How to Write a Follow-Up Email
Following-up is an important aspect of any outreach strategy. When you write your first cold email, you want to interest the recipient and get them to engage with you.
On the other hand, when writing a follow-up email, your goal is to re-engage the recipient, increase open rates or nurture a relationship.
Effective follow-up emails that are well-timed are essential to growing your business and engaging the recipient; in fact, research shows that follow-up emails can increase response rates by up to 22%.
In this article, you will learn how to:
- Craft follow-up emails across industries
- Find templates that work for you
- Learn the psychology behind follow-up emails and when to send them
Why Are Follow-Up Emails Important?
Following up emails are important for several key reasons. They can:
- Boost response rates
- Demonstrate persistence and professionalism
- Nurture an already existing relationship
Given that most people don’t respond to a first email due to busy schedules and workloads, a strategic follow-up email can be the difference between successfully engaging your leads and getting lost in the recipient’s inbox. Reading through a Reddit thread it seems people got around 22% better response rate just by using a 3-step process.
Consider your industry, tone and timing to maximize response rates and elicit engagement. While your emails will vary across industries in terms of what you offer, you should still follow certain principles for all of them.
To help you write the best follow-up email, we’ve created the below list of follow-up email templates. Explore them and adjust them according to your needs.
The 15 Best Follow-Up Email Templates
Use the below templates to get an idea of how to approach prospects depending on the situation and industry in which you operate.
Follow-up email after receiving no response (three days after the initial email)
Second follow-up email after receiving no response (four-five days after the first follow-up email)
Third follow-up email (send seven days after the second follow-up)
Follow-up email after an interview
Sales (SaaS) – follow-up after a product demo
Real estate – follow-up after property viewing
Marketing agency – follow-up after presenting a proposal
Discovery call follow-up template
Proposal follow-up email template
Networking follow-up email template
Invoice follow-up email template
Inquiry follow-up email template
Follow-up after a referral
Follow-up after sending a free trial or sample
Follow-up on a customer feedback request
5 Steps to Writing a Follow-Up Email
Although you will need to adjust your email according to your niche and industry, all great follow-up emails can benefit from having the following:
- Craft a concise and clear subject line
Your subject line should be straightforward and short, easily grabbing the attention of the recipient and encouraging them to open and reply.
You should consider these tips:
- Keep it brief and to the point (6-8 words)
- Use action-oriented language (e.g., “Have you had a chance to review?”)
- Avoid being too salesy or pushy
- State your purpose
Remind the recipient why you’re reaching out and what’s the purpose of the email.
- Reference your point of topic or contact (e.g., “Following up on our last call”)
- Remain professional but friendly
- Be specific about why you’re following up on (e.g., a proposal, inquiry, or meeting)
- Personalize email and provide context
Tailor the message to the recipient and mention how you have a product/service that can help the recipient overcome a particular problem they are facing.
- Reference something unique about your previous interaction
- Mention how your product fits their needs
- Personalize it by using their name and the name of their organization
- Add value to the recipient
Make sure your email offers something to the recipient. Depending on what you offer, it can be a free demo, consultation or a trial.
- Offer a free resource or consultation
- Share relevant insights or updates
- Offer additional support
- Include a call to action (CTA)
Encourage interaction by providing a call to action and inviting the recipient to take the next step.
- Suggest a call/meeting at the recipient’s convenience
- Ask for feedback or questions
- Propose a timeframe (i.e. “Are you available this week?)
Tips on Sending Follow-Up Emails
Now that you understand the basic elements of follow-up emails, it is important to understand when and how to utilize them.
Follow the below tips to maximize the effectiveness of your follow-up emails.
When to send a follow-up email?
The timing of your follow-up email is almost as important as its quality.
Research suggests that the best time of day to send an email is between 10 AM and 11 AM on a Tuesday, as 27% of marketers surveyed in a study reported that sending an email at this time resulted in the highest reply rates.
Follow-up email psychology
To better understand the psychology of follow-up emails, we can refer to the Zeigarnik Effect. Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik concluded that people remember uncompleted and interrupted tasks much better than the completed ones.
To that end, a follow-up email reminds the recipient that they have an incomplete action – and consequently encourages them to reply to your initial message.
A/B testing follow-up emails
Performing A/B testing is a sure way to determine the best iteration of a written piece such as an email, ad or a landing page.
Before you start sending out follow-up emails, you can run tests to find the ones that recipients best respond to.
To perform A/B testing, you can:
- Select an element of an email you wish to test (e.g. a subject line)
- Craft two different emails (one with a short and the other with a longer subject line)
- Segment your audience and send different emails to different groups
- Track metrics like open rates and response rates
- Use the better-performing version in your future follow-up efforts
Consistently testing and optimizing your follow-up emails will eventually lead to you having a follow-up template that drives better engagement.
Follow-up email sequence
Sending just one follow-up email is not enough. You want to create an email sequence to continually engage your prospects.
Multiple emails ensure you continuously engage your recipients without being too pushy.
Here’s how to do it:
- Day 1: Send your initial email.
- Day 4: First follow-up—remind the recipient of your initial message and offer additional value (e.g., a resource or a demo).
- Day 7: Second follow-up—reinforce the benefits of your offer and encourage a reply with a clear call to action.
- Day 14: Final follow-up—offer to close the conversation politely or ask if the timing is right for further engagement.
Conclusion
Whether you’re trying to reconnect with a lead, nurture a relationship or follow-up after an interview, sending the right kind of a follow-up email will significantly boost your engagement.
By crafting concise subject lines, personalizing emails, providing value to the recipient and keeping it succinct, you can engage and leave an impression on your prospects.
Considering that it takes multiple follow-ups, the most important thing remains to be consistent without becoming pushy.
But if you test and optimize your emails and follow best practices, you will be sure to get noticed and elicit prompt and meaningful engagement.
