Hi, Friend!
When I write an email subject line, I put myself into 1 of 3 categories (to answer your question ahead of time, yes I talk to myself):
“You’re a legend” - open rate of 35% or more
“Solid performance, you should be proud” - open rate of 15% - 35%
“Horrible job, Why did you think
that would work?” - open rate under 15%
So where would you fall in my very unofficial grading system?
You have a lot of competition for your audience's attention - you have one opportunity to grab it. Anything less than 15% needs work, but your goal should be over 35%.
If you have a list of under 500 subscribers, now is the perfect time to start perfecting the quality and
type of subject lines your audience will respond to.
You are setting your audience's expectations regarding your subject line quality. Set that high expectation early, and you will constantly see higher open rates. (Read about subject line best practices below).