That’s why we’ve made it an end-of-year tradition to share our best-performing subject lines. We create and send email campaigns on behalf of our small business customers throughout the year — roughly 114 million emails, in fact. So when we say these are the top subject lines, we’re not just speculating. These are proven to drive more opens than average. Use this list to spark your imagination and help plan your 2023 marketing content. It’s our holiday gift to your business!

Without further ado, here’s the list of the 40 top-performing small business subject lines of 2022, including the top five each for real estate agents, insurance agents, mortgage loan officers, home services pros, financial advisors, wellness businesses and promotional products distributors.

Best real estate subject lines

1. Here’s your fall maintenance to-do list

2. Is a large down payment always better?

3. 4 low-cost ways to transform your house

4. Do you want to boost your curb appeal?

5. 5 features buyers are looking for now

Best property and casualty insurance subject lines

1. Need a few good reasons to declutter?

2. Why it’s important to have an emergency kit

3. Is it time for an insurance check-in?

4. How updating your house can change your rates

5. 3 things to know about pothole damage

Best life and health insurance subject lines

1. Are you falling for these common myths?

2. What are your 2023 health coverage needs?

3. 5 ways to stay healthy during cold and flu season

4. 4 ways a massage can be good for your health

5. How to make the most of your mornings

Best mortgage subject lines

1. Do you need to hire a contractor?

2. How to choose a great neighborhood

3. 4 ways homeownership can pay off

4. 5 resources for first-time buyers

5. How discount points could work for you

Best home services subject lines

1. 3 holiday plants that offer color and joy

2. 4 common home maintenance myths

3. 5 upgrades that make your home easier to care for

4. Deadheading your flowers: How and Why

5. Like dramatic interior design? Try dark academia

Best financial advisor subject lines

1. Are you up to speed on HSAs?

2. What’s your retirement withdrawal plan?

3. What to know if you’re selling a property

4. What to know about RMD updates

5. 5 financial mistakes for parents to watch out for

Best promotional products subject lines

1. Gifts that spread cheer

2. Send a thank you gift!

3. Give the gift of comfort to your connections

4. Surprise and delight with sustainable gifts

5. Quality products that fit the budget

Best wellness subject lines

1. 5 tips for better, more restful sleep

2. How acupuncture works (and the benefits you may gain)

3. 6 simple ways to build arm strength

4. 3 ways to work your core (that aren’t crunches)

5. What to eat to improve your gut health

Get more opens (and more business) in 2023

To drive more opens, more clicks and more brand awareness, you’ll need to come up with topics your audience wants to read about and write must-click subject lines to get the most from your content. If that sounds difficult, don’t forget that your business can take advantage of our email and content expertise year-round. Request a one-on-one demo with one of our SMB marketing experts to find out how.

Before we dig into how content marketing and email marketing work together, let’s start at the very beginning. What exactly are content marketing and email marketing?

Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing and distributing content for a targeted audience online. Its purpose is to help companies create sustainable brand loyalty through building trust and rapport with the audience through sharing valuable, and often free, content instead of directly selling.

Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. It is frequently used to enhance a business or brand’s relationship with current or previous customers and encourage loyalty, repeat business, and acquire new customers.

You’ll notice both of these marketing strategies have something important in common: building loyalty and repeat business through sending and sharing content.

The emails you send should have quality, relevant, and interesting content. They also need to be visually appealing. Finally, they need to have a purpose.

Let’s break down a marketing email into four basic parts:

1. Subject line
2. Body copy
3. Call to action (CTA)
4. Sign off/footer

Each of these parts should be seen as an opportunity to weave content marketing and email marketing together. Content completes an email, but when you take the time to thoughtfully write to your audience, that email becomes a powerful piece of your marketing strategy.

1. Subject line

There is endless research on the most and least effective subject lines. Not everyone is the research type, and if that’s you, there is an easy place to start: your own inbox.

Look at what you’ve been emailed over the last few days. You’ve probably got a whole bunch of examples at your fingertips. Ask yourself these questions:

• What emails are still sitting unopened?
• What did you immediately click on?
• And the opposite, what emails went straight to trash?

