I read an article this morning from one of my mentors – copywriting expert Nick Usborne.
In Nick’s e-mail, he talked about an opener for a “short & sweet” e-mail:
First Line
My name is Nick Usborne, I’m a coffee marketing expert, and I wonder if you could tell me who in your company would most welcome a complimentary copy of my report, ‘Beyond the Beans and Machines’.
In Nick’s words, why this line yields higher response
“When we identify a company we would like to work with, we often don’t know who in the company is the best person to approach.
Instead of writing a long email to the wrong person, you’re better off writing a very short email to someone who can tell you who that right person is.
Again, I offer a gift. Hopefully this provides a small incentive. Hopefully the recipient wouldn’t want to deprive the ‘right person’ of my gift”.
Test this against your current internal referral e-mail
In our opener e-mail for the cold-active queue, we may want to “test” our control of asking for the name of the proper person with this type of e-mail – asking in the form of giving a gift.
For building reciprocity, it is a good way to set the tone that you’re helpful – with gift in hand!
