How to Take Your Sales Follow-Up Email Game to the Next Level

What is a follow-up email?

A follow-up email is simply an email you send after initial contact has been made. This could be after a meeting, phone call, or even just an introductory email.

The intent behind a follow-up email is to keep the conversation going and build on the relationship you’ve started.

With LaGrowthMachine, you can create all types of email sequences in advance and schedule them at each different stage of your lead management process.

For your follow-up emails, you would want to create a campaign of 3 follow-up emails to send after someone downloads your resources or performs a valuable action on your website (depending on how you set up your lead scoring system).

Creating sequences like this to reach your prospects can be time-consuming if you do it manually. With our automation tool meant for growth hackers, salespeoples, and recruiters, you’ll save hours of time and hassle.

Automated email follow-up can be a key component in your sales and marketing efforts, yet it’s often one of the most neglected areas.

We’ve all been subjected to follow-up emails at some point, but why do companies actually need them?

What is the point of using follow-up emails?

There are a few key reasons why follow-up emails are important:

• Nurture the relationship: Follow-up emails show that you’re interested in the other person and the conversation you had. This is especially important if you’re trying to build a relationship with a potential customer.
• Get more information: Another key reason to follow up is that it gives you an opportunity to learn more about the other person. In your follow-up email, you can ask questions that will help you better understand their needs and how you can help them.
• Close more deals: If you’re trying to sell something, a follow-up email is a great way to remind the other person of your offer and seal the deal.
• Get more leads: Not only can follow-up emails help you close more deals, but they can also help you get more leads in general. A study by The Harvard Business Review showed that follow-up emails after an initial contact increased the likelihood of getting a response by nearly 160%.

Now that we’ve gone over what follow-up emails are and why they’re important, it’s time to learn how to write them!

How to write the perfect follow-up email?

There are a few key components that every follow-up email should have if you want it to be effective.

You should use a different copywriting style than your initial email, focus on a single call-to-action (CTA), and make it personal.

A personalized subject line

Your follow-up email needs to stand out in a crowded inbox, and the best way to do that is with a personalized and engaging subject line.

Don’t just write “follow-up” or “meeting recap.” Instead, try to be creative and come up with something that will pique the other person’s interest.

First, clearly state what the follow-up is for. This could be something like “Our meeting about XYZ” or “Recap of our phone call.”

Then, add a little bit of personality to your subject line. Something like “I have some good news!” or “Can I buy you a coffee?” would work well here.

A brief summary of your last interaction

Before you dive into the rest of your email, take a sentence or two to remind the prospect of your last meeting or conversation.

This will help them refresh their memory and put your follow-up email into context, which is important to your sales prospecting since you’re trying to continue the conversation in order to eventually close the sale.

Write along the lines of: “It was great speaking with you yesterday about XYZ. I wanted to follow up with you about…” or “Thank you for meeting with me yesterday to discuss XYZ. I wanted to follow up with some additional information about…”

The main purpose of your follow-up email

After you’ve reminded the person who you are and what your last interaction was, it’s time to get to the point of your email.

What is the purpose of your follow-up email? Are you trying to continue a conversation? Move things along? Or close the deal?

Whatever the case may be, make sure you state it clearly and directly. The last thing you want is for your email to be misinterpreted or ignored because it wasn’t clear what you were trying to achieve.

A call-to-action

Once you’ve stated the main purpose of your follow-up email, you need to include CTA.

A CTA is simply an instruction telling the recipient what you want them to do next. This could be something like “Please let me know if you’re interested in scheduling a meeting.” or “If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out over at [calendly link]!”

Including a CTA is important because it tells the recipient exactly what you want from them, and makes it easy for them to take the next step.

Your CTA should be clear and direct, and it should be easy for the other person to follow through on.

A sincere sign-off

Last but not least, you need to end your follow-up email with a sincere sign-off.

“Thank you for your time” or “I look forward to hearing from you” are always safe bets.

We emphasize the sincere portion of this advice because it’s important that you don’t come across as sales-y or pushy. The goal is to show that you’re interested in continuing the conversation, not to force the other person into doing something they don’t want to do.

Bonus tips to consider for your follow-up emails:

Be friendly:

First and foremost, your follow-up email should be friendly. Keep the tone light and conversational, as if you’re catching up with an old friend.

You want the prospect to feel like you’re interested in them as a person, not just trying to sell them something.

One follow-up email isn’t always enough:

In some cases, one follow-up email is all it takes to continue the conversation (or close the deal). But in other cases, you might need to send a few follow-up emails before you get a response.

For example, if you’re trying to schedule a meeting with someone who is busy, you might need to send a few follow-up emails before they have time to respond.

If you’re not getting a response to your follow-up emