Do weird subject lines in cold emails actually work?
I got a cold email with the subject line "Shik Shak Shok". No context, nothing about it in the email, then three paragraphs about warehouse software.
I opened it, read all of it. and of course didn't reply, but I still remember it, which is more than I can say for the
fifteen "Quick question, Andriana?" emails sitting above it.
So it won my attention and lost the deal. I can't decide if that counts as working.
One way to see it, everyone writes relevant emails now, so relevant is invisible, and strange is the only thing left.
The other way: attention you get by confusing someone doesn't turn into a reply, and you only get to try it once.
I'm writing outbound for our own launch and I keep going back and forth on this.
Has something weird ever got you an actual reply?
Replies
For me, a little weirdness is fine but the message still needs to feel useful and relevant once I open it.
I think really depends on who you're emailing . A strange subject might work well for some people while others may prefer something clears and direct.
You kind of answered it yourself: it lost the deal, so it failed as an outreach email. I haven't tried writing "weird" emails on purpose, but I noticed that people still reply even if I make a typo. Emails that are clear and relevant, sometimes with a joke or warm touch, work much better than confusing ones whether I'm the sender or the recipient.