That's how an outbound direct mail piece addressed me. 😶

 

This is the worst way to hook someone. It instantly hit the trash.

 

If you cannot get someone's first name when prospecting, don't use a generic introduction.

 

I did this recently when writing a cold email to attorneys.

 

Instead of writing, "Dear attorney," I started the email with, "Hey, I noticed you were an attorney in Wisconsin."

Luckily, we had their location, but you could still cut the last part off and it's better than "Dear attorney."

Here is my second version, which I believe has a more substantial opening:

 

 

The objective when outbound prospecting is to get the attention of the cold audience.

 

Using a generic opening is the least likely path to gaining attention.

 

Instead, use a significant pain point as I did in version 2 to get their attention.

 

If it doesn't grab their attention, they probably won't convert anyway because the pain doesn't resonate with them. That's okay.

 

The lesson: Personalization can work, but generic personalization rarely works.

 

🧠 // JO