Give Me a Thief Before a Liar
I don’t like liars.
My mother used to say,
Give me a thief before a liar, because then I’ll know what he took.
I don’t like people who say things to purposefully mislead my thinking.
If you want me to read what you send me, then do the honest work that will get my attention.
Don’t lie to me.
It will backfire every time.
3 Email Subject Lines Lies that Lose My Business
Sometimes I wonder who’s teaching the folks who write email subject lines that if they trick us into opening the email, that we’ll be so excited about what’s inside we’ll forget that the subject line was a lie. Here are three lies that come in subject lines, that had the emails had other subject lines I might have considered what was offered.
A Special Offer for Only Our Best Customers
One big company likes to use this one. The first time it came to me. I thought I might find something special, but I clicked through to find an ordinary sale — a sale with prices available to anyone who visited their site. I didn’t feel so special. It made me feel like they thought I was stupid. No sale!!
A Partnership Opportunity
They send an email saying if we’re interested in a partnership, we should respond. Then. they’ll send details. Even the smallest research reveals that what they want is someone to write blog posts for $5.00/each. That’s less of a partnership than working a register in the food service industry.
And then my favorite …
Following Up
To received an email with this subject line, from someone who’s never contacted me is an outright lie. Not only will I not do business with the person who sent it, but I’ve on occasion been moved to call her to tell her why.
A lie might get me to open your email, but it won’t get my business.
It will make you unforgettable as someone I don’t want to do business with.
It’s clever in the same way as shooting yourself in the foot is.
Do you know other email subject line lies?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!
An exclusive offer!
… that’s mailed to everyone.
Hi Liz,
Thanks for calling people out who are not straight forward and honest in how they try to succeed. I learned that there are two kind of people in the world.
There are those who are in the world for what they can get. These have a bad form of ambition, they simply want more than the next guy, and are willing to manipulate others to get it.
The other group are people who are in the world for what they can give. They are people who focus on doing their best and being honest because it is right. I love doing business with this last group.
This is a big peeve for me. I’ve gotten a few recently where the subject was “Info for the meeting this week” or something that make it sound like an already scheduled event. That company went on my mental blacklist.
My favorite was “Special offer for women like you.” Wasn’t sure what to think about that. I know no database is perfect but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to get the gender right or else don’t use it.
The one that really irks me is “Free Shipping”, and when you open it, you find it’s only free shipping with a $100+ order. Very misleading.
Brilliant post. Captured my thoughts exactly about this topic.
The most irritating lie for me has been some version of…
Information about your recent order.
Thanks for your great blog.