‍With Christmas upon us and last-minute shopping reaching its peak, it is getting harder for your emails to capture the attention of customers. In the panic that grips shoppers as the last few days of the holiday calendar run down to Christmas, it becomes difficult for them to focus on every offer that reaches their inbox. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.

One of the best ways to cut through the clutter of holiday inboxes, get attention, and drive sales is by taking advantage of “Last Chance” email subject lines. These are subject lines that emphasize the short-term nature of an offer and provoke a fear of missing out.

Here are three ways you can tailor your subject line tactics to grab your share of last-minute holiday sales.

1. Promote FOMO

‍Fear Of Missing Out or FOMO is a powerful motivator for consumers and a great way to capture and direct their attention. After all, everyone hates missing an opportunity – especially a great deal. That’s why emails with subject lines that include “Last Chance”, or a similar phrase, are effective at driving opens. FOMO subject lines typically include something along the lines of the following phrases:

• Final Call

• Last Call

• Almost Over

• Don’t Miss Out

• Get It or Regret It

Each of these phrases instill FOMO without explicitly indicating how long remains before an offer expires. Adding a time element to your subject line can enhance its sense of urgency and take it to the next level.

2. Use Timing to Create Urgency

One of the best ways to create a sense of urgency in emails used to be the countdown timer. But with the advent of iOS 15 and its enhanced privacy features, using countdown timers became problematic. Fortunately, subject lines are a great way to make your email time sensitive.

Using your subject line to state how much time is left in your offer makes it clear to consumers that a money-saving deal is about to slip through their fingers. You can use days or hours to specify the duration of your offer. For example:

• Last Day of Our Sale
• Sale Ends Today
• Offer Ends Today
• Final Hours

But using hours implies a narrower time frame, so “Sale Ends in 48 Hours” is likely to perform better than “Sale Ends In 2 Days”. Whether you opt for hours or days, including a time element in your subject line is a great way to build urgency and increase FOMO.

3. Use Low Inventory to Prompt Action

Like timing, inventory or lack thereof play a role in your FOMO tactics. A subject line that indicates inventory of a popular item is either low or about to run out can be very effective at moving consumers to act. Especially if your marketing automation allows you to personalize the product offer based on your customer’s browsing of your website or abandoned cart items.

Examples of using inventory in subject lines include:

• Hurry up, Almost Out of Stock
• Don’t Wait! They’re Almost Gone.
• Low Inventory, Get Them Before They’re Gone
• Get Your Deal Before It’s Too Late

Combining inventory and timing can be even more effective:

• It’ll Be Gone Tomorrow
• Get Yours Today Before It’s Out of Stock

As the holiday season rushes towards its end, getting customers to open your Last Chance emails can mean the difference between meeting or missing your marketing goals. Try the three tips included in this article and get inspiration from some our examples to help successfully close out your holiday campaign.

Better still, try Subject Line Pro, our virtual testing platform that delivers accurate results in seconds.

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