We just posted a how to on inserting "friend" into the first name field so you can address people on your list with something other than blank.
I subscribe to quite a few emails just to see what's going on. Some of the emails, like the company that I use an example below are actually interesting to me. Most of the time I love the content and find it useful and educational.
So, I am not picking on these guys at all. It just so happens that it's a good screenshot of an example of using "Dear blank" when you can use "Dear Friend" or "Dear Customer" or whatever it is you want to say. it just seems to me that if you can use your powerful email tools to make your emails more relevant, than you should. It's not hard but not every tool makes it easy to do...

We just wrote up a good tutorial of how to insert whatever name you want to call the subscribers on your list that don't have first names. So, whether you want to call the subscribers "Friend" or "Valued Customer" or whatever you'd like, here's how to do it.