Why are you SPAMMING me?

Once I got an email that completely *weirded me out*.

I had NO idea who the sender was—some guy named John Forde.

The subject line DIDN'T give me a lot of clues either: "CR #690: Painting Lessons."

For some reason I opened it, and that's when I started to get the creeps...

The email was a newsletter called Copywriter's Roundtable, and it looked EXACTLY like something I would have signed up for.

But for the life of me, I had no idea how I got on this email list.

Had some marketing guru gone and sold my email address to another marketer?

It really took me off guard. I sat and stared at that email for a good 30 seconds, mouse cursor hovering over the Unsubscribe link.

Then I started to read...

And within a few sentences, I was hooked. The writing was witty and insightful, and the author was a great storyteller. The advice was spot on.

I was really glad I gave Copywriter's Roundtable a second chance, even though I thought it was spam...

Later it hit me—I HAD signed up for that newsletter.

In fact, I'd rushed to opt in after top copywriter Bob Bly praised John Forde's weekly email as one of the best resources for copywriters out there.

But after I'd feverishly punched in my email address and clicked Submit...

Nothing. I never got a welcome email or heard anything else from John until that first newsletter arrived.

And in less than 7 days, I went from "I can't wait to hear from you!" to "Who the heck are you and why are you emailing me?"

This is why the first few days with a new subscriber are so critical.

You only have a brief window before your subscriber completely forgets you even exist.

If you drop the ball, they'll unsubscribe or just tune you out—and all your hard work to get them on your list will be wasted.

But win their attention now, and they'll eagerly open every email you send them.