“‘Hot girls eat pickles for us,’ or ‘We think hot girls eat pickles.’ That’ll get someone to read your message more than if you just write, ‘We’d love to connect,’” Good Girl Snacks cofounder Leah Marcus tells Shopify Masters. Sometimes, one funny, emotional, or downright weird line makes an email marketing campaign memorable.
Catchy subject lines or the opening lines of an engaging anecdote can work as a “hook” that grabs a reader’s attention and makes your email stand out in an inbox full of predictable marketing messages. Whether that’s a welcome email, promotional blast, abandoned cart reminder, sales pitch, or cold email, a good hook immediately connects with potential customers on a personal level.
Read on to learn exactly what email hooks are, the different types of hooks you can use, tips, metrics for assessing success, and examples from Shopify merchants.
What are email hooks?
An email hook is a strategic opening element—such as a compelling subject line or an intriguing first sentence—designed to capture the reader’s attention and motivate them to engage further with the message. It’s designed to immediately “hook” a recipient’s attention and compel them to keep reading—often by triggering curiosity or urgency or providing a direct solution to customers’ needs.
For example, instead of a cookware brand starting an email with “Check out our new sale!” a stronger hook might be, “The one item your kitchen is missing just went on sale …” The shift from a generic discount to a specific, curiosity-driven claim (What item is my kitchen missing?!) helps signal to your target audience that you understand your customer’s needs—not just that you have something to sell.
Where should you place an email hook?
Place your hooks where eyes first land. The best places for email hooks include:
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Subject line. This is your first interaction with subscribers and your best chance to earn an open, making it valuable real estate in any email.
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Preview text. The snippet that appears next to or below the email subject line in an inbox. Most email marketing platforms let you write custom preview text. Use it to reinforce the hook, land a joke, or add context.
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First sentence of the email body. A strong first line of the email recipient to keep reading about your product or service.
6 types of email hooks
You don’t have much time to grab your audience’s attention—your hook has to get your point across with just a few words. Here are some ways to do this.
Incentive
Who doesn’t like saving money? A hook that leads with a clear incentive, such as a discount code, can jump-start the sales process. In this example, baby and kids apparel brand Mori starts with an engaging question, “Missed us?” and offers a 25% discount. The whimsical image of a child makes it immediately clear that this discount is particularly relevant to parents or anyone shopping for a youngster.
Clever pun
Magnolia Bakery makes sweet treats, so “Date night just got sweeter” is a brand-specific pun. By invoking “date night,” it also plants a seed in the reader’s mind: These products pair well with a romantic outing. Sent around Valentine’s Day, the subject line of this email adds urgency by suggesting scarcity: “ALMOST GONE: Date Night Sampler.” The combination invites you to smile at the pun but act fast to claim your sweets.
Exclusivity
Some email campaigns are designed to hook loyal fans through a sense of exclusivity. Boutique guitar maker Novo uses phrases like “From the bench” (as in workbench) and insider language like “custom builds spec’d out by the Novo team” to signal one-of-a-kind products and intrigue guitar lovers.
Brand personality
One way to stand out is to create a distinct brand personality and commit to it in your outreach. Good Girl Snacks offers a 10% discount in a way that feels unmistakably on-brand—SMS-style copy paired with a whimsical image of a girl on the phone surrounded by flamingos, all reflecting the voice that founders Leah Marcus and Yasaman Bakhtiar built for their company.
“Be a little weird, be different, and make sure you stay pretty concise,” Leah advises on the Shopify Masters podcast. “And getting to the point in the first sentence is important,” adds Yasaman.
Limited-time offer
If you want recipients to engage in a timely manner, present a limited-time offer, like Brooklinen does in this anniversary sale email. “Our 10th Anniversary Sale ends today” conveys urgency and a last chance to take advantage. The follow-up line in the body—“Don’t wait another decade”—reinforces that shoppers shouldn’t expect a deal like this anytime soon.
Social proof
Few things generate leads and spur a sales decision quite like social proof. A 2025 report from Review Dingo found that 93% of shoppers read reviews as part of their purchase decision. In response, businesses are pushing heavily for more user reviews, which boosted customer response rates from 63% to 73% from 2023 to 2024. This helps explain why Bite, a maker of toothpaste bits, leans into this in-body hook: “Don’t take our word for it, check out our reviews,” followed by testimonials from organizations and customers.
7 Tips for creating great email hooks
A solid email hook can supercharge your email marketing efforts; here are some tips to help you craft a compelling opener:
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Get to the point. Follow email marketing best practices by keeping your subject lines under nine words (or about 60 characters). Short, punchy hooks are easier to read on mobile devices and prevent your main message from being cut off in the inbox view.
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Leverage Shopify Sidekick for inspiration. Got writer’s block? Use AI text generation within Shopify Messaging. With a few keywords about your product or sale, Shopify Sidekick can generate multiple subject line options, helping you find a unique hook for your campaign in seconds.
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Use preview text. Preview text can expand on the hook in your subject line. If your subject line is a question, use the preview text to hint at the answer, luring the customer further into the email.
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Personalize. A hook that includes the reader’s name or references a past purchase feels immediately personal. Use a tool like Shopify Messaging to pull customer data into your marketing copy and tailor messages to recipients’ browsing and buying history.
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Share social proof. Quote your own customer reviews, showcase case studies, and include images of your products in action. This helps readers associate your products with real-world usage.
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Lean into your brand voice. As Good Girl Snacks demonstrates, your brand personality and voice can inspire unique hooks when writing emails. Whether that voice is humorous, understated, or empathetic, it anchors your email hooks in your brand identity and can help you stand out in a crowded inbox.
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Only promise what you can deliver. Jacob Sappington, director of email strategy at growth agency Homestead Studio, advises marketers to stay truthful in their hooks. “I remember a major brand’s email saying ‘90% off,’” Jacob recalls on Shopify Masters. “You open it, and it says, ‘Psych, you should know that we would never mark our products down by 90%.’ I’m sure their users were not happy.”
How to measure the effectiveness of email hooks
Email hooks need to deliver results for your business. Here’s how to track their effectiveness.
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Track open rates for subject line hooks. Test different versions of subject line hooks across campaigns. Flag any version that produces low open rates; those signal the hook is not strong enough.
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Track click-through rates (CTR) for body hooks. A strong opening hook in the email body should point the reader toward your call to action (CTA). If people are opening the email but not clicking on a featured link, your hook may not be achieving its goal.
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Review “unsubscribe” trends. If you observe a spike in unsubscribes, it could mean your hook is falling flat or isn’t relevant to your reader.
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Use Shopify marketing reports. Shopify merchants can use the platform’s built-in technology to learn which emails and campaigns drove the most revenue, allowing them to connect specific hooks directly to profits.
Email hooks FAQ
What is an email hook?
An email hook is a strategic opening element—such as a compelling subject line or an intriguing first sentence—designed to capture the reader’s attention and motivate them to engage further with the message.
What is an example of a good email hook?
A good email hook might include a personalized subject line that urges curiosity. For example, “What’s missing in Eric’s kitchen?” followed by preview text that completes the offer, such as, “Claim your 20% off by tonight!”
How do you write a good opening line for an email?
You can write a good opening line for an email by thinking of it as a hook—something that immediately gives readers a reason to care, whether that’s addressing a pain point, asking a relevant question, or making a brief personal connection that shows you’ve done your homework.
