An email sent to an acquiantance that is intended to be forwarded to a third party, usually for the purpose of an introduction. A forwardable email should be addressed to someone you know and contain all relavent information so that the intermediary just has to forward it along.
Hi Richard,
It was great catching up with you the other day. My new company, Amalgamated Neural Networks has been growing at 20%/month and I think it's time for us to bring on an EVP of Sales to help us capitalize on all the interest. I know you used to work with Jack Barker and I think he'd be a great fit -- could you make the intro?
Thanks man!
Nelson
You're asking someone to take time out of their day to help you out. By making it easier for them you are more likely to get what you want. Well connected people are usually busy people.
No!! The whole point is to start with a clean email that can be forwarded without any extraneous background info.
Normally they'll forward it along along with some commentary like "Hi Jack, see below. Nelson is awesome and his company is killing it. Let me know if you're interested. -Richard"
Either your acquaintance forgot to foward it or, more likely, the person you are ultimately looking to connect with is not interested.
Great question! Keep it short, well written (no typos, grammatical errors), informative, and to the point. Make sure you clearly state your desired outcome. Also check beforehand that your acquaintance actually knows the target well enough to make the intro!
Generally not unless you have a very close relationship with the intermediary. An ideal setup would be "Neslon: Hey Richard, do you know Jack Barker well enough to intro me? Richard: Yeah, I know him very well. Nelson: Cool, I'll send you a forwardable email."