Subject Lines That Should Be Retired

Rachel Medlock
May 13
3 min read

I’ve written thousands of subject lines over the past decade. For beauty brands, skin clinics, beauty tech biz's, lifestyle brands, skincare giants, you name it.

And after all those years of writing, testing, and tweaking, there’s one thing I know for sure:

A great subject line will make or break your email.

It’s the first impression. The click decider. The inbox real estate that gets you opened or ignored.

While there’s plenty of advice out there about what to do, let’s talk about what not to do because some subject lines? They’re not doing you any favours.

Here are the subject line styles that really need to sit down, preferably in 2014 where they belong.

1. {{NAME}}, when you forget to update the HTML

Personalisation is great. But not if your email shows up with {{FIRSTNAME}} in the subject line. It doesn’t feel warm. It feels… broken. Double-check your merge tags. That’s all I’m saying.

2. The “RE:” trick

Sure, adding “RE:” makes it look like a reply and grabs attention, but it also makes people wonder if they’ve missed something — or if you’re trying to trick them. Also, Gmail isn’t stupid. It’ll flag you. Hard.

3. ALL CAPS SUBJECT LINES

Are you yelling? Because it feels like you’re yelling. Your promo might be exciting, but we don’t need it in caps lock. Use your inside voice, please.

4. Putting your business name in the subject line

Unless your name is Beyoncé Skincare, we already know it’s from you. That “From” field is doing its job — let your subject line do something else.

5. The Generic Snore

Does “[Brand Name] Weekly Newsletter” sound familiar? Yep, we’ve all sent one, but if the most exciting part of your subject line is the word “weekly,” it might be time to rethink the hook.

6. The Deceiving Sneakster

Example: “Get 75% off our whole store!” to find it's a single product, and they've tricked you into clicking. This works once — and even then- risks unsubscribing and losing brand trust. If your subject line sounds like a prank text, it probably doesn’t belong in a professional campaign.

7. The Grammar/Spelling Mistake Eyesore

I get it; we're all human, but as our lord and saviour, Hannah Montana, once said, “Everybody makes mistakes; everybody has those days", but the subject line? That’s your headline. It’s worth giving it one last proofread (or letting someone scan it before you hit send).

8. The Pre-Header Repeater

Your pre-header is basically your subject line’s sidekick. If you copy and paste the subject line into it? You’ve wasted your second shot at grabbing attention. Instead, use it to add context, tease what’s inside, or layer in value.

Example:

Subject: “Ready for better skin this winter?”

Pre-header: “Our hydration-focused treatment plan is made for cold-weather skin.”

Now you’re pulling them in twice — not repeating yourself.

So… have you written one of these before?

Same. No judgement, but if you want to write subject lines that actually get opened, clicked, and maybe even complimented by your clients, Download Subject Lines That Slap.

In this FREE guide, you’ll get the 10 highest-performing subject line styles I’ve used across beauty brands, including examples, and you'll meet a tool to help you write your own quickly. Download here 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