The answers to these questions likely have a lot to do with the subject line. A subject line is your email’s first impression, and you don’t have much time to make it. One study found you may have only 3 seconds to capture a reader’s attention. That’s essentially one quick glance. It’s important to make those 3 seconds count. Keep your subject line interesting, snappy, and something you’d click on.

Also, look at the emails you trashed right after reading the subject line. Why did you take that action?

• Did the subject line feel spammy?
• Does the person or company sending the messages email you too often?
• Do their emails deliver body content that’s different than the subject line?

Take a critical look at those examples and see what you can avoid with your own email sends. Always keep in mind the content marketing approach to email: you’re trying to help the reader, not close a deal. Make sure your subject line reflects that.

Speaking of email content, that leads us to our next point.

2. Body copy

If the subject line and calls to action are the bread of your email sandwich, the body copy is the meat.

Once you have their attention with your very clickable subject line, use your body copy to share quality, relevant, and industry adjacent content. The more relevant it is, the more it will be shared, and the more your name and brand get in front of potential customers.

First and foremost, your email copy needs to reinforce your subject line. If your subject line reads “10 Best Ways to Save Money Today,” then your email must list ten ways your audience can save money, not be a highlight reel of the success you’ve had this year or an ask to follow you on Facebook.

Here’s an example. We sent an email with the subject line, “Selling your house? Here’s how to prepare.” This is what the recipient sees once they open that email:

See how the content backs up the subject line? This is crucial to building trust and delivering on the expectations you set.

There are appropriate times to send emails highlighting a great year for your business. But it shouldn’t be every month and it shouldn’t be when you are setting expectations for something else with a subject line like the above. If you essentially promise one thing and deliver another, you are likely to see unsubscribes and even spam reports from unhappy recipients.

3. Call to action (CTA)

If you’re sharing a blog post, then you want people to go to your website and read it. Your call to action should read something like “read more.”

If you’re taking a poll, then you want people to answer the questions. That CTA could read “I’ll help!” to encourage visitors to help you gather data by taking your poll.

Bonus Content: Need a game plan? Grab a copy of our Email Marketing Roadmap.

Get Yours Now

If you want people to download content you’ve created, then you want them to know where and how to get it.

You get the picture. Read through your email and make sure you are asking recipients for something. You have an engaged audience reading your content, so be sure you take advantage of the opportunity. Make it clear what you want people to do and then make it easy for them to do it.

Pro tip: Calls to action are excellent for testing. For example, try “Visit blog” vs “Read more” and see which one gets clicked more.

4. Sign off/footer

Like dessert after a lovely dinner, the way you end an email can leave a lasting impression. Sometimes this simple task can be rather daunting. Our suggestion is to close your email with a personal touch, and most of all, include your contact info. Here’s an example:

Even if you don’t see an immediate monetary impact after an email campaign, know that these efforts go toward building trust within your network and positioning yourself as an expert in your field. People who have opted into your lists want to hear from you. Building emails can be time-consuming, but they are worth it.

Make content marketing and email marketing work together for you

In conclusion, emails do not exist without content. And writing effective emails is hard! Whether you love writing but don’t have time, or dread the task altogether, OutboundEngine can take this important but time-consuming task off your plate. Our team of marketing experts can make content marketing and email marketing work for you. Spend your time on growing your business.

Easier said than done, we know. Your bottom line is a priority, and hitting revenue goals is crucial to a successful business. But as most business professionals know, referrals spend more and engaging repeat customers is much less expensive than acquiring new clients.

Therefore, we’ve put together this free ebook that follows a lead through a positive lifecycle. Our Lead to Loyalty ebook will help you navigate how to take a cold lead and turn them into a long-lasting relationship.

What’s In It

You will find information on:

• When and how you should contact prospects
• Creative ways to thank clients and leave positive impressions
• How to turn a single transaction into many future businesses opportunities

Industries that may encounter a long shopping or browsing period can mean lots of prospects may not need your services right away. As a result, it can be difficult to know how to stay top of mind without overwhelming your audience.

We hope the From Lead to Loyalty ebook will help you as you grow and expand your business. If you need more assistance with your marketing strategy, we are always here to help.

