How to Write an Attractive Follow-Up Email in 6 Steps

It can’t be overstated how essential follow-up emails are in the sales process.

Some 60% of customers say no four times before saying yes, but 48% of salespeople never send a single follow-up email! If you’re in the 48%, we will change that. 

How Do You Write an Amazing Follow-Up Email?

The initial cold emails are often ignored. To get the prospect’s attention follow-up emails are mandatory. If you want to learn more we have follow-up email guide, do check that out.

It is important to follow up until an email connection has been made. But how do you do an effective follow-up? It all begins with writing the best follow-up email copy.

• Step #1: Determine Your Objective For The Follow-Up
• Step #2: Write An Attractive Subject Line
• Step #3:  Write A Personalized Opening Line
• Step #4: Provide Context For Contacting Them
• Step #5: Add Value In Each Follow-Up
• Step #6: Add Strong Call-to-Action

Step 1: Determine Your Objective for the Follow-Up

Why are you sending a follow-up to a particular prospect? Did they not respond to the first?  Did you meet at an event, and you’re hoping to schedule a call or meeting?

When crafting your follow-up email, keep in mind what you want them to do next and create a strong call to action (“CTA”) that prompts them to do that. 

Step 2: Write an Attractive Subject Line

All outreach emails should have a hook, and that hook should come early, i.e., in the subject line.

But there is a fine line between attention-getting and spammy. Be precise and clear, which may mean more than a word or two. Short doesn’t always work, and you may need more words to demonstrate value. 

The two goals for your follow-up email subject line should be personalization and relevance to the reader. 

Step 3: Write a Personalized Opening Line

Really hone your opening line. A snazzy subject line will get them to open your email, but you can lose them quickly if you don’t knock that opening line out of the park. 

Grab their attention with a question about a recent trigger event, name drop a mutual connection, or remind them of past contact the two of you have had, whether it’s a previous email or having met in person. 

Step 4: Provide Context for Contacting Them

Explain to the reader why you’re emailing them and provide a quick recap of your initial email. It’s important to add context because:

• They may not have read your initial email
• They did read your email but forgot to respond

You don’t need to give a play-by-play of the previous contact, just the minimum they need to understand why you’re emailing them. 

Step 5: Add Value in Each Follow-Up

If your prospect genuinely needs what you’re selling, you should have no problem showing them that. Just because someone needs something you have, though, doesn’t necessarily mean they respond immediately or at all. That’s why you have to add value to all of your email messages. 

Do you have social proof of having helped a direct competitor or a company in a similar industry?  Share a bit about how that was achieved. 

Step 6: Add a Strong Call-to-Action 

Your CTA should be clear, easy to follow, and connected to your goal. Don’t make your CTA too difficult or ask for too much commitment early on. Asking for too much can mean a lost lead. Do you want the reader to schedule a call with you? Include the link to do so and MAKE SURE IT WORKS!

You Wrote Your Follow-Up Email; What’s Next?

You did the hard part! You wrote your follow-up message. So what comes next after you’ve sent your follow-up email? There are still a few things you need to do, though. 

1. Automate Your Follow-Up Email

You have your follow-up strategy in place; let Postaga make the rest of the process easier. Part of that strategy is the sequence and timing of each subsequent email. Postaga allows you to automate your entire outreach campaign along with follow-up emails and their intervals, taking some of the pressure off your sales team. 

2. Visually Personalize Follow-Up Emails

Using visuals helps personalize your emails, and visuals are more memorable than text and a powerful way to convey information. You can create screenshots, gifs, and images that look like they were created specifically for that prospect. 

Using Postaga and Nexweave, you can add these features, and these kinds of personalized emails can get you three times the reply rate compared to emails with no personalized visuals. 

3. Pop Up On Your Prospects Social Media

Out of sight, out of mind, right? So you want to be within the site of your prospects! Connect with them on the appropriate social media sites and interact.

Like their posts, comment, engage with them, so you’re on their radar. Doing so can help turn you from a stranger to a known quantity. 

4. Close Your Follow-Up the Right Way

Cold emails can be awkward to close, often reading stiff and overly formal. But you don’t want to sound too casual either since, at most, you and your email recipients are just acquaintances. A trick that always helps me is to read out my emails before I send them. Hearing the words spoken can help you find passages that sound stilted or robotic, and it’s especially helpful with closes. 

If you’ve sent several follow-ups already with no response, close with something unrelated to business and personal to them; an event they posted about on social media, a new restaurant near their office. They may answer a personalized, non-business question and that gives you an opening. 

