Subject Lines: What Actually Moves Open Rates in the Apple MPP Era

Optimize for click, not open

Opens are inflated by prefetch. Click-through on subject line is the real metric. Test for click, not open.

'New feature: bulk editing' beats 'Check out what's new'. Specific subjects survive the distrust of Apple's prefetched opens.

Curiosity subjects work if the email delivers. Don't misrepresent — list fatigue from clickbait subjects kills deliverability.

The counter-intuitive finding: leading with a discount hurts long-term customer value.

Using SMS as the on-ramp to email — surprisingly effective for growing engaged lists.

If you're only going to build 6 flows, build these six. Everything else is noise until these are shipping.

Our team ships email & crm programs every week. Book a free consult — we'll tell you what would move the needle for your brand.