Here are five LinkedIn features that small business owners should try out:

1. LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning is the place to go if you’re looking to get questions answered, are an avid learner, or want to develop a particular skill relevant to your career. You can search for skills, software and topics, and can save programs or presentations that are interesting to you. If you don’t know where to start, scroll through what appears on your LinkedIn Learning home page. LinkedIn has segmented much of content into categories like Editor’s Picks, learn within 30 minutes, and trends. They even offer a free trial so you can check out a few courses before you commit. Keep your skills and mind sharp – pick a course and start today!

How this LinkedIn feature can help your business: There is really no downside to continuing education. Whether it’s technical skills like HTML and SEO or soft skills like leadership, increasing your knowledge and strengthening existing skills is key to staying at the top of your field. By staying up-to-date on industry trends, popular topics, and what your competitors are doing, you’ll be more confident than ever in your ability to support your clients’ questions and needs.

2. LinkedIn Events

Did you realize LinkedIn offers an events feature similar to Facebook’s popular events system? Many users aren’t in the know, but on any given day you can find a wide range of virtual meetups, webinars and other events happening on LinkedIn. Just search via the top navigation bar and click on the “events” button to limit your query to events.

How this LinkedIn feature can help your business: LinkedIn Events serves as a handy networking and learning hub — there are events available for just about every industry for you to connect with peers and learn from them. You can also get a peek into the events your competitors are hosting for their clients and prospects, in case you want to try your hand at hosting one yourself.

Some examples:
Real estate events
Insurance events
Mortgage events
Small business events

3. Active Status

Facebook and Google have been using this little green dot for years to make it easy for users to chat with each other when they are online. You can now do the same on LinkedIn! When you go to a connection’s profile page, Active Status shows a green dot next to their photo if they are online.

There is a slightly different dot if they are not currently active but have mobile push notifications enabled.

How this LinkedIn feature can help your business: When you only have a few minutes to check in, knowing someone is online and available increases the chances of them seeing and responding to your note. Same goes for having your active status seen. On that note, be sure that your active status is on.

Follow these steps:

1. Under your photo in the upper right, click “Settings & Privacy.”
2. Under the “Visibility” section, click on “Visibility of your LinkedIn activity.”
3. Then click “Manage active status” to make sure your connections can see when you are online.

4. Advanced Search

Anyone who shops online knows the difference between a good search and a bad one. When you are digging through hundreds of search results, endlessly scrolling is ineffective and leads to most people giving up and moving on. The best searches have multiple filters you can apply quickly to sort through and narrow down your results. LinkedIn has made their Advanced Search easier to find exactly who and what you are looking for by including filters to appear once you submit a term in the search bar.

How this LinkedIn feature can help your business: They can’t contact you if they can’t find you, right? These filters make it easier for people to find you if you have a complete LinkedIn profile. Keep your account and information up-to-date and accurate and you’ll appear within various filters.

5. LinkedIn Publishing

After discussing some newer LinkedIn features to help your business we have discussed, we’re ending on a feature that has long existed but is more polished than before. Writing and sharing content has been available to users for some time, but LinkedIn has made it easier than ever for users to publish original content that can expand your reach beyond your existing connections.

There is one newer advancement in LinkedIn publishing worth noting. Users can now adjust their settings so posts shared to “Public” can be viewed by anyone even if they are not signed into LinkedIn. This means the content you publish can be read by others who aren’t logged into LinkedIn.

If you get stuck once you’re on that page, check out this post about LinkedIn ideas you can do now.

Use this LinkedIn feature to help your business: As a result of sharing your thoughts and expertise, you are starting and continuing conversations that may lead to new connections and opportunities. Being able to direct clients to an article you wrote adds another level of credibility to your business.

Wrap Up

Yes, you should be using LinkedIn as part of your marketing strategy. No, it’s not enough to just set up a profile. If you are only occasionally connecting with people you meet and doing nothing more, you are missing out on using many LinkedIn features to help your business.

Finally, know that LinkedIn will continue updating and improving its experience for users. Be sure you stay current on what’s new. This list of LinkedIn features to help your business is a good start, but by no means all-inclusive. If you need a hand in the world of social media marketing, we’re here to help take that off your to-do list.

To learn more on your own, check out our Social Media Field Guide below. It’s chock full of information on how to get started, marketing trends, where to focus your efforts, and so much more.