Do I Need To Register 23andme Before Sending It

Do y'all notice that you don't become replies to most of the messages you lot send to 23andMe DNA relatives?

This article is full of advice and tips on how to compose messages with a amend chance of getting responses.

Sending Messages On 23andMe

23andMe lets you send messages to your DNA relatives through their messaging system.

The easiest way to send a message is to click on one of your relatives in the Dna Relatives list. 23andMe gives you a large message button.

Notwithstanding, the company virtually hides away your inbox where yous run across all your letters and replies.

To access stored letters, click on the notification bell. And then switch the tab from notifications to "View letters".

How Likely Are You lot To Get Replies?

I haven't sent a huge corporeality of messages on 23andMe. I am more active on some other Dna sites.

Nonetheless, here are my 23andMe statistics since I tested in tardily 2017:

sent xiii messages
received 5 replies

Two replies were within one 24-hour interval and the other three got back to me within 30 days.

So that's a 38% success charge per unit for me. Merely I'g just ane person who hasn't sent many messages on this platform!

So, I had a quick look at the genealogy forums to see how other 23andMe users were doing. People were getting about a xxx% response rate.

Positive Indicators and Red Flag

You tin can check for some positive indications that a 23andMe user is more than likely to answer to your message.

When was the user last agile?

The showtime thing to look for is when was your Dna relative last active on 23andMe. Yous meet this information when you lot click on the user in your Dna Relatives list.

"Active" means when the user has logged into their business relationship (not when they DNA-tested).

The "Active" description will exist ane of these:

In the concluding calendar week
In the terminal calendar month
Over a calendar month ago
Over 6 months ago
Over a yr ago

If the account is "over vi months" or "over a year", so this suggests a lack of interest in continuing to research family through exploring DNA relatives.

Some people treat 23andMe as a one-off buy. They view their health reports and/or their ethnicity composition, and don't return to the site.

The 23andMe users who log in every month or so tend to exist checking for new DNA relatives. These users are more probable to be interested in collaborating on family history research.

Has the account filled in their family unit background?

Users tin can cull to fill up in the "family unit groundwork" department in the user profile. These are the details of family unit names and too grandparents' birthplaces.

When you scroll down on the Relative page, you lot'll see a comparison betwixt your own background and this user.

If the user has filled in the details of this department, so they are more likely to be interested in researching their family history. Therefore, this is a skilful indicator for replying to messages.

However, if the details are blank – don't automatically assume that users aren't interested in contact. They may be adoptees.

Does the business relationship have a link to a family tree?

23andMe lets you add a web link to a family unit tree on sure other DNA sites.

You may see a link nether the "Family Background" section. This is a good indicator that the user is actively researching their family history and may be open to communication.

General Guidelines

In general, you will increase your chances of not getting a respond if you send a vague message like "how are we related".

Conversely, you may also frighten the horses if yous ship an emotionally wrought appeal with lengthy details virtually how difficult your enquiry has been.

Let'due south wait at some general Dos and Don't's when sending your first message. I'll expand on these in the side by side section.

What to do:

Make your first message brief and concise
Provide some ancestral background such equally locations and surnames
Be explicit about what kind of help y'all are seeking

What not to do:

Endeavor not to make an emotional appeal for assistance
Don't write lengthy paragraphs with all the details of your research
Avoid revealing a subconscious family secret that might stupor the recipient
Don't requite too much personal information (other than electronic mail)

Good Subject Lines

Avoid subject lines similar these:

"23andMe relative"
"Looking for info"
"How are we related?"

You don't want the recipient to recollect they are getting a mass e-mail that you're sending to all your relatives in the 23andMe database.

Let's expect at some better examples. If you're reaching out to a 3rd cousin, and so this would exist better to showtime with:

third cousin Relative On 23andMe

Avoid citing percentages or centimorgans. The user may not yet be used to DNA jargon.

You tin can become a petty more specific if you lot've formed a general opinion on the connection.

Suppose you've examined the Dna relative and see that she has listed Ireland and Italy as grandparents' birthplaces. Y'all take no Italian connections, as far as you know, but you have Irish grandparents.

This could exist a expert subject field line:

23andMe iii^rd Cousin – Irish connection?

Opening Sentence

The first sentence is oftentimes the hardest to write!

Be specific as to what led you to contact this person. If it's due to specific surnames in their Family Background, so include the names in your opening sentence.

"I detect that you have Reilly listed as a family unit surname on 23andMe."

Alternatively, you may have noticed this user as a shut shared match with someone else of interest. Open with that data.

"We both accept [Username] every bit a relative in mutual on 23andMe."

Information technology may seem pointless to specify 23andMe as the DNA exam company. Afterward all, the message is sent through the 23andMe system.

But some users, like myself, may have Deoxyribonucleic acid results on several websites. I have things set upwardly so that every company's messages are forwarded to a single e-mail account. And then, brand it like shooting fish in a barrel for people similar me!

The Message Body

The general communication for get-go letters is to proceed them short and business-like.

Researching family history tin bring strong emotions into play. Try to go along emotions out of the message!

I find that people with a unmarried important question tend to write lengthy essays – because it is of such importance to them.

Unfortunately, information technology can be a lot of hard work for the recipient to digest a century of family biography. It would be a pity if this distracted the user from answering a simple question buried within the text.

Be clear on what help you demand

If y'all've followed our communication, your subject line and opening sentence accept explained why yous are making contact.

Some people just stop there, without actually asking a question.

You practice need to be clear that you're looking for specific information. Don't forget to enquire!

What do yous practise when you take little background information?

I've advised that you put some specifics into your message.

But what do you exercise if you're starting from a position of no background knowledge? This can be the situation for adoptees or people with unknown parentage.

I'll accost these challenges in the last department of this article.

Signing Off

23andMe sends your messages with your user name. This may be KW or some other anonymized moniker.

There's no need to put your full name into your bulletin. In general, I'd advise against revealing also much personally identifying information in a commencement message.

However, I suggest that yous sign off with your first proper name. That makes things more personable.

I likewise have a generic Gmail account that I utilize for researching my family tree. I include information technology at the end of my messages. This opens up the possibility of exchanging documents in later contact.

Adoption And Unknown Parentage

The general advice for adoptees is: don't mention adoption in your first message .

If adoption isn't part of your history but y'all are looking to place a parent, and so the offset message is probably not the place to disclose this.

Basically, you don't desire the recipient to experience firsthand discomfort at possible family revelations. That puts yous at a disadvantage.

I advised earlier to exist as specific as you lot can in your messages. Of course, this is a challenge when you lot don't know any family unit background.

If you do take a surname of interest, and then include information technology – merely be clear that you're uncertain. People tin be eager to correct dubiety. Something like this could become into the message body:

I think our connectedness may be through the [surname] line, but I'1000 not certain.

It's not uncommon that you don't know anything about surnames. Still, y'all may take some geographical cognition of your groundwork.

Adoption agencies sometimes give broad descriptions of where biological parents were from. This tin be dropped into the bulletin torso:

I'm researching my line from [geographic area], and I think that may be our connexion.