Читать книгу The Way of the Wall Street Warrior - Dave Liu - Страница 25

The first thing that will catch your reader's attention is a memorable subject line that summarizes the email's key message. This leverages another cognitive bias, attentional bias, the tendency to pay attention to some things while simultaneously ignoring others. It explains a person's focus on only one or two choices, despite there also being several other possible outcomes. It's another one of those brilliant scientific acumens that translates into solid, practical advice, in this case: Nail it in a sentence! This is all the more important in this era when the average Internet user has a shorter attention span than a goldfish.¹

Be the pitch, like you would in a once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity. Make it short and sweet because the first and last lines of your email are likely the only ones that will be remembered. Avoid the boring, like “Applying for Position” or “Seeking Advice.” Instead, mimic the way a movie tries for a stunning logline or captivating sentence that sums up the whole shebang: “Jaws Meets Home Alone.” “Clint Eastwood in Outer Space.” “The Invisible Man Finds a Time Machine.”

Usually if the logline sucks, so does the film, so make yours a good one. Here are some subject lines that weren't necessarily great, but did catch my attention:

 Looking for a Superstar Workaholic? Look No Further!

 Superpowers My Resume Doesn't Reveal

 Will Work for Free (or Almost Free)

My personal favorites which would get me to prowl deeper are those that make links to common acquaintances:

 Our Friend, Matt Lin, Thought We Should Connect

 Matt Lin's Friend Seeking Advice

 Have Dirt on Matt Lin

Using a mutual friend to make the connection has the power to encourage the reader to open the email and read it out of guilt or obligation—unless, of course, Matt Lin stole your wife. Or husband. But hey, snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. At least you and the recipient have the same lousy taste in friends. You can bond over that.