Don’t forget to include your signature and other information in your closing. 

Follow-Up Email Etiquettes To Maintain

Make sure every piece of content you send conforms to good standards of etiquette before you hit the Send button.  Failing to do so can make you look sloppy, too informal, or even downright incompetent. Here are some key points to follow:

1. Never write condescendingly. This can be hard to detect in your own writing, so reading things aloud and having a colleague read them too can help avoid this cardinal sin! 
2. Don’t speak too casually either. You don’t know the reader yet, and you’re trying to form a business relationship, not hitting them up on a dating app! 
3. Never send emails on weekends or holidays. It’s rude to intrude on their personal time, and emails sent on these days are less likely to be read. 
4. Never send emails after you’ve been asked not to or the prospect has said they’re not interested. If you continue, you’re violating the law and could be fined. 
5. Avoid sounding passive-aggressive, indirectly offensive, or impolite. You might well be miffed that they’ve not responded yet, but don’t let that creep into your messages. This is cold outreach; they don’t owe you anything, not even a response. 

Long story short, be polite to them than you are with your mama! Here are a few snarky phrases to avoid:

• “Well…” Starting a sentence with the word ‘Well’ sounds huffy no matter what comes next. 
• Why haven’t you responded? Again, they don’t owe you anything. 
• Didn’t you get my last email? This sounds accusatory. 

How Long Should You Wait Before Sending Follow-Ups?

While follow-up emails are important, there is a proper email sequence to follow. Without an appropriate delay between emails, you look over-eager and even spammy. And there is an ideal number of follow-ups to send, depending on your goal. 

In general, wait 4 to 5 days before sending your follow-up emails.

For link-building-oriented emails, you might only want to have a few emails in your sequence (3-4).

For sales-focused emails, you may be playing the long game, with follow-up emails that can go out a month or more after your first contact, because you were reaching them at a time where your pitch wasn’t a good fit, but things may have changed later.

Here are some ideas for you:

Days Between Cold Sales Email Follow-Ups

1. Original message
2. Wait 4 workdays
3. Wait another 4 workdays
4. Wait 4 more workdays
5. Wait 6 more workdays
6. One month later

Days Between Content Promotion / Link Building Follow-Ups

• Content promotion outreach: Wait 4 workdays for each, send 2 follow-ups
• Guest post outreach: Wait 4 workdays for each, send 3 follow-ups
• Skyscraper outreach: Wait 6 and 5 days for each, send 2 follow-ups
• Unlinked mentions outreach: Wait 3 days for each, send 2 follow-ups
• Podcast outreach: Wait 6 days for each, send 2 follow-ups

Email Follow-Up Scenarios

1. Follow-up for warm leads: Turn a warm lead into a hot one! Send a follow-up immediately after your initial contact, reiterating the main points discussed and outlining the next step. Follow-up in 3-5 days if you didn’t get a response. 
2. After meeting at a networking event, follow up ASAP and connect on LinkedIn. Don’t give them time to forget you or let another person get there first. 
3. Product promotion follow-up: Typically, a product promotion has a limited time. Be sure to emphasize this and encourage them to respond to avoid missing out. 
4. Free trial offer follow-up: Again, emphasize that the clock is ticking to take advantage of the offer and offer to answer any questions they may have about the product or service. 
5. Contributor outreach follow-up: Lay it on thick! Let them know how excited you are to possibly have the chance to write for them and provide value for them and their audience. 
6. Following up after an interview: Think of this like a thank you note for a gift. Send it immediately and thank them profusely for their time and the opportunity. 
7. Follow-up after a client meeting: You may have provided a lot of information in an in-person meeting. Offer to answer any questions and address any concerns they may have, lots of TLC! 
8. Follow-up for an overdue response: Apologize for the late response but don’t give excuses. They sound just like that, excuses. And even if you had a legitimate reason for not following up right away, they aren’t interested in your problems. 
9. Follow-up after a conference/trade show: They are likely inundated with follow-up messages from other attendees, so be sure to provide real value in your follow-up, something that will set you apart from the others. 
10. Follow-up email after appointment confirmation: Don’t bug them! They’ve scheduled your next interaction. Send a simple reminder one day before the appointment to confirm. 

To Wrap It All Up

Any follow-up can help improve your sales outreach numbers but taking the simple steps we’ve outlined to hone and perfect your follow-up game can make a big impact! Always be sure to avoid common follow-up email mistakes.

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