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Writer's pictureJohn Brandt

“I let you sleep with my wife. Pls respond”

Oooooooooof.

File this one away in your hideous uses of copy “pattern interrupts” folder.


Here’s what I’m referring to:


The other day on Twitter (errr, I mean X… sorry Elon), AJAC (@AJA_Cortes) shared a cold DM pitch he received from an email copywriter that honestly lowered the value of email copywriters everywhere.


Yes, his cold DM was THAT bad.


In fact, I’d go as far to say that this cold DM is mayhap the worst my poor eyeballs have ever seen—and I still have Nigerian princes promising me billions of USD in my spam folder almost every day.


The pitch?


See it for all its hideousness yourself:





“Alexander, I let you sleep with my wife”


Besides being (hopefully) false, there couldn’t be a worse way to position yourself… to show your lack of copywriting skills (I get the pattern interrupt idea, but seems like this guy never once looked at Gary Halbert’s work to understand the proper way to do a pattern interrupt)... or to land a new client.


As such, AJAC shared this cold DM with his 186.4k followers, and everyone who saw it got a good ol’ chuckle from it.


While I hardly consider cold outreach copywriters to be the bastion of good copywriting (despite what you’ll hear from this bunch on sites like X), it brings up an important lesson:


If you start a client relationship with “I let you sleep with my wife,” even if you mean it as the most unusual (and unfunny) joke you can muster… it ruins any positioning power you have with said client.


They’ll pay you for pennies on the dollar.


They’ll fill your email inbox with an endless amount of questions and critiques.


And, who knows, they may even ask to sleep with your wife at some point.


More:


It’s also the wrong way to pattern interrupt.


Now, pattern interrupts can be effective: They put your adversary on their toes, so to speak. They can disarm their apprehension to being sold to. And they can help foster a deeper relationship with your audience.


But only if you use them correctly.


The idea behind the pattern interrupt is simple too (and another example of how badly this “email copywriter” missed the mark):


The idea?


Well, it’s simply to be brutally honest about the reason for your message… to get radically transparent with them… and to mention something that they’d never expect you to say.


Assuming you’re a cold caller, a pattern interrupt could mean asking them if they want to hang up as soon as they answer your call. Most cold callers are too afraid to do this, so it subtly reveals your confidence, your traansparancy, and your honesty.


Anywho, that’s your lesson for the day:


Don’t reach out to people saying you let your wife sleep with them. LOL.


Alright, on to bidnezzzzzz:


Need help extracting the most revenue from your email strategy—from the campaigns you send to the words you use to the general experience you give to your subscribers and everything in between?


Hit reply.


One of my clients is currently sitting at 66.92% of their montly revenue comes from email and email alone.


If you’re not sniffing 30% of your revenue from email, I can help. Hell, even if you ARE sniffing 30% of your revenue, I can still help.


Hit reply, and let’s see if partnering together makes sense.


John


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