4 best practices for freight forwarding introduction email

Once you have searched for freight forwarders in a location you need, analyzed their profiles, and decided that they might be the new partner you are looking for, the next step is to contact them. That is why we have prepared this guide with the 4 best practices for freight forwarding introduction email.

Like most businesses these days, your freight company is undoubtedly under pressure to find more customers and stand out among the competition. However, if you want to contact a new freight forwarder that you have never spoken to before, there are a few points you should be aware of.

These practices may be costing you business opportunities

To get a new partner for a particular service, you will probably need to contact them, present your company, and your freight partnership proposal. Within the freight forwarding industry, this first contact with other companies is usually done via email.

However, there is one critical obstacle that is holding most logistics companies back: their outdated email practices.

According to Andersen Yu’s article for Front Page, unnecessary and poorly written e-mail can cost companies around $6,000 annually and more than 2 hours of employee time each day. For companies in the logistics industry, this is concerning because effective communication with their partners can be directly related to business generation and company revenue.

Below are 6 practices that can reduce the number of responses to your logistics company introduction email, and consequently affect your sales performance:

• You send long emails, and because of this, the copywriting gets confusing;
• You don’t send objective emails containing all the information you need;
• The subject of your email is not clear or objective enough;
• Your team is not aligned and consequently spends too much time collecting the same information over and over again;
• You don’t have customer-centric strategies;
• You send TOO MANY emails in a short period (spam).

If you’ve identified any of these points in your freight forwarding email strategy, it’s a warning sign. But don’t worry, you still can restructure it to achieve the best possible results.

Take a look at the session below. 

Here are the 4 best practices for freight forwarding introduction email

When you create an email strategy to introduce your forwarding company to other companies that you are interested in doing business with, you should keep in mind that the goal is to get your potential freight partners involved in the conversation so that you can sell your services.

Besides that, even if the forwarder you are communicating with is not interested in that service at that moment, a well-written e-mail is so effective that it can still promote your company as an expert in the field and create a solid connection with potential partners so that they will remember you when they need any service you offer.

Here are 4 fundamental “rules” that you should keep in mind when composing an e-mail to contact other freight forwarders:

1. Be kind, remember that this is the first contact, present yourself.

We have all heard, at least once, that the reason why first impressions are so important is that they last well beyond that moment. 

Making a strong first impression will help you better develop relationships with your potential partners and drive sales. From the moment you approach a forwarder intending to establish a partnership, all the perceptions they have about you when reading your email will influence their decision on whether or not to close the business.

Make your messages as personal as possible by using the name of the person or company you are talking to. Be cordial, ask how things are doing, and thank them for their attention. You can, for example, say “Hey [partner] (add your partner’s name here), how is everything at your side?” and conclude your e-mail with “Thanks in advance!“.

This increases the chances that your message will be read and answered. Remember, you want to start a partnership with this company, so it is always good to make a good impression!

2. Pay attention to the email content

Just like you, the other freight forwarders in the market, also receive hundreds of emails with lots of information per day. With such a large amount of emails, you need a strategy to stand out.

Although the structure of any business proposal is essentially the same, i.e. introduce yourself, highlight the services you offer, talk about costs, and above all, convince your potential partner that you are the perfect choice for that operation. Good copywriting can be a major game-changer.

Be objective in your email but give as much information as you judge necessary. Make clear the reason for your contact and the opportunity you are bringing to them. These emails should be read quickly so that the potential freight partner identifies right away what your purpose is.

If your emails are excessively long, no one will read them. Therefore, your emails should never exceed more than a few paragraphs. If you want to offer more information, you can include a link in the email that redirects to your company’s website, for example.

3. Choose a subject that stands out

The subject of your email is perhaps the few most important words in the entire email. It is the first impression, it is the reason why the recipient will open it or not. The goal of the subject line is to make the person reading it feel interested and say three simple words, “Tell me more”.

Subject lines should be short and used to summarize what the person can expect when reading your email. When thinking about the subject of your email, focus on the idea of telling your partner why they should care about what you have to say enough to read the email.

However, even though you want them to click on your email and read your content, if your subject line is there for the sole purpose of getting the other person to click on it and not providing any context, you will achieve the opposite result.

The point is, use the subject line with the goal, to make your freight partner say “That sounds interesting, tell me more”. You can use something like “Are you still looking for a logistics partner in [place] (add the area you operate in) ?” or “[Company] (add your company’s name) has the right logistics solutions for you”.

4. Avoid sending spammy email content

In practical terms, SPAM is any message sent to multiple recipients, who receive it out of their desire. The practice of email SPAM is associated with mass mailing, through specialized platforms, and to lists of addresses without permission to send. 

This means that if you have no real interest in that email and are only interested in sending the same message to various people and companies, they may not only choose to opt-out of your list but may also report your messages as spam.

This type of behavior is not only unacceptable, but it is also poorly perceived by your partners. SPAM email can not only impact the results of your freight forwarding introduction email strategy and, consequently your business generation. But it can also damage your company’s image among the others.

Put yourself in your customers’ and freight partners’ shoes. Would they think you are exaggerating?

Introduce yourself and make new partnerships

Inefficient email can cost logistics and freight forwarding companies a lot. However, by improving the way your company handles your email, you can win more business and increase the overall satisfaction of your partners and customers. 

The above article gives you 4 best practices for freight forwarding introduction email, use it as a guide to implement or restructure your company’s strategy and get better results to generate business with email.