Email Cover Letter: 5 principles that actually work.

Nowadays, with the help of AI, many people try to generate cover letters that are not ideal by themselves but provide a helpful structure.

So now what? Where is the hidden happy medium?

In my practice, a great cover letter must follow 5 principles, which I am going to share with you:

1. Tone and clarity:

Not too official, but more friendly and straight to the point. Most people who receive cover letters don’t want to waste time reading “I hope you are doing well” and so on.
They want to quickly understand why they opened your email, its value, or if they should just mark you as spam. So after the greeting (ideally by name if you write to an individual, or mentioning their company name + team—for example: Hi, LinkedIn team), go straight to the point about why you are reaching out and how your email can be useful.

2. Email Structure:

Usually, a great cover letter (if you are offering a service) should consist of 4 parts:
a) Greeting (Hi, dear LinkedIn team or Hi, John).
b) A short introduction of your activity and your offer—what it can bring to the person or company you’re reaching out to (1 long sentence).
c) A call to action—if they are interested, suggest a short call.
d) Signature (Kind regards, your full name, contact details, position).

3. Your email account profile picture:

Although it’s not directly related to the email content, it’s crucial to have a real profile photo instead of reaching out with a blank avatar. A missing photo isn’t trustworthy at all.

4. AI support in generating cover letter:

The most important thing you can take from AI when generating a cover letter is the structure.
AI often gives long, wordy drafts. Try to ask for a shorter version, then change some words yourself so it feels more natural.

5. The moral:

Always remember, your email is how you show your attitude. Besides being respectful, it should save their time and feel natural, targeted, and individual.
No one likes to feel like just one of thousands of targets in a copy-paste sequence.

So, with that being said, I want to share a sample email cover letter that usually works for me:

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a) Hi dear Jane, it’s Edgar from Pragmawoo.

b) I’d like to offer our services for your website https://example.com/—redesign, SEO, or monthly tech maintenance—to make your website more mobile-friendly, discoverable on Google, and optimized for ChatGPT.

c) Would you be open to a quick audit or a chat about how we can help increase your bookings?

d) Best regards,
Edgar | +12345678910
CEO, Pragmawoo
[email protected]