What’s one of the most important things about any email once someone opens it?
It’s not the length.
It’s not where you put your link.
It’s not even all the crazy HTML coding you think you need.
No …
It’s your opening sentence.
It’s something I learned way back in the days when the internet was just starting to come into its own, before Google was powerful enough to slap down marketers, and while I was still cutting my teeth as a TV news writer …
And it’s funny that I connected the dots like this when it comes to writing emails, oh so many years later.
One of the things that was drilled into my head was the opening line of your copy had to hook the viewer.
Back then, people watched their news on TV instead of streaming services, and life was better, but we – as writers – still had to work to keep the viewers from flipping the channel …
And that meant hooking them right away with your opening line.
Years later, I found out that a legendary advertising copywriter had the same philosophy.
His name was Joseph Sugarman. (Bonus points if that line reminds you of Robert Paulson.)
Sugarman was one of America’s top copywriters, and you might remember him from the BluBlocker Sunglasses infomercials. (You remember infomercials, right?!)
Anyway, Sugarman had this philosophy about the writing of any ad and the whole “meaning of life” and “raison d’etre” for the first sentence, which was simple …
Is to get you to read the next line.
The whole purpose of the second line of copy?
This one is even more brilliant …
To get you to read the third line …
And so on and so on.
All the elements of a great ad, Sugarman would say, from the headline to the photo and what not, were designed to get you to read the first sentence …
And the very first sentence was supposed to drag you down to the next one, and the next one, and the next one.
Now, when it comes to email, your subject line is like your headline, or the first words coming out of the mouth of a paid reader … I mean news anchor …
And after the subject line convinces people to spend more time with your words, that first line is supposed to get people hooked, so you can fish for sales.
It seems obvious when someone points it out, or if you study TV news and advertising, but it wasn’t straight forward to me, not when I was just getting out of college, and it’s probably not cut and dry for the average viewer or reader.
That’s why I spend a lot more time now thinking about and crafting that first sentence of an email versus the amount of time I spend on the rest of the message.
If you want to learn more about my process, and how it can work for you, shoot me an email at the [email protected] and we’ll see if we’re a fit. (We might not be.)
In the meantime, stay holy my friend and God bless.