In a post at the Marketing Interactions blog, Ardath Albee discusses the potentially calamitous effects a bad first sentence can have on your email campaigns. She highlights typical errors with some actual examples:

• Presuming a recipient knows—and respects—you : "I wanted to share with you the success of our [Company] program which allows marketers to tap an influential group of [Company's] readers for product sampling and reviews."
• Using a probable falsehood to guilt a reader into responding: "I've been trying to contact you regarding your interest in the business implications of social media."
• Talking about a company's goals, not those of the customer: "If [Company] has its way, every last one of us will be communicating with video as naturally and regularly as we now use email and our phones, no matter what industry we work in."

"All of them are speaking AT me, not WITH me," says Albee, who notes you can expect two basic responses:

• Disinterest. "You’re gone from my mind immediately with no residual value for you to build upon," she explains.
• Dislike. If sufficiently annoyed, a subscriber might not even bother to tell you about it. Instead, she'll remember the bad impression you made, and block future messages.

The Po!nt: It's about them, not you. Let your subscriber know from the first line that they're about to read a message that appeals to their expressed interests. "Don’t try to sell me at hello," says Albee.

Source: Marketing Interactions. Read the full post here.

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