Follow-Up Email Templates

Follow-up emails are a series of emails sent to customers in the hopes of closing a deal, or converting an interest into action. A follow-up email can attempt to convert leads, obtain additional information, convince a customer to make an additional purchase, or upgrade from a free trial to a paid account.

Follow-up emails bear encouraging statistics. For one, emails without following up have a 9% reply rate, while emails with a follow-up have a rate of 13%. In certain cases, follow-up emails enjoy a higher response rate than initial emails, which points to the value of persistence with cold emailing.

Follow-up emails are tricky. You're not happy waiting for a reply that may never come but you also don't want to appear pushy, obtrusive, or passive-aggressive; possibly sabotaging a sale. So how do you strike that balance? This article describes best practices for writing follow-up emails and offers useful free templates to download that are proven at getting responses.

The "Meeting" Template:

This email is sent after an initial meeting where you made a sales pitch to a potential client. The client might've given you an encouraging response, but a few days have now passed without any further communication. This is a common situation. The "Meeting" template is the equivalent of a throat-clearing "ahem," signaling an attempt to remind them of their pending response.

Try not to explicitly remind them that you're waiting for a reply. Instead, frame the message as a new development in the process. For example, put together a spreadsheet or presentation that is tailored to them. Let them see the effort you've put into the deal so that they feel obliged to respond in kind.

The "Analytics" Template:

Your email marketing software should have an analytics dashboard that tells you when someone has read an email, whether they've clicked on any links, and what they did on that web page. If you notice that someone has read your email and followed a link to your web page, but did not convert that action into a sale, you might want to drop them an email asking them if they need any help.

People take data privacy very seriously, as they should, and emails that give people the impression that they're being tracked online don't typically sit well with them. To overcome this, simply acknowledge it. Address the creepy nature of the email with self-deprecating humor about the state of technology. This tactic might disarm the recipient, who might have felt a sense of intrusion at first.

The "Event" Template:

This follow-up has the advantage of happenstance. You never cold emailed anyone looking for a lead, or gave a sales pitch in a company meeting room. You simply attended the same event and had an interesting conversation. Half your job is done. What's left now is to send them an email that consolidates the relationship. Tell them you were glad to have run into them, and that you're keen on hearing more about what they had to say.

The key here is to strike while the iron is hot. Don't wait too long after the event to send the follow-up. Get it in their inbox the very next day. It might be helpful to reintroduce yourself in case the client has forgotten your name or the company you work for.

The "Voicemail" Template:

Leaving both a voicemail and a follow-up email is the classic jab-right hook of the email marketing world. Voicemail and email are often ignored individually, but a voicemail and email one-two enjoys much higher response rates. It tells them that you tried reaching out to them that but they weren't available, so you thought it would be more convenient to drop them an email.

The "Sale" Template:

No one likes missing out on a sale. It's almost too easy to provoke action by alerting a customer to a narrow window of opportunity in which to save money (assuming the customer is interested in the product).

Most of your work is done in the subject line. Do nothing other than say how much is off and for how long. The body of the email should, very concisely, describe the benefits of making the purchase.