Hi, Jimmy! Another upvote for Dennis's answer here, and for Patricia's comment. I'm no authority on this subject--in fact, based on my results from attempting to contact people via Ancestry's private message service, I've got to be in the lower quartile worldwide--but your quandary is a continuing problem for many genealogists.
A while back I came to look at genealogy "first contact" much the same as I would if I were constructing a consumer marketing email for a business. I think some of the same principles hold true, although we don't have much control over some of them when using private messaging on WikiTree, Ancestry, or elsewhere.
1. The "From" Line is King
And this is something we have little or no control over. But in most email applications, who sent the email is displayed first. In Microsoft Outlook, for example, in the preview pane the "from" line is on top and it's the only line in a larger typeface. Data from a service called Campaign Monitor tells us that, for an American audience at least, 68% of people base their decision whether to open an email on the "from" name.
WikiTree private messages all have the same "from" line: WikiTree Private Message 'noreply@wikitree.com' so we're stuck with that. Some email apps include the "reply to" name/address in the display, which would be you, the person who sent the message, but most do not.
The only way we can influence this important email marketing factor with private messages is to keep it in mind when we start composing the message.
2. Subject Line
This is second in importance to getting an email opened and read, and one we do have control over. This will typically default to "Your Page on WikiTree" if left untouched. Don't leave it untouched.
Although there is some disagreement in the research, in general it doesn't look like the length of the subject line has a disproportionate effect on the email open rate. However, when you consider the bulk of the email apps as displayed on both monitors and smartphones, we have about 30 to 35 characters that are in the safe zone. By that I mean the line won't be truncated and all or most of it will display even in a preview mode on a mobile device.
And this is the first place the perennial marketing maxim of "always speak in terms of the customer's benefit" comes into play. Some email service companies have compiled pretty detailed statistics about what makes for a good subject line. It's sort of an art form. But at the top of almost every set of data is that using the addressee's first name as the first word usually is an attention getter. That can influence the decision to open the email by up to 15%.
For genealogy private messages--and I may be wrong here--I think the best we can do with the rest of the subject line (assuming, that is, that we don't have some specific ancestor information we want to convey) is to be transparent but try to add a little hook. Some possible examples:
- John, Looks Like We're 7th Cousins
- Susan, Your Crawford Family Line
- Robert, Hello from an 8th Cousin
- Sally, Another WikiTree Member Here
3. Preheader Text
This is the third line in the preview panel or inbox of most email applications. It's usually in a smaller typeface so there's more room, in characters, to expand on the subject line. In actual marketing emails this line is specified as a separate element and directly controlled by the sender. Not so in our private messages. To keep the subject line shorter, many email marketers will shift the use of your first name and start the preheader with it.
In the absence of a specified preheader line, this usually defaults to the first 50-60 characters of the first line of the message body of the email. So it's a double reason to make the first sentence or two count. And because of that, you can still use the same shift-the-first-name trick if you like.
4. The Message Body
In addition to the first characters being the default message preheader (whose job is to get the email opened), some research by Microsoft a few years ago indicated that we humans are experiencing a decline in the average attention span, in part thanks to the advent of the ubiquitous smartphone. In 2000, the average attention span was around 12 seconds; by 2015 that was down to about eight seconds.
A MarketingWeek magazine staple is that print ads are typically seen by up to 75% of readers for, on average, no more than 2.2 seconds (with digital ads seen by less than half this number, for less than half as long). This is the proverbial "2-Second Test" in print advertising: You have two seconds to attract a reader's attention, hold it, and to convey the information that is the most critical.
Combine that with the fact that the average adult reading speed is around 200-250 words per minute with only about a 60% reading comprehension level. That's normal, not someone who's impaired in any way. And the speed (supposedly) decreases with age.
So that's what you face once your email is opened. I hear some people screaming, "Irony much?!" I'm the guy with the highest average word count per post on G2G; in fact, in my six years here the best estimate is that I've slapped around 1.5 million words on G2G. That's basically all seven of the Harry Potter books plus the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But I don't self-edit on G2G. This my fun time.
Shocking to some may be that, for one of my clients who recently purchased their first ever, full-page magazine print ad, it took a lot of convincing to get them to go with my design because they felt it didn't do enough explaining; they felt the ad needed to provide more information. The final add contained a grand total of nine words on an 8.6" x 11" page.
