By now you should understand that personalization is key. An email that does not address the recipient by name will most likely not be read, and at the very least, will most likely not get your desired action.
Most autoresponders make personalization very easy. You can insert code – usually with the push of a button – into the email message that you are sending. That code will automatically insert the first name of each recipient, if it was supplied when the person filled out the opt-in form.
Putting the first name in the subject line is not enough. It must also be in the greeting of the actual email. It should also, ideally, be used a few more times throughout the body of the email, again using the special code inserted when the email is being written.
Of course, if you were writing a personal letter, you would use the word ‘Dear’ in your letter. For example, a letter to your mother may start out with ‘Dear Mom.’ It is important to note that some marketers do use the term ‘Dear’ when addressing their readers, but some readers don’t necessarily like that. The word ‘Dear’ is often thought to be an endearment, indicating that there is a personal relationship with this person.
On the other hand, you want your readers to feel that they have a personal relationship with you. At the same time, you don’t want them to feel offended at your use of the endearment. One way around this is to make sure that the rest of your letter has a personal feel to it as well.
Of course, you don’t have to use the term ‘Dear’ at all. Instead, you could say ‘Hey Jane’ or ‘Hi Jane.’ The important thing is that the reader is indeed greeted – by name.
Most people think that this is where the greeting ends, but it really isn’t. You must view a sales letter much as you would a personal letter. You want this person to feel that they can relate to you. You want them to feel like you respect them, as an individual person – not as a customer or a potential customer. For this reason, the greeting actually carries over into the first paragraph, just as the greeting in a personal letter would.
Your letter may start with:
Hi Jane,
I was working in my office this morning, and I thought about what you and my other readers may be doing with their time this morning. Are you working in your office as well? It is a shame to be trapped indoors on such a beautiful day, isn’t it?
As you can see, the reader is greeted, and then the writer is identifying with the reader. He is basically saying ‘I am just like you. We have common goals.’ There is no sales pitch here at all. There isn’t even an indication that one is coming.
It is personal. It is much like walking up to someone in person and saying ‘Hi Jane. It’s a beautiful day outside today isn’t it? I was just thinking about you the other day, how are you doing?’
When you write your greeting and the opening paragraph, you should definitely imagine seeing one person – in person – and starting up a conversation with them. You obviously would not start out by trying to sell them something. You would start by establishing the conversation, and making that person feel that they are on equal footing with you – ‘we are just alike.’
You would never want to write in such a way as to address multiple people at once. This is a mistake, and it will get your letter deleted. For example, note that this writer said ‘I thought about you and my other readers…’ It did not say ‘I thought about my readers and wondered what you would be doing…’ It did not just say ‘I thought about my readers and wondered what they were doing…’
At the same time, it was not misleading. It addressed this particular person, and stated that the writer thought about them and their other readers. Many marketers make this mistake of ‘grouping’ people into the letter. They may say something like ‘many of you have written me.’ They may say something like ‘a lot of you have already taken advantage of this.’
Don’t do that! You want each of your readers to feel special – exclusive. You can’t accomplish that if you lump them altogether and making it obvious that this is a mass email. Keep it personal, and keep it one-on-one.
Again, start your letter like you are writing to your Mom or an old friend. This is the surest way to start your letter on a personal note. Don’t lose control of that later, when you start working on the body of your email.