How to track introductions in Affinity

In this article, we'll go over the two main ways we track introductions in Affinity:

1. Source of Introduction
   • How to understand Source of Introduction
   • How we determine the Source of Introduction
2. Introductions Made
   • How we determine if an interaction is an introduction
   • How to export all introductions made

Source of Introduction

Considered to be the very first introduction made between you/your team and a person or organization, the Source of Introduction can be found in two places:

• On people lists and organization lists, through the Source of Introduction column.
  • It is a single-value field by default. Clicking on each cell will show you the interaction that Affinity considered to be the introduction.
    
    
    
  • If it is converted to a multiple-value field, then you will not be able to see the interaction that Affinity considered to be the introduction.
    
    
    
  • Note: The Source of Introduction column will not be available in opportunity lists by default. However, you can choose to manually create a Source of Introduction field in each opportunity list as you best see fit.
    
    
    
• On a profile page, under the Connections tab.
  • Note: The Source of Introduction field will not be available in opportunity profile pages.
    
    
    

How to understand Source of Introduction

When it comes to me (Ryan) and my team's relationship to Rachel (an external contact), Matthew (another external contact) is the Source of Introduction since me/my team's first interaction with Rachel was made possible via Matthew. Matthew has introduced me/my team to Rachel by way of CC'ing Rachel in the email thread on January 28, 2020.

How we determine the Source of Introduction

In order to calculate the Source of Introduction, we look at the First Email and pick:

• The sender who appears in the From field (this is the most common case).
  • If we are unable to create a contact in Affinity for the sender (because we couldn't find a full name for example) or if the sender is the entity in question (Rachel), then we pick an internal teammate who appears in the To field.
  • If not in the To field, then we pick an internal teammate in the CC field.
• If there are no internal teammates, we pick an external contact in the To field if one exists.
  • If not in the To field, then we pick an external contact in the CC field.

If the Source of Introduction has been calculated incorrectly, feel free to double-click the cell and change it to the correct person. Just know that we may not be able to tie this individual with an email communication from the past if this occurs.

Introductions Made

More holistically, you can track all introductions made by contacts and all introductions made to contacts. You can find this information on the Introductions tab found in people and organization profile pages (not on opportunity profile pages).

How we determine if an interaction is an introduction

We look at email subjects and email bodies to figure out whether an email is a formal introduction, who the people being introduced are, and by whom.

To ensure that introductory emails are caught by Affinity, you can simply introduce your customer (e.g. Alice and Bob) by:

• Titling the email subject as "Intro: Alice <> Bob"
• Making sure Alice and Bob are in the To/CC fields

There are still some rare edge cases where this won't work but should be good enough for most cases.

How to export all introductions made

There are 4 main ways to export all introductions made:

1. All Organizations Directory
   
   
   
2. All People Directory
   
   
   
3. Specific organizations on any organization list
   
   
   
4. Specific people on any people list