I have a client who, among other things, publishes a health-related email newsletter. We were rolling through some open/click data the other day and a clear pattern emerged: the emails with uplifting subject lines got opened the most, but once inside the newsletter what really interested people was specific information about the most terrible health afflictions: hemorrhoids, Parkinson’s disease, debilitating stroke.
In our message saturated word, people do everything they can to avoid engagement. What my friend discovered is that messages of uplift break through those defenses, but it is more personally relevant information that will hold their interest.