Whether you are a business owner trying to market yourself or an employee seeking to improve your emailing prowess, writing and doing business over email can be a distinct challenge. Knowing how to structure your words to engage your recipients is the key to creating a successful email that will not be moved immediately to the trash bin or forgotten in the mix of other emails crowding their inboxes. In particular, learning how to introduce yourself in an email will ensure you use effective strategies to bring in business and will intrigue your recipient enough to act. Crafting an email that impacts your reader and meets its target goal is not nearly as hard as you may think, but it takes time and forethought to achieve the best results.
Prospecting: How to Introduce Yourself in an Email
Make Your Subject Line Count
It is all too common for business professionals to send out emails to potential customers and receive no response. If you are a freelancer, business owner, or an employee trying to add more clients to your portfolio, it is imperative for you to learn how to introduce yourself effectively via email. If instead of trying to bring in more clients, you are trying to brush up on your email etiquette to communicate better with individuals inside and outside your company, the general rules still apply.
The first thing your recipient will see is your subject line, so you want to be sure to make those words count. Your subject line is often the catalyst that will cause your recipient to either open your email or automatically delete it, so it needs to be interesting and engaging. Make your recipient curious to know what is inside your email. For networking or sales purposes, using a short question as your subject line is the best first step to creating a valuable introduction.
Open on a Strong Note
Once you have composed your subject line, it is time to plan the greeting or opener of your email. In more traditional business settings, keep things formal, opening with a greeting like “Dear.” If you are in a less conservative setting that offers you more latitude, greetings like “Hello” or “Hey” could be perfectly acceptable. Be sure to use your recipient’s first name as part of your greeting, such as “Dear Jane” or “Hello Bob.” Using their first and last name or addressing them as “Ms.” or “Mr.” can appear stiff and dated.
After your greeting, you need to include a solid opening line that will show how your content applies to your recipients and encourage them to read on. Instead of focusing on your professional services immediately, open with a phrase that relates to your recipients or points out a professional achievement they have accomplished which you admire.
Identify Your Purpose
Now that you have established your subject line, greeting, and opener, the next step in learning how to introduce yourself in an email is to identify your purpose for making contact.
Whatever your goal of the email may be, whether it is for networking, marketing, or sales endeavors, use a line or two to explain yourself. Make these sentences count, keeping them clear and concise.
Give Incentives
If you are networking or trying to conduct a sales pitch, one of the most critical elements in learning how to introduce yourself in an email is to provide an incentive to your reader. Your recipient needs to know there is value in him or her reading further, meeting with you, or looking at your product. Depending on the situation, you might compliment the individual on a piece of work they have done, or suggest an article or tool that might be of use.
Remember Your Closing
No introduction email is complete without a strong closing. This is where you include your call-to-action, the request for your recipient to make a move based on the purpose of your email. If you are networking and trying to set up a meeting, including a link to a meeting application would be appropriate. This way, your recipient can check your availability and slot in a time to meet.
If, for example, you were trying to get a review on an article you wrote to grow your freelancing business, add the attachment at the end so they can link to it directly. Always remember to express your gratitude at the close of your message. Keep things simple and succinct in the body of your email and finish with a note of thanks.
Writing the Follow-Up Email
Set Your Goals
The next phase of learning how to introduce yourself in an email involves your follow-up message. You may send your introductory email and not receive a response. This does not mean you should give up or move on to someone else. Instead, you need to send a concise and powerful follow-up email that will accomplish your aim.
You do not want to use standard phrasing like “Just wanted to check-in…” Rarely are these types of emails a success and they may easily be left unread. The first step to send your follow-up email is to set your goal for that piece of correspondence. This will enable you to form a clear call-to-action. The most common goals for follow-up emails are to schedule a meeting, gain information, catch up with an old contact, or express thanks.
Connect the Dots
Next, you need to establish relevance and connect the dots for your reader why you are sending this follow-up email. Identify the original email or dealings you are following up on, so there is no guesswork involved for your recipient.
Explain Yourself
Your follow-up email needs to explain clearly why you are making contact again. Do not beat around the bush or use a packed paragraph to lead up to your purpose. When networking, if you are trying to set up a time to get coffee to discuss mutual business goals, articulate that openly and honestly.
If you are trying to encourage your recipient to read a post or consider your product, include a relevant link as you did before or ask to set up a time to meet and discuss how your product could benefit their business.
Maximize Your Subject Line
As with learning how to introduce yourself in an email, the subject line for your follow up is imperative. Depending on the situation, an intriguing subject line may be no subject line at all. Sometimes, recipients are more inclined to open an email without a subject line because it piques their curiosity. This could be appropriate in more creative business settings rather than traditional ones.
If you include an actual phrase in the body of your subject line, keep it short. Try to instill a sense that time is of the essence. Using numbers, times, or phrases like “tomorrow” in your subject line are a few effective approaches.
Timing Is Key
As with everything in life, timing is critical. To send an effective follow-up email, you need to do it within an appropriate and relevant time frame. For example, if you are sending a note of thanks following a meeting, send your email within 24 hours.
If you are following up on a job application, send that correspondence out within 48 hours. To follow up on a request for sales or marketing purposes, wait one to two weeks before sending another message. If you are trying to contact a connection for networking and have not had any luck, send a follow-up email every three months.
