FREE CASE STUDY
Before you send another email… want to see what’s working for 28 other creative businesses? 👀
Because when the right people open your emails → your ideas spread → your offers sell → your work actually reaches the people it’s meant to help.
The Great Subject Line Experiment: Real data from 28 creative businesses sending email today.
Inside, you’ll discover:
How to get your emails read by people who already have too many tabs open.
What actually works when you don’t have time (or budget) to A/B test everything
How real creative businesses are using email to sell without sounding salesy or clickbaity
Swipe-worthy subject line structures pulled from the best of the best.
And yes! This works even if you have a small list… contributors range from lists <500 to over 25k.
This Year’s Contributors Include:
Jessica Abel
Taylor Allbright, PhD
Shivani Mehta Bhatia
Britt Broekhaus
Katelyn Collins
Cody Cook-Parrott
Rachel Duncan
Rachel Harrison-Sund
Lisa Jara
Christina Jones
Sarah Jutras
Nicki Krawezyk
Jessica Lackey
Amanda Laird
Bailey Lang
Tara Leaver
Lauren Levine
Erika Mark
Amelia Hruby, PhD
Eli Lawliet, PhD
Kelly Porter
Jess Reid
Cecily Sailer
Katie Scott
Adrienne Sloan
Podge Thomas
Laurnie Wilson
28
Contributors
Astrologers, therapists, jewelry makers, writers… aka not just marketers selling marketing.
See what works beyond the usual “online business bubble” and spot patterns that might surprise you.
282
Subject Lines
Every one of these earned its spot here — they’re the best-performing lines from the past six months.
So that you’re not guessing what should work… you’re seeing what actually did.
41
Skimmable Pages
Word-by-word breakdowns, tone trends, and swipeable templates pulled straight from the best of the bunch.
Because you’ve sent enough subject lines into the void — now it’s time to see what really works.
The greatest thing about subject lines is also the most annoying: what works is always changing.
That’s also what makes subject lines the perfect testing ground. Think about it: you can have an idea at 7am, send a couple subject lines about it, and see — almost immediately — what your people care about.
Once you know that, you can make better decisions everywhere else: on your sales pages, in your offers, even in how you talk about your work.
Big companies can afford to send thousands of emails to dozens of segments and get conclusive results nearly overnight. As solopreneurs, we have to gather data a little more slowly…
That is… unless we share.
That’s really what this project is about: collaboration.
Small business owners coming together to say, this worked for me… maybe it’ll work for you, too.
My hope is that the data helps you look at your own emails differently — to experiment, to play, to stop guessing quite so much.
And if you’re heading into winter launch mode, I hope it helps you feel more grounded in what your readers actually want to open… so that you can make a decent living doing what you love.
Read, enjoy, experiment, make money.
xo
You’re writing great emails. Let’s make sure people actually read them.
Ready to see the open rates, top-performing words, and real patterns showing up in the year’s most successful subject lines?
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©Copy Poetics LLC, 2025
A copywriting and messaging studio for solopreneurs and small businesses.