Matt Furey says it’s important to have a frame for your emails and he uses time and place as his frame.

That is, in the opening of your email, you should have a setting and refer to a specific time.

Here are some examples from emails I recently wrote for clients:

“That car reminds me of one night back when I was a teenager. A friend of mine owned a yellow ‘69 Chevelle…”

“The other day I visited my favorite gadget store. It was the weekend so I had plenty of time and was not in a hurry. My wallet was flush with enough cash to make a decent purchase.”

“This is Susan and yesterday I watched the news about the stock market just like you did, I’m sure.”

“Mark Twain said he could live two months on a good compliment….I’m still living on a compliment a store clerk gave me 14 months ago.”

This won’t work for every single email you send to your lists, of course. But the more often you use a frame like this, the better your chance of connecting with your reader.