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From Cindy Butts:

“I recently got an email from an airline that started “Dear Mr. Soandso” … then continued.”

Who begins typing a personal e-mail with “Dear…” anymore? As far as I can tell, only the survivors of deceased African millionaires hoping to transfer a fortune through my bank account and European lottery officials.

Today, e-mails begin as follows:

<Name>,

In olden times, Dear used to mean something. Hand-writing a letter, putting it in an envelope, addressing it, stamping it and mailing it was time consuming and meant you really only sent letters to those you held dear.

E-mail has none of those warm fuzzies. Today, in e-mail, Dear is a dead giveaway, the equivalent of “the following is a paid announcement.” In other words, it’s implicit permission to delete immediately or delay action.

Drop the “Dear” from your e-mail marketing.