What's the best Way to Start Your sales Letter?

One important part of a winning sales letter is the way we begin the Sales letter itself, generally after the Headline and Sub-Headline.
So, How should you start your sales letter?

personally I never begin my sales letters with Dear Sir or Dear Sir or Madame. These salutations are just so formal.
You wouldn't put this on a letter to your best friend so don't put it on a piece of copy that is intended as a personal message. My personal favourite is 'Dear Friend', as this is broad and yet intimate enough for your letter to appear personal to them. Remember what I said earlier you can never please everyone with a salutation and some will be offended no matter what you put.

I have tried letters with and without a salutation. Letters with, always out-pull those without. Other examples are:
Dear Beleaguered Taxpayer ?Dear Animal Lover ?Dear Fellow American???Dear Fellow Citizen ?Dear World Traveller ?Dear Fellow Tennis Nut ?Dear Collector ?Dear Friend of [your company's name]

There are no real differences in response rate so long as your salutation is related to the person you are addressing. Except when using: Dear John Smith (Personalised to the addressee).

This salutation pulls more than any other. People love the sound of their own name and of course it makes the letter far more personal. Unfortunately, you will have to computer generate your sales letter to achieve this which usually costs much more than one that is mass produced.
A cheaper way to make your letter more personal and build rapport is to word your salutation so that it sounds like the reader 'belongs'. People are highly social beings and love to feel that they belong to a group or society of like-minded enthusiasts. A simple way to do this is to add 'Fellow' after 'Dear'. For example:

Dear Fellow Magician.
Avoid using this where you are providing the reader with information to change his current negative situation. Here are three examples of what not to say:
Dear Fellow Beleaguered Taxpayer ?Dear Fellow Debtor ?Dear Fellow Victim

Would you like to be greeted with such a salutation? Nobody wants to be in a negative situation, and if readers think you're in the same way, they may think you are going to moan and groan about the situation rather than help them. In any case, if you're in the same boat, what have you got to offer them? Avoid all negative connotations when using this technique.

Whatever salutation you decide to use, address the reader as an individual. Keep your salutation personal and never sound like you are addressing a group, as this diminishes rapport.

As a general rule, it does not pay to personalise your salutation unless your product is priced at $300 or more. If you have a product that is priced slightly less than this that you are getting a good response for, it may be worth testing the same letter personalised to see if this further increases sales.



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