Outreach message examples
Why is it important to send good outreach messages?
Sending good messages to people on cord is extremely important - it's your first interaction with someone you might work with in the future, and first impressions count.
The best messages sent on cord get over 60% of the people that read them responding positively, which is 2x higher than low-quality messages. For the average hiring manager, it would mean an extra 15-20 interviews a month, it's often the difference between making a hire or not.
Example 1: FinTech Scale-up
Company size: 300+ people
Hey {{FIRST NAME}} I hope you're having a great day! I came across your profile and noticed your skills across the full-stack, especially with React, as well as GraphQL and felt you could be a great fit for a position here at Z. We are a FinTech company building Open Banking APIs and driving innovation in finance in both the UK and EU. After raising another $70 million this year we are looking to continue to grow our team throughout 2021. We're currently looking for a Full Stack Engineer to own our web development on both the BE and FE. Working with modern tech like Gatsby, GraphQL and React you will have a real say in what to build and be supported to see your ideas through to completion. If this sounds of interest let me know and I will gladly book in a call to discuss more? Thanks, {{SENDER_FIRST_NAME}}
Oliver's opening line immediately states why this role might suit the engineer - mentioning skills that are a match between the role you're hiring for and the person is an easy way to personalise and establish why this might be a good opportunity.
Oliver also keeps his message length at 3 short paragraphs - by only using a few key points, he efficiently sells both the company and position without making the message too long. Messages that are too long can create an expectation for people that they need to match the length of your message, which sometimes may put them off messaging you back.
Example 2: Machine Learning Start-up
Company size: 50+ people
Hey {{FIRST NAME}}, Really liking the R&D leadership you have and managerial experience in general with {{CURRENT COMPANY}}! You could be a great fit for our Machine Learning Manager role! Z is a machine learning start-up transforming the media industry. 99.9% of video content is shackled to a single language. Our ambition is to make the world's content watchable in any language. We're translating videos by generating voices that sound like the original speaker, not only capturing the characteristics of your voice but also the way you speak. Would you be interested in arranging a call? Best, {{SENDER_FIRST_NAME}} [external booking link]
A great example of an opening personalised line. In this case the personalisation couldn't have been applicable to anyone else - this is what we call a hyper-personalised line. Although more time-consuming, hyper-personalising your outreach will be one of the most effective things you can do to engage with a person. This outreach is a great length - they are able to personalise, pitch and call the person to action in 640 characters, which is almost the perfect length for your initial outreach messages.
Example 3: New Media Start-Up
Company size: 50+ people
Hey {{FIRST NAME}}, Cool experience at {{CURRENT COMPANY}} and founding your own software house! We're actually hiring another engineer - working with Python and Node - into our team here at Sifted [external link] and I thought you might be interested? We're a new media platform reporting on the world of technology and startups in Europe, backed by the Financial Times. Currently 50 people strong, we're growing fast (around 1-2 new hires each week), are well funded, and have big ambitions. We aspire to be more data company than media company and need more engineers to make this a reality. When are you free for a 30 minute video call - we can run through the position? Just book in on the link on this message or let me know some times that suit. Thanks, {{SENDER_FIRST_NAME}}
This message has personalisation, key info about the role, a company pitch and a clear call to action.
Links to your company website is a great way to add more information whilst keeping word count low too.
The sender has also included two options for the next steps:
- Using the integrated calendar booking link
- The traditional 'what times work for you'
We'll always recommend including a booking link using the calendar integration. Recently, 27% of all conversations on cord had an interview booked within the first 3 messages, and of those interviews booked, 82% were booked using the calendar integration.
Example 4: Broadcast Media Provider
Company size: 29,000+ people
Hi {{FIRST NAME}}, I hope you're well! I'm a Sourcing Team Lead at Z. We're currently hiring for a number of Lead AWS Devs positions and I think your skills might be a good match. I'd like to hear more about your time at {{CURRENT COMPANY}}? As a Lead AWS Developer you could work on a migration project from one monolith CRM to another… or you could help invent experiences in: Media, Sports personalisation and Discovery! Build innovative applications using AI/ML to make new products that will be the future of media. We have several projects to work that all share the same goal: use AI/ML techniques to improve aspects of media consumption. If you would be interested in discussing this role further, I've attached a link to my calendar, can you book a time in for us to speak? Thanks, {{SENDER_FIRST_NAME}}
This outreach provides real insight into the variety available within the Lead AWS Developer role. As much as your opening outreach can be about your company at a high level, it's also a good chance to approach the role from a different perspective. There is less of a need for company information when you're well known, so instead this is followed by some great position-specific information that will really appeal to a person outside of just stating the tech stack alone.
The approach to personalisation here works great for all profiles, even when a person has little information available on their profile. They show interest in finding out more about their experience without necessarily telling them they are the perfect fit.
Example 5: cord's own Tom
Company size: 30+
Hey {{FIRST_NAME}}, I’m {{SENDER_FIRST_NAME}}, the {{SENDER_JOB_TITLE}} at cord - I’m impressed by your experience using {{PRIMARY_SKILLS}} at {{CURRENT_COMPANY}}. Your experience looks great for our {{POSITION_NAME}}. We’ve built the first user-centered job search experience for software engineers, used daily by 1000's of Engineers and hundreds hiring teams hiring inside London’s most advanced technology companies, from bedroom start-ups to Sky, BT and Ocado. We use modern technologies- AWS, Node.js, Typescript, React, and Redux - to build a scalable product that has seen cord enable over 40,000 direct conversations so far. I’d love to speak with you and I’ve included my availability for a 15 minute chat below this message- just book in. Thanks, {{SENDER_FIRST_NAME}}, {{SENDER_JOB_TITLE}}
Some might say it's cheating as Tom literally wrote the guide on sending messages on cord, but we thought we'd feature it anyway.
Tom's opening line makes good use of input variables to ensure that he's able to message people at speed, but personalise while doing it.
Three short paragraphs on the company and the role is ideal, providing enough information to get someone interested, without bombarding them with too much. After around 600 characters for message length, any information you add is unlikely to improve your chance of getting a positive response - we recommend keeping your message length between 300-600 characters.
Tom also attached a calendar invite to his message, something that dramatically increases the likelihood of booking an interview in the crucial first few messages that are exchanged.
All of the above outreach messages stick to the recommendations we think will give you the best chance of a positive response - they're short and they're personal.
Try to keep your outreach message under or near 600 characters in length and make the opening line personal - get the person’s attention early and show that you've invested time in learning more about them before you've even started talking.