Point being that the ad wasn't a corporate explainer that showed the company mission/vision, listed bullet points for all the products and services the company offered, and talked about the solutions they could provide. That's what management thought it would be, and it took some convincing to get them to understand that, no, this wasn't a leave-behind sales brochure. They only had about two seconds to attract attention, and once that was achieved they could count on the ad actually being read for less than 10 seconds. It was a brand identity ad; that was its sole purpose in life. Trying to combine multiple goals within that 10-second timeframe was a sure path to failure and wasted advertising spend.
So, what are we selling in a cold-call email to a newly identified genealogical cousin? It's probably collaboration, a mutual exchange of information. And what barriers are we likely to face other than the despised 10-second rule?
From my experience, I'd say that there are three main barriers: disinterest, distrust, and fear of commitment/effort.
Whether at Ancestry or here at WikiTree, only a small percentage of members are regularly active. Ancestry gives us a helpful "last login" date so we can tell if a person has been around recently. To prioritize your WikiTree contact attempts, I'd recommend you look at the member's profile and click on the number of contributions at the top; check the dates of the last contributions made. If the last one was in 2015, you might just choose to spend your time on another candidate; maybe circle back to this one in 2024. The more active the member is on WikiTree, the more likely it is that they'll be interested in communicating with you.
Similarly, folks who aren't active in genealogy are more likely to have a general--and probably founded--distrust of strangers emailing them out of the blue. That's the big glitch at Ancestry. They've processed over 23 million DNA tests, and a whole boatload of those are people who did it only to learn "where they came from," the elusive and misnamed "ethnicity." Unless it's a 2nd cousin 1X removed or closer, I've gotten to where I don't even attempt contact unless they have at least a modest tree on Ancestry. If all they wanted to know was if they should buy lederhosen or a kilt, then my message will almost certainly disappear into the event horizon of the Ancestry message center black hole.
Patricia noted another area of distrust--or it may be better described as simple caution--and that's that the recipient of the WT private message may avoid replying because doing so will display their email address to you, and they don't know you from the Golden State Killer. See #5, call to action.
Even a slight level of distrust will inevitably lead to the instant internal question, "What does this person want from me?" Less so in the past 15 years as genealogy has become more popular, but I've had random cousin contacts genuinely be fearful that I was reaching out in order to try to lay claim to some inheritance or ask for money.
My advice here is to keep the body of the email fairly short. Use the first sentence to hook interest. Quickly defuse distrust, and make it clear that you aren't asking them to give you any kind of commitment. Minimize the use of "I" unless you are offering something. For example, don't lead with, "I want..." But if you have records or documents for an ancestor that you think might interest them, do use something like, "I have some information I can give you if you want." Wherever possible write in terms of the recipient's perspective: "You might like..." "If your research includes..." "Your 4th-great grandmother..."
5. Call to Action
Dennis wrote: "Have a reason for making the contact that would require a response, if the cousin is interested in pursuing it, otherwise it may come across as a fishing expedition." And I think failure to follow that advice may be a big reason for genealogy cold-calling to go nowhere a lot of the time.
Unless you bump into someone who's simply in desperate need of a new friend (in which case, maybe you should be the one who's wary), leaving the email dangling with the equivalent of "let's hang out sometime" probably ain't goin' anywhere.
You're more likely to get someone to take action on something specific...and something of benefit to them. That might be digitized documents that you can offer, unique information you have like a family anecdote or transcriptions from a family Bible, a photograph, or even a link to your tree at Ancestry. You might provide a link to one or more items, but in the end the actual call to action will be for them to get in touch with you.
The email address you use for your WikiTree account will be shown on the private message, but I always include a link to my own profile and tell them if they'd prefer to keep their email address anonymous, to please just leave a comment on my profile, that I'll receive that as an email as soon as they post it.
Regardless, close with that call to action. "Okay, well, have a nice day" may be affable, but it won't go anywhere. Even something simple will work, for example: "Please let me know, and I'll get that obituary to you as soon as possible." Or whatever you can share to start the exchange. It's a call to action that gets them something in return.
Best of luck!
