If You Want To Nail An Email Introduction To A Busy Person, Here's How
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By Chris Fralic, Partner at First Round Capital in New York. This is an updated and revised version ofthis post.
I’ve sent a total of more than 81,000 e-mails since 2007— and that’s not even counting my personal e-mail. Over that time, I’ve found that roughly 20% of my e-mails involve the word ‘introduction.’ These introductory e-mails are what extends the fabric of professional reputation. They’re what introduce potential new employees to their future bosses, the way that entrepreneurs meet the investors that can provide fuel for their ambitions, and the channel by which most significant business deals get started. Most meaningful sales and business relationships begin with an introductory e-mail. Despite this, most of the people participating in this digital ritual give little thought to how they structure their introductions.
E-mail is broken. E-mail sucks. Most people hate e-mail and complain about it all day long. It’s a problem that we have to find a way to deal with. A lot of people see e-mail as a routine chore. Many people see dealing with their e-mail as an unpleasant, recurring chore without a higher purpose. This is an unfortunate view of work: fortunately, I’ve developed methods that make e-mail more impactful and less burdensome for everyone involved. Here’s thevideo of my recent talk on the topic.
The Higher Order Purpose of the Intro
The goal of an introductory e-mail is to create value for all the participants. It’s not just to brag about all the cool people you know. It’s a targeted message to help everyone involved, make it easier for them to help you, and to build relationships and reputation. The more significant the reputations of everyone involved, the more likely that it’s going to be that people will take action based on the e-mail. Establish the credibility of the two strangers that you’re introducing to increase the likelihood that the interaction will bear fruit. Credibility-boosting signifiers like an important position at a successful company will increase the hit rate of the introduction.
What the introduction is intended to accomplish should be stated within the e-mail itself. Vague requests for “help” waste everyone’s scarce time. Specific requests for certain kinds of assistance are more actionable. It’s also crucial to do some preliminary research about both parties and what you’re trying to accomplish by matching them together. How will this introduction create value for everyone? What’s the shortest number of words that you can use, within your own language, to explain what that is? Give the parties a compelling reason why they should want to connect with each other.
Ask Permission. Show Respect
Fred Wilson has promoted a method that he calls the ‘double-opt-in’ to ensure that both parties want to be connected — sending separate e-mails to both people before making the introduction. I take a different approach that I call the ‘self-contained forwardable e-mail.’ If it’s something that people can act on within 30 seconds of reading it, they’re going to do it immediately. If it’s going to take a lot of time, research, and effort for them to act on it, it’ll go to the bottom of the pile. This self-contained e-mail consists of the ‘ask’: requesting permission to make the introduction, explaining who the other party is, and why it should happen. This packages the permission-asking component into the introduction itself into a tight bundle.
I like to use a subject line that’s both fresh and customized for the recipient. A lazy heading like ‘intro’ doesn’t cry out for immediate action. The e-mail should be easily forwarded. You need to make it easy for them to help you if you want to get a positive resopnse. The opening paragraph should explain who you are (unless you already know one another well). The e-mail should close with a call to action sentence that explains what you want. Write in your natural voice to build trust with the recipient. People tend to have a poor reaction to the language of press releases. Here’s a real example of a self-contained forwardable e-mail that someone sent me that I forwarded:
“Hello Chris: I’m still thinking about the splendid Spring day when we met in Manhattan earlier this month. During the conversation, you mentioned ‘Joe Smith’ as a good person for me to meet. I looked him up, and I’m excited by the challenges of using our multi-channel analytics for a brand that’s essentially a category.Joe, when you see this, some keywords to consider whether taking the time are: incremental marketing, targeting and multi-channel attribution. We’re a team of data scientists who tackled the problem of understanding how the mixture of consumer behavior and exposure to marketing affects conversion.Our targeting replaces more traditional CRM targeting but also extends to online advertising. Targeting doubles as a powerful proof point for the precision of our attribution modeling work – being able to more effectively target customers is a strong indicator that you understand their behavior in the first place. We did the discovery work with X and went on to pick up brands like Y, Z, A, B, C, etc.”
The first paragraph opens with a call-back to our last meeting. He’s asking to be introduced to someone that I mentioned. The person who sent this is also showing that he cared enough about what I said to do his own research on him, and how he could make their company better. The next two paragraphs explain to ‘Joe’ who they are, and how they’d like to work with him.
Here’s another sample from my inbox, featuring me introducing one of our portfolio companies to another VC:
“Joe,I had the pleasure of meeting X recently. That’s the second time I heard your name this week. Jim and the guys from PORTFOLIO COMPANY NAME (hyperlinked in the original e-mail) asked if I knew you, and I offered to pass this along. These guys have really hit their stride – a unique concept. Sales doubled from X to Y yast year, and will do it again this year.Let me know if you’re interested in meeting up – it seems like it could be a good fitFrom: Jim@COMPANY NAMEDate: Friday, February 8, 2013 7:03 AM
