9 Things Journalists Notice First in an Email Pitch

A real-time breakdown of how your pitch gets judged

Steph Spyro is the creator of Off the Record

Right everyone, the lab coat is on. Gloves at the ready. Safety glasses perched on my nose. It’s time to dissect the organism that is my inbox.

I’ve had the great pleasure of being on the other end of steph(dot)spyro(at)reachplc(dot)com for over six years. I’d LOVE to know how many emails I’ve sent (but more importantly, received) since my first shift at the Express back in November 2019.

The answer for both is: A LOT.

Today, I want to explore the things I notice the second an email lands in my inbox. For this little exercise I’m going to open a bunch of emails randomly and see what jumps out at me first. Here goes!

1. The sender: Every journalist will be different but it seems I’ve trained myself to first spot the sender. Who is the delightful human/bot at the other end of the message I’ve been sent? If I recognise your name, you’ve already bought yourself more time in my inbox. This is why I say building relationships with journalists is vital. It helps to comment on reporters’ LinkedIn profiles, liking their posts on their professional Instagram account or meeting journalists for coffee. When that name appears in my inbox, I know there's an understanding of the stories I cover. In the age of fake experts, the trust between reporter and comms pro matters more than ever.

2. The subject line: Once I’ve spotted the emailer, my eye next moves onto the subject line. I won’t dwell too much on the art of writing these as I’ve explored this here previously (and highly recommend you read). These matter. How you craft them can help sell a pitch… or dare I say even lead to an instant “delete”.

3. The scan test: Before I properly read anything, I do a quick visual sweep. Is this easy to digest or a wall of text? Bullet points, short paragraphs and clear structure buy you more time. I hate to say it but the formatting of a press release can be a MAJOR barrier to reading it. You’d be surprised by the number that are visually problematic. Lots don’t make for easy reading is all I’ll say…