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The email that uses a real shared connection to get a reply, without asking anyone for a formal introduction. Name them, or reference the relationship without naming them.
1 · How much can you honestly claim?
2 · The connection
The company or school they shared. Leave blank if it does not apply.
3 · Who you are writing to
Finish this sentence: "I wanted to talk about..." Write it from their side of the table.
4 · You
Most warm paths never get used because a formal introduction is a big ask. A name-drop costs the connector nothing, needs no scheduling, and still carries most of the trust. Use it when the relationship is real but light.
If you have never spoken to the connector, naming them implies an endorsement you do not have. Referencing the relationship without the name is honest, keeps their goodwill intact, and usually reads as more intriguing, not less.
Every word has to be true. A name-drop that turns out to be invented does more damage than a cold email ever could, because it burns the buyer and the connector at the same time.
This writes the email once you already know who your shared connection is. Boomerang finds them for you across your whole company's network, scores which path is strongest, and tells you who internally should make the ask.
See your warm paths freeWorked examples
Every example below is the exact output of the generator above, for a rep at a software company writing to a prospect at a commercial real estate firm. The only thing that changes between them is how strong the claim on the relationship is, and who the connection is.
The strongest version. Dana explicitly offered, so the email says so plainly and the subject line does the work.
Subject line
Dana suggested I reach out
Alternatives: Dana mentioned you · Via Dana
Hi Marcus, Dana suggested I get in touch. Dana Whitfield, now VP Legal at Cushman & Wakefield, worked with you at Deloitte. I wanted to talk about cutting the time your legal team spends on lease abstraction. It rarely gets prioritised until it becomes a problem, so I thought it was worth putting in front of you directly. Worth fifteen minutes? Happy to share what Dana and I covered first if that is more useful. Alex Northwind
Softer and still true. It says the name came up in conversation, which is what happened. It does not claim a referral.
Subject line
Dana's name came up
Alternatives: You came up in a conversation with Dana · Dana and Brookfield
Hi Marcus, Your name came up while I was speaking with Dana Whitfield, now VP Legal at Cushman & Wakefield, who worked with you at Deloitte. I wanted to talk about cutting the time your legal team spends on lease abstraction. It rarely gets prioritised until it becomes a problem, so I thought it was worth putting in front of you directly. Worth fifteen minutes? Happy to share what Dana and I covered first if that is more useful. Alex Northwind
Naming someone you have never talked to implies an endorsement you do not have. This version keeps the relationship and drops the name.
Subject line
Someone you worked with at Deloitte
Alternatives: A Deloitte connection of yours · We have someone in common
Hi Marcus, We work with someone who worked with you at Deloitte. They are now VP Legal at Cushman & Wakefield. I wanted to talk about cutting the time your legal team spends on lease abstraction. It rarely gets prioritised until it becomes a problem, so I thought it was worth putting in front of you directly. I would rather name them, but not in a cold email. Happy to say who on a call. Worth fifteen minutes? Alex Northwind
A customer link carries its own credibility, so the email leans on the relationship to your company rather than a personal favour.
Subject line
Priya suggested I reach out
Alternatives: Priya mentioned you · Via Priya
Hi Marcus, Priya offered to point me your way. Priya Raman, now Director of Operations at Hines, is a customer of ours and knows you. I wanted to talk about cutting the time your legal team spends on lease abstraction. It rarely gets prioritised until it becomes a problem, so I thought it was worth putting in front of you directly. Worth fifteen minutes? Happy to share what Priya and I covered first if that is more useful. Alex Northwind
Same structure through the investor network, unnamed. Useful when the investor has not agreed to be named yet.
Subject line
One of our investors knows you
Alternatives: A shared connection · We have someone in common
Hi Marcus, One of our investors knows you. They are now Partner at Radial Ventures. I wanted to talk about cutting the time your legal team spends on lease abstraction. It rarely gets prioritised until it becomes a problem, so I thought it was worth putting in front of you directly. I would rather name them, but not in a cold email. Happy to say who on a call. Worth fifteen minutes? Alex Northwind
Alumni links are weaker than working relationships, so the warm tone spends a sentence earning the ask.
Subject line
Sofia's name came up
Alternatives: You came up in a conversation with Sofia · Sofia and Brookfield
Hi Marcus, Your name came up while I was speaking with Sofia Lindqvist, now General Counsel at Tishman Speyer, who studied at Michigan around the same time you did. I have been spending a lot of time with teams in your position, and cutting the time your legal team spends on lease abstraction comes up almost every time. Usually it is not that nobody has tried to fix it, it is that it never quite reaches the top of the list. Worth fifteen minutes? Happy to share what Sofia and I covered first if that is more useful. Alex Northwind
A name-drop email is a cold email that opens by referencing a real shared connection between you and the person you are writing to, instead of leading with your product. It is not a referral and it is not an introduction. Nobody forwards anything and nobody has to make time for you. You are simply naming the relationship that already exists, so the recipient has a reason to read the second sentence.
Yes, provided every word is true and you claim no more than actually happened. There are three honest positions, and the wording has to change for each. If they offered to let you use their name, say so directly. If you spoke and they did not offer, say the name came up, not that they sent you. If you have never spoken to them, do not use the name at all.
The failure mode is not being too cautious. It is implying an endorsement you were never given, which the recipient can verify with one message.
Asking is always safer, and it is a much smaller favour than asking for an introduction, so people say yes more often than reps expect. But permission is not strictly required to reference a relationship that genuinely exists. What matters is that your description of the relationship would not embarrass you if the recipient forwarded your email straight to the person you named. Write every name-drop as though it will be forwarded, because sometimes it is.
Describe the relationship precisely enough to be credible and stop short of the name. "We work with someone who worked with you at Deloitte, now VP Legal at Cushman and Wakefield" gives the recipient a specific, checkable claim without putting words in anyone's mouth. Then offer the name on a call.
This reads as more considered rather than less, because you are visibly declining to trade on a relationship you have not earned. It is also the only honest option when you have never spoken to the connection.
They solve different problems. A warm introduction carries more trust and converts better, but it costs the connector real effort, which is why most warm paths are never used at all. A name drop costs the connector nothing, needs no scheduling, and can go out today.
The practical rule: ask for the introduction when the relationship is strong and the account is worth the favour. Name-drop when the relationship is real but light, or when you have already spent your favours elsewhere this quarter.
That is the harder half of the problem, and no email template solves it. The connections usually exist somewhere across your company: an executive who worked with the buyer, an investor on their board, a customer who used to be their colleague. They are just not written down anywhere one person can see. Boomerang maps those paths across your whole company's network, scores which one is strongest, and tells you who internally should make the ask.