Best Practices for Any Business Email
Keep It Succinct
A crucial part of learning how to introduce yourself in an email is to understand the best practices and strategies for emailing that will render your business connections effective. One of the quickest ways to kill a connection before you have even started is to send an overly wordy piece of correspondence. There may be rare occasions where a lengthy body is required, but in most cases, keep things succinct and sharp.
If you are making a request or extending an invitation in your email, do not wait to put all the essential information at the end of your note. Include it at the beginning so your recipient can see and understand the purpose immediately. Skimming emails is common practice, so putting all your relevant information at the end of the email risks it being missed entirely.
Choose Your Words Wisely
It may seem like an obvious aspect of learning how to introduce yourself in an email or conduct business over email but choose your words wisely and well. Do not include something in the body of your text you would be hesitant for anyone else to read or be forwarded.
Choosing your words wisely also means using a modicum of words to achieve your goal effectively. Make every sentence count and use it to your advantage whether you are trying to make a new business connection or win over a potential client.
Practice Email Etiquette
When learning how to introduce yourself in an email, it is important to practice excellent email etiquette. For example, if you are sending out introductions on behalf of the founder of a company, use BCC with care. BCC that individual on your reply, so they do not receive a slew of email threads that could prove confusing.
When there are multiple recipients on your list or several people that may need to see a particular response, use “Reply All” modestly. If you include recipients on every response or back-and-forth interaction, make sure the email provides value to them and is not irrelevant for their purposes.
Part of keeping your email short and sweet is avoiding block paragraphs. Break your correspondence up into smaller sections for the sake of readability. Email etiquette is in the details. If you are sending attachments, check that they are actually attached and that the files are not too large. You do not want your recipient to strain their bandwidth just to read your email.
Provide Value to Your Reader
If you are a small business owner, freelancer, entrepreneur, etc. trying to build your client base, your approach to business emailing best practices will include elements beyond the general networking variety. Whether you are trying to follow up with current clients or gain new ones, you need to provide value to your recipients. The work you need and clients you dream of will not usually materialize out of thin air on your doorstep.
Part of learning how to introduce yourself in an email is to understand how to educate your readers, inducing a move to action. Think of your email as an opportunity to educate your recipient on a business solution relevant to them and identify how you can offer it. You need to make them interested to work with you and see how using your services is their best option. For instance, rather than discussing the pricing of your services right off the bat, make your recipient understand why they need your services in the first place. Encourage them to act.
If you are trying to gain a new client who you know is budget conscious, consider initially offering small projects that would come at a lower cost. Once the client sees what you can do and understands the value of your services, you can create an ongoing client connection who will keep coming back. This will grow your business even more in the long run.
How to Not Be Left Unread
One of the biggest challenges of learning how to introduce yourself in an email is to induce your recipient to open your email. You want to make sure that person knows a real person sent the message, and it is not another piece of spam that needs to be left unread or deleted immediately. If you are sending out an email to a potential client, every piece of correspondence could provide untold value to both you and your recipient. Take the time to craft a well-written email that will interest them and make them want to learn more.
Read up on your potential client so you can understand your audience and outline your target accordingly. Even acknowledging that their inbox is likely crowded with spam could pique sufficient interest to warrant them reading on.
Consider the emails you are always prone to open. They likely identify you by name, make a succinct point, and potentially end with a simple question. This is a good rule of thumb to learn how to introduce yourself in an email. Keep things simple, clear, and to the point. You will receive far more responses this way.
Tailor your subject line and phrasing to the industry of your recipient. If you are trying to gain a new client, for example, do not make your wording so broad that anyone could have sent your email. Specialize your email in such a way it could only apply to that individual and still make perfect sense.
Always end your email with a question that merely requires a “yes” or “no” answer, a suggestion of the next steps, or a combination of each. Be proactive in your correspondence. People appreciate drive and initiative and often recognize that as a sign of someone they want to work with.
What to Avoid
One of the common pitfalls of learning how to introduce yourself in an email is thinking you need to market yourself to the point of exhaustion. You need to focus on selling your services, not necessarily yourself. For instance, if you are a freelancer, the potential client is not interested in you as a person.
Rather, they are interested in your services that could offer value to them. Focus your pitch on the culmination of your services and how they could be of benefit to that person’s business endeavors. Identify a problem that the potential client or connection has and show how you are the solution.
Do not automatically provide links to your blog, full portfolio, or social media accounts. The goal of learning how to introduce yourself in an email is to receive a response you can build into a connection or client. This is where showcasing your work becomes more relevant. Do not provide everything at the start, or there may not be sufficient incentive for your recipient to respond. You can include a few samples up front, but not the whole supply. Tailor what you provide to the needs of your recipient.
Take initiative. Do not end your email with a mediocre phrase like “Let me know if I can help.” This will get you nowhere fast with business connections and potential clients alike. Instead, act and initiate the next steps. If that means suggesting an actual meeting time, do it. Do not leave all responsibility in the hands of your recipient, or chances are you will never hear back.
Conclusion
Learning how to introduce yourself in an email is a process. You need to assess your recipient’s needs, identify what you can do to meet them, and spell those concepts out in a clear and concise way. Educate yourself about your recipient, then educate your reader as to the value of your services and time.
Whether your emails are introductory or a follow-up, make them easily readable and actionable. Maximize your subject line and include your call to action at the end. Never underestimate the power of a well-written email to bring your business or network to new heights.