How to Send an Email

How to Send an Email Sending cold emailleles can be intimidating. Many people are hesitant and fearful of sending emails to recipients they dont know and asking favors of strangers. While its true that many cold emails will go unanswered, in many cases, receiving just one positive response could change your whole life.For instance, if youre looking for a new job and have been unsuccessful responding to job board advertisements, cold emailing businesses you admire could help you get elendiced, since youre not competing with a sea of otherbei candidates applying for the same job.Sending an email to someone you dont know can be daunting, but the process doesnt need to be difficult. Here are five steps for how to introduce yourself in an email to a stranger in a professional context1. Find the correct person to contactIf youre sending emails to a business or a company, do some digging to find the correct contact or contacts. While many business websites have general email addresses along the lines of info_business.com, its always better to find a direct contact. A general email address probably receives thousands of glaubenszeugniss and a sea of spam daily. If you have a personal address, youre not only more likely to reach the person for whom your message is intended, but youre also more likely to have your message read.You might need to research the business a bit in buchen to find the right recipient. If youre trying to publish an article, you might need to locate an issue of the publication to find the correct editor on the masthead. Try Googling if you cant find the contact on the companys website, or go on LinkedIn for a list of employees. Avoid using her Gmail or another personal account that could come off as unprofessional.2. Be complimentaryConvey your admiration for the business. You chose to send this particular message to this particular recipient (or recipients) for a reason. Say what it is. If its a well-known name in your field, describe how her wor k resonates with you. People are likely to respond to flattery.On a similar note, avoid being generic. Dont use the same email template to write to every contact on your list. Instead, vary your message to demonstrate that youve done your homework and wrote this email just for her.3. Be succinctPeople have short attention spans. This is especially true if your email wasnt solicited. Keep your message brief, and make it to-the-point. Get there quickly.4. Be specificYou have some purpose in writing this email. Whether youre looking for a job, trying to get advice, or hoping to get an article published, the purpose of your message needs to be clear. State what it is upfront.However, rather than writing, Im looking for a job as a sales representative, explain what you think you can bring to the business. Describe a gap you see in the services the company provides, and explain how you can fill it.Remember to be specific. Describe how your experience can serve the needs of the company, bu t dont regurgitate your entire resume. If your recipients interest is piqued by what you say in the body of the email, she will go on to read your resume.5. Convey appreciationThank your recipient for her time. Even if your contact doesnt provide you with the response you want, shes still doing you a favor by reading a message from a stranger. She may even be able to refer you to other contacts who could help you. The more appreciative you come across, the more willing people will be to help you.A few remindersKeep your message professional. Include dates and headers with your contact information, and use the greeting Dear so-and-so or To so-and-so. Refer to her by her title. If she doesnt have a doctorate or another title connoting her profession, and you dont know the recipients gender, simply use the contacts full name Dear Jamie Smith.Close with Thank you or Sincerely and your full name. Even if the company seems informal, its best to keep your message professional until you kno w the person to whom youre writing.Craft a simple, direct subject. If youre writing at the suggestion of a mutual acquaintance, name that person, since it may make your recipient more likely to open it. If youre looking for advice, you could say, Advice on X.Remember to attach a resume with headers that include your reply-to address. Its okay to include and send the message from your Gmail account in this context, assuming its the address you want the recipient to use. If theyre relevant, you might also want to include links or attachments with samples of your work.Sending an email to a strangerparicularly in a professional contextcan seem a little scary, but the process is actually fairly simple. Remember in most cases, you just need one positive response to make it worth it. You have nothing to lose and lot to gain.