Why I don't put salutations in my emails
Published: Fri, 10/13/17
— Crowley
King of Hell/King of the Crossroads
“Supernatural”
Continuing with Crowley Month, came a question a while back:
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Dear Ben
Greetings and felicitations!
I'm curious as to why you don't use a salutation in your (irreverent, often entertaining but, honestly, can be a wee bit misogynistic) email missives?
Surely a little, "Dear Friend" or "Dear Aspiring Email Copywriting Supremo", or even a casual "Howdy" or "Hey there!" wouldn't go amiss?
Gosh, you know, it's even possible these days to . Amazing!
Personal and engaging is good, no?
Or perhaps, against prevailing wisdom, it makes not one jot of difference?
Love to hear your views.
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Survey says:
I get more opt ins by not collecting first names.
And, yes, if you know what you’re doing including or not including it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever.
But, you know what?
I don’t get surprised by questions like this.
Most copywriters and marketers live in “tactical” world, and don’t understand (nor have ever been taught, so it’s not their fault) the concept of principle-based marketing and copywriting vs tactic-based. That’s why they focus on things like salutations and open loops (nothing will give a goo-roo fanboy a chubby faster than seeing an open loop in an email) or whatever, instead of just working at being a more engaging, personality-driven writer.
More:
As for any precious little snowflake who needs to be greeted with a salutation?
Or who takes my chick jokes literally and not as entertainment?
Or who needs political correctness?
They can go piss off back to their safe place.
We don’t want ‘em around here.
Especially he November “Email Players” issue.
It's wholly inadequate for those types.
Here’s where to subscribe to get it:
http://www.EmailPlayers.com
Ben Settle