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I ran a simple prompt on my last newsletter.
It told me my opening line sucked.
It's from Mia Kiraki.
And it's really useful:
"You're a subscriber who's busy and annoyed. You open this email. Tell me the exact second you decide to delete it. Quote the sentence. Explain the micro-decision."
That's it.
You paste in your newsletter draft.
Run that prompt.
See what happens.
I tried it on my last issue.
And both ChatGPT and Claude agreed:
My opening quote was terrible.
Here's What They Said
Claude's response:
The micro-decision:
"Oh great. Another vague inspirational quote that could mean anything. Is this a productivity guru? A life coach? What does this have to do with email or AI?"
I'm busy. I don't have time for abstract wisdom that doesn't immediately connect to something I can use.
What's missing:
The hook doesn't connect to my world. It's philosophical, but not practical. I need to know within 3 seconds:
What did Nathan do?
Why does it matter to me?
Is this going to help me or waste my time?
The fix:
Start with the action or the surprise. Something like:
"I spent 20 minutes this morning making a fake Pixar poster of myself."
Now I'm curious. That's weird. Why would he do that? What happened?
Or:
"Saw a guy turn his entire business message into a retro ad. So I stole the idea."
Now I know what we're doing and I'm interested.
Bottom line:
The quote feels like filler. It delays the story. And busy people bail when they feel a delay.
ChatGPT's response:
Micro-decision:
I open this already irritated and time-poor. First line is a reflective truism, not a concrete payoff. My brain goes, "Oh, it's a meander email today." I don't see who this is for, what I get, or why I should keep reading. It sounds like the start of a personal essay, not a useful thing I can steal in 60 seconds. Since I'm busy, I filter for immediacy. No immediacy, I'm out.
What happened in my head, fast:
"Is this about me?" Not obviously.
"Is this about something I care about right now?" Not yet.
"Is this going to be long?" Looks like it.
"I can read the next newsletter that's actually tactical."
Click. Delete.
If you wanted me to stay, first line needed to be closer to:
"Here's a 10–15 minute AI exercise that gives you a reusable hero image for your brand."
Then tell the story.
Do I Agree?
In this case?
Yeah, I think they're right.
Normally I try to make the opening quote either:
Interesting (famous, historical, surprising), or
Directly relevant to the lesson
This time I missed on both.
The quote was vague.
It didn't hook you.
It didn't connect to the story I was about to tell.
If I'd started with what I did instead of a philosophical observation, you might’ve kept reading.
Why This Prompt Is Helpful
Because it gives you an outside perspective you can't get on your own.
Normally, you'd have to ask someone else to read your draft.
But then you're relying on one person's opinion.
And maybe that person's off, or being nice, or not paying close attention.
With this prompt, you get a ruthlessly honest critique.
And yeah, it's just AI.
It's not your actual subscriber.
But it's trained on millions of examples of what makes people delete emails.
So it knows the patterns.
And it tells you directly.
You Don't Have to Accept What It Says
Maybe AI tells you your opening is boring, but you know your audience loves that style.
Maybe it says you took too long to get to the point, but you intentionally build tension that way.
That's fine.
The point isn't to blindly follow AI's feedback.
The point is to consider it.
To see your work through a different lens.
To notice things you might've missed.
Then you decide:
"Yeah, that's a good catch. I'll change it."
Or:
"Nah, that's my voice. My people get it."
Either way, you're thinking more critically about what you wrote.
And that makes the final version better.
My Take
I originally included the quote at the top of each newsletter because I liked the idea.
I got it from Alex Hormozi's Mozi Minute newsletter, and I thought it added something.
But it also adds a few extra minutes every time I write one of these.
I have to find a good quote.
I have to verify it's real.
I have to make sure it connects.
And if it's the thing that's keeping people from getting into my content?
Then maybe it's not worth it.
So I'm going to test it without the quote for a bit.
See if people even notice.
Because at the end of the day, I want you to get something useful out of this, not admire a clever quote.
This prompt helped me see that.
And that's the real value:
Using AI to help you think better about what you're making.
Dig Deeper
👉 See Mia's original post: Read it on Substack
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