What is a follow-up email?
It is an email that is sent to someone you have already contacted before. The goal is to resume the conversation, get a response, or remind them of an important date💡
It would be a kind of reminder email and aims to resume a conversation on the way to the sale: to arrange a meeting, to switch from the free plan to the paid one, to increase the frequency of purchase, etc.
Sending a follow-up email increases the opening of your emails by 63% and the response to your emails by 52%. Plus, they boost 23% more sales.
Will you give it a try?
Now, before getting into the design and writing of follow-up emails, there are common elements to each phase that you should not overlook. These are the three golden rules to keep your contacts on the consumer journey:
1️⃣ Patience 🐢
2️⃣ Synergy between departments
3️⃣ Use of appropriate tools, such email marketing automation solution
Cracking the Code of effective Follow-Up Emails. How to write them?
First, here are some bullet points summarizing what NOT⛔ to do:
What NOT to do when writing a follow-up email?
Leave more than 1 month of time📆
We recommend waiting at least 3 days to send our first follow-up. And if we still don’t receive a response, we insist 2 more times leaving 5 and 7 days between emails.
Don’t demand a response
Remember to be friendly! Always be natural and genuine. Applying excessive pressure on the receiver with a harsh and demanding tone will lead to the opposite outcome: rejection. You need to humanize your messages, so that the desire to strike up a conversation flows.
Don’t ask again for information that wasn’t answered in the first place
Don’t send an email that doesn’t offer something new compared to the previous one💡
Maybe your prospect misplaced your message, forgot to respond or didn’t even open it, but you should also consider the possibility that they did and definitely weren’t interested in the information you offered.
Therefore, you should not insist with the same idea, try another hook, study your leads a bit and write them something personalized that you believe motivates them.
Always remember the subject of the email
Chances are, the contact doesn’t remember the email you sent them or how it could benefit them to contact you. They also haven’t taken the time to look for your previous message in their inbox.
Now, we’ll move on to see how to write an effective follow-up email that really DO works with proven tricks✅, but before that…
I’ll tell you some secrets to make things even easier🤫
Tip 1: Have you ever heard of email automation? Automating your follow-up emails is fundamental. It allows you to keep track of all the emails sent, with or without responses, and save time and resources, improving the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Another tip: Don’t limit yourself to using just the phone and email. If you have access to their social media sites, take advantage of them as well.
Final tip (still highly valuable):
How to get emails to launch cold emailing campaigns?📧
The key to succeeding with your cold emailing campaigns and reaping successes with your follow-up emails is to well define your target audience. This one tool called Mailerfind is one of the best tools to build tailor-made segmented email lists for your business🚀
It allows you to collect the contact details of your potential customers (name, email, phone number, location, website…) and send them mass messages. In addition, it offers automation features and anti-spam technology. Cool, right?
The process is super simple, you can automate your lead generation in a few clicks and they have available for you a Sample Plan to try.
You can take a look at the Mailerfind Guide to know how to make the most of the leads and get the maximum benefit.
How to write your follow-up emails that DO work?✅
We give you some tips:
Reminder of who you are🙋♂️
How many people can you meet at a business event? Are you able to remember them all? The same thing happens to your contacts, so it’s important that you include your name, the name of the company you work for, your position or something that serves as a reference.
🔗A useful option that generates even more trust is to include a link to a landing page where they will find information about your company.
Quick description of your previous email 📝
If they don’t remember who you are, imagine then if they have any idea what your proposal was about. Tell them again what your offer is about, and take the opportunity to add other value, briefly and directly.
Approach them in a very close and personal manner
Almost as if they were a friend. In the title, greeting, and body of the email, use the recipient’s name. You can even add a touch of humor; that significantly boosts the response rate.
Subject with a hook 🎣
It should capture their curiosity enough for them to open their email in the first place.
If you don’t convince your contacts from the subject, your follow-up email may end up in the trash.
Let’s see some examples:
- Do you remember me?
- We agreed today at 5:00 PM
- I’ve come up with an idea since the last time we talked
- Did you get a chance to read me?
- RE: [Previous subject]
- Meeting on [day] at [time]?
- A 5-step plan to [address a pain point]
Take advantage of the data your email marketing tool provides to know what worked before and what didn’t.
Write a good copy for your follow-up email✍🏻
Several elements come into play here: the tone of the message, its length, the correct use of spelling and grammar, the combination of textual and visual content, the design and style, etc.
Be brief, direct, and clear. When an email is pleasant and has simple questions and instructions, it increases the chances of getting a quick response.
Try to summarize the content in no more than 6 lines or if you opt for a telephone conversation that doesn’t last more than 10 minutes.
Add value to each follow-up email💎
Never come up with a sales pitch. Show interest in the customer, what they need, and how their business is doing.
Pro tip: provide a link to a relevant article, blog post, or video in your follow-up email. This way you save yourself from wearing out too much in copys and at the same time you redirect to your website.
Inside these value contents you can tell them about a limited-time offer or discount if it’s the case.
Include only one call to action📞
The end of each chat is the ideal opportunity to commit to further discussion. It could involve taking them to a guided demonstration of your tool, to your calendar to schedule a call, to valuable content as we’ve mentioned, sign up for your webinar…
A mistake is not specifying the next stages of the prospect’s process.
Eg: Would you mind discussing this topic over phone/video conference? It’ll only take 5 minutes. Here is my number/zoom link.
When to give up?
If the prospect says they need some time to discuss your offer with their team and you agree to contact them again in a week or two, then do it.
But if after three or four attempts, they still haven’t responded, you should consider that they were not interested and therefore, the next step, which we never want to get to, will be to send a “breakup” Email💔
Conclusion
Among the hustle and bustle of the startup, follow-up is the most undervalued part. But now that you’ve seen how important it is, how much do you plan to invest in it?
Don’t forget to insist but don’t bother. And the more creative, witty, or amusing you are, the better results you’ll see.
Email marketing is about standing out in the inbox. Put creativity and intelligence into your strategies. Why wish for a genie in a lamp when you have email automation and lead generation using Mailerfind at the click of a button?
Follow these tips to write effective messages and reach more contacts by sending mass emails.
Go ahead, let’s get selling! 🥳
Any question? Write us at [email protected].
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