- Incentives: If possible, incentivize your repeat customers so they keep coming back for more!
- Social proof: 66% of people look at positive reviews before making a purchase. So make sure you give your recipients enough of those!
Regardless of what email you are sending, subject lines are always important. This blog should guide you write upsell email subject lines that get people to open your emails. Make sure you’re taking care of other areas too and build your selling engine with upsell emails. We wish you all the best!
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