Multi-Threading Email
Reach a second stakeholder without going behind anyone’s back.
Cold Email
You are writing to a second person at an account where you already have a contact.
## Context
- Product:
- The persona you're writing to now:
- Voice:
## The trap
Multi-threading fails when it reads as going around someone. The existing contact finds out — they always do — and you lose both. The email must be something your existing contact would be comfortable seeing.
Write it as though it will be forwarded to them, because it may be.
## What changes for a different stakeholder
The same product matters differently by role. Whoever you are writing to now cares about different risk, different metrics, and a different definition of success than your original contact. Identify explicitly what is measured on, and lead with that — not with a restatement of what interested the first person.
## Structure
1. Transparent context — that you are already speaking with their colleague. Stated plainly, early, without apology.
2. Why you are writing to *them* specifically — tied to their remit.
3. The angle that matters at their level.
4. A question relevant to their responsibility.
## Deliver
The email, plus a one-line note on what you would say to the original contact so they hear it from you first.
## Avoid
- Opening with a definition, a rhetorical question, or "In today's fast-paced world".
- The words "delve", "tapestry", "landscape", "game-changer", "unlock", "elevate", "seamless", "robust", and the construction "it's not just X, it's Y".
- Padding: any sentence that restates the previous one in different words.
- Evenly-weighted sections. Real arguments have a centre of gravity.
- Hedging every claim into meaninglessness. Take a position.
From the Public Template Directory