What is harder: writing a proposal to complete strangers or rebuilding communication with the same goal?

Most people find rebuilding much harder than starting from scratch.

Even mundane everyday tasks are easier to complete if you have a wide network of people you interact with. 

In that spirit, familiarity with other people needs maintenance. This is true for personal, but even more professional life.

However, for some people, this kind of communication comes naturally but most need reminders and need hard work.

If you see yourself as a member of the second group, today’s article with “Keep in touch” email templates and actionable advice should help you get even better at this job.

Let’s jump straight in.

What Is a Keep in Touch Email, and When Should You Use It?

A keeping in touch email is a message to a professional contact or a personal acquaintance to maintain a friendly relationship between you and them.

Monalisa requires maintenance to keep colors vibrant so we can enjoy it years after Da Vinci painted her. 

The same goes for personal contacts – without regular upkeep, their relevance fades over time.

Thus, periodic email containing some brief news from personal or professional life will maintain knowledge of who is who and (in professional settings) their value.

At the same time, “keep in touch” email ensures a certain familiarity level at all times.

When Is The Right Time to Write a Keep in Touch Email?

Experts in maintaining connection networks generally use two rules when to refresh a relationship with a new email:

  • Organic - when a certain event occurs to them or their counterpart (promotion, job position changes, article relevant to situation contact has, etc.).
  • Periodic - setting a reminder to make contact after some time even if there is no special occasion.

Persons you are sending emails to refresh relationships, we can divide in groups. Here are some of the most common ones:

  • Contact a person you met at an event: In today’s business, companies and industry associations go to great lengths to organize events for people to expand their contact networks.
  • To keep in touch with a former colleague: People with shared experiences create close relationships.

Time spent at work or attending the same school is one of the bases for such a bond. An occasional email will keep that bond alive even after you go your separate ways.

  • Including a personal acquaintance to your business contacts: let’s say you meet a friend of a friend at a birthday party, and he works in the same industry as you.

A brief email reminding him of your encounter is a great way to start a conversation and expand your contact base.

  • Developing a connection with someone you met online: More and more people have first contact online. 

People meet online while working on the same project, on social platforms, or even online gaming. 

Research shows that the average person interacts with more than 20 other people every day, this number does not include social networks.

average-number-of-contacts-per-person

In modern times people cannot remember all contacts and interaction details.

“Keep in touch” emails fill that gap and help you maintain a higher level of communication.

Now that we know “Why” and “When” to use emails to maintain communication, let’s dive into “How”.

What Are The Best Practices in Keeping Contact Network With Emails

“Keep in contact” email templates will show you how communication can look in real life, but first, let us take a look at key points that make excellent communication refresh email.

1. Plan Your Theme

There is no need to make “let’s keep in touch” the center point of your email.

For instance, if you just write to talk about recipients’ achievements or recent events they attended, it can transfer an important and powerful message:

  • I follow your work - You can follow events in their life as a friendly person or someone who appreciates their expertise.
  • I have knowledge in the field - You present your expertise and value when you recognize the effort or difference between average and excellent products.

Another example of not putting emphasis on let’s maintain contact is to talk about your news, but even in this situation, you need to include the reader as a crucial piece of email.

You may use an approach like this:

The reason I’m asking is that my company makes [Product] and [Product]. So I’m always trying to find new applications and learn new approaches for our work here. Interested to hear your thoughts.

2. Make Your Greetings Friendly

It would be best if you began with a friendly but formally structured greeting before you can move on to crafting the primary body of the letter.

Such a small section has the power to set the tone for the whole email, so pay attention to it.

Depending on your relationship to the reader, you can use one of the variations like these:

Hi, [Name]

or

Dear [Name],

Hope this letter finds you well.

3. Reminder of Your Last/First Meeting

As we talked about before, the average person communicates with many people every day, so you can not expect everyone to remember you right away.

Yeah, that may hurt your ego, but that is the state of the world today.

When you recollect your encounter, you add another level of familiarity with shared experiences.

One of the ways to easily play it on both fronts you can spot in this example:

It was great meeting you at the [place and occasion where you met].
Gatherings like that let you meet people and have fulfilling conversations that make lasting impressions.

4. Use Yours and Ours

Flattery never hurts if subtle(sometimes even when it is not subtle), so use it to your advantage.

Your email will lightly boost the reader’s ego if you consistently refer to their whole company as their team.

In addition, avoid using phrases such as “you and I” and replace them with “we” or completely transfer them to “you”.

An example where you can spot such a model of communication is:

I found out this morning that your team has launched a whole new line of products. You and your team should be proud of the new project.

5. Ask For Important Information.

When reaching a recipient with a specific idea, ask important questions, but do not just make a list of demands

Demands are not a friendly way of communication.

Thus, combining your question with others that are not on top of your list is one of the excellent strategies.

For instance, you can play to a combination of the readers' ego and your general interest in the first question, and the second one makes your "real" question to help you decide. 

