👋 Welcome to Dialed-In

Your Monday bolt of sales energy. 

Each week, we’ll share one deal-winning idea to help you dial in your sales motion and scale faster. 

✍️ Before you hit send: Steal these email fixes from 3 experts 

An email hit my inbox with a subject line that grabbed my attention:

“should have sent this to you sooner”

I was intrigued. 

But the email body was a flop. Another banger of a subject line wasted.

I see this ALL. THE. TIME. Great subject line, weak follow-through.

This week, I decided to do something about it. 

I sent the email to two other seasoned experts at Close—Founder & CEO, Steli Efti and Head of Content & Brand, Chelsea Castle—to get their reactions and share our insights with you. 

Read our teardown below and learn which mistakes to avoid before you send your next follow-up. 

But first, the email:

It takes until sentence four to understand what it’s about. You need to explain why you’re showing up in their inbox—and why they should care—immediately.

This is a content offer to users, and this email could leave a gross taste in the mouths of people who are already in your ecosystem and using your product!

The PS kills me! Of course the content is free! This is such an archaic tactic that drives me crazy. 🤦‍♀️

Missed opportunities:

💡 Instantly explain what this is and why I should care.

💡 Why does it pertain to me specifically? If you’re a user, they know enough about you to segment and personalize at least by role or industry.

💡 Share a few stats and findings from the report that make me curious and want to read it.

But a good email does not mean an effective one. This was good in capturing attention and making me read it—but ultimately, it was bad in that it failed to accomplish the most important goal: hitting a conversion and making me take the next step (and being glad I did afterwards). 

But the author follows up with a story about himself rather than me, the recipient. It’s a confession about the sender’s personal problems—what does this have to do with me?!

Every sentence must earn the next sentence. Don’t waste your precious sentences on stuff that doesn’t help me. 

Before you treat me to story time, you must first answer: Why are you in my inbox?  By opening your message, I've invited you into my (email) home! IMPRESS ME. 

Key Takeaways for You

✅ Informal subject lines can be great pattern interrupts.

✅ Start with value, fast. The more specific and personal, the better.

❌ Don’t make it about you. Make it about them.

❌ Don’t waste words. Get to the point. Respect the reader's time.

❌ Skip outdated tactics. “P.S. It’s free!” is gimmicky and out of touch.

⚡️ Get Dialed-In

Find your 3 most-used email templates and see if they suffer from any of the mistakes we’ve pointed out. If they do, update them with our takeaways. 

If you’d like us to give feedback on a specific email, send it our way and we'll reply with our advice! 

Cheers,

PO Box 7775 #69574
San Francisco, California 94120-7775

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