Example:

I am truly impressed and would like to learn more about how your R&D managed to incorporate such complex structures in 3D printed segments. Many competitors struggle with maintenance costs for such products. How is your company dealing with those expenses? 

Blocks like this present your expertise and praise readers' company progress made in development, but your main interest is how much you will pay for such a product.

6. Share Knowledge Free of Charge

When you share knowledge for free, you are making a play on a couple of different levels:

  • Showcase your expertise - If the knowledge you share, the reader recognizes as a valid solution to a problem.
  • Consideration - is displayed as you go out of your way to help the recipient.
  • Shared experience - bond created If you convey that the knowledge you shared helped you in the same situation the reader is currently experiencing. 

You should also pay attention to how you implement knowledge sharing:

  • People generally do not like someone telling them they do not know something.
  • Feeling vulnerable can make readers distance themself from you.

One of the options to deliver knowledge in a positive way is the example below:

Last week I sent you an article from The Economist on [changing industry dynamic] because it helped us resolve a similar situation you are facing now.

Templates You Can Use In Real Life Scenarios

The “Keep in touch” email templates we offer in this article are ones we use in most situations.

So let us share a few words for each of them.

1. Template for Person You Met At an Event

A common practice in today’s business is to expand your contact pool as much as possible.

At any networking event, you will receive and share multiple visit cards, templates like this can help you make actual use of those cards.

Dear [Person's Name],
It was great meeting you at [event name]! I enjoyed our conversation about [topic discussed] and appreciated your insights on [specific point].
I wanted to follow up and stay in touch. I think there could be potential for collaboration or simply networking in the future. Perhaps we could grab coffee or lunch sometime next week to continue our discussion and explore opportunities?
If you're interested, please let me know your availability and we can coordinate a time and place that works for both of us. I look forward to hearing back from you soon!
Best regards, [Your Name]

2. Template to Former Colleague

Experience shared over a longer period of time creates a strong bond between people, just because you choose different directions in life does not mean you must lose that bond.

Dear [Former Colleague's Name],
I hope this email finds you well. It's been a while since we last spoke, and I wanted to reach out to say hello and catch up.
Since we last worked together at [company name], I've been [briefly mention your current professional endeavors]. I'm curious to hear about what you've been up to as well. How has [former company name] been? Have you pursued any new opportunities?
Also, I was wondering if you might have any advice or insights on [specific topic or challenge]. I've been working on [related project or goal], and I know your expertise and experience could be valuable.
If you have some time in your schedule, I'd love to set up a call or meeting to chat further. Let me know if that works for you, and we can coordinate a time and date.
Looking forward to hearing back from you soon!
Best regards, [Your Name]

3. Template for Personal Acquaintance

A friendship you share towards one person is a great starting point in building long-lasting contact since you have shared experiences and you can sail through the introduction stage.

And our template can help even further.

Dear [Acquaintance's Name],
I hope this email finds you well! It's been some time since we last spoke, and I wanted to reach out to say hello and see how you're doing.
I've been keeping busy with [briefly mentioning your current activities or projects], but I've also been thinking about our last conversation about [topic discussed]. It would be great to catch up and hear about any updates or developments on that front.
Also, I wanted to let you know that I'm planning to [briefly mention any upcoming events or plans], and it would be great if you could join me. It would be great to catch up and spend some time together.
Please let me know if you're available and interested in getting together. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Best regards, [Your Name]

4. Template for Online Person

With the development of online communication apps, not just social media, relationships can start and exist between people on opposite sides of the globe.

Test our template in such situations.

Dear [Person's Name],
I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to reach out and say hello, and see how you're doing since we last connected online. I've been keeping busy with [briefly mention your current activities or projects], but I've also been thinking about our last conversation about [topic discussed].
I'm interested in keeping in touch and staying up-to-date with your latest endeavors. Perhaps we could schedule a call or video chat to catch up on what's been happening in each other's lives, and exchange ideas and insights on [topic of mutual interest]?
I'd also love to hear about any upcoming events or projects you're working on, or any new opportunities you've come across.
Let me know if you're interested in connecting soon. I look forward to hearing from you!
Best regards, [Your Name]

How Can TextCortex Improve Your “Keep In Touch” Emails 

TextCortex is an AI-powered writing assistance you can use to enhance the effectiveness of your keep-in-touch email templates.

In addition, it boosts your creativity with the features such as:

👍 More than 60 templates for any type of text.

👍 Add-on works on 2000+ online platforms.

👍 Summarizing and paraphrasing can help you further adjust your email.

👍 Translate your emails to 25 languages for easier communication with your online friends

👍 Zeno Mode and Zeno Chat combine NLP(natural language processing) and AI to generate emails to maintain your contacts for a long time.

Let us put it in the simplest possible terms: you type your idea in plain language and let artificial intelligence complete email writing for you.

Afterward, you just polish it a bit so it represents you, and you are ready to go.

Do you want to take it for a test ride?

TextCortex gives you 10 free daily creations, which are enough to get a feeling of what it can do for you. 

Reward programs are available if you want more.

You can sign up today to experience how once a bothersome job can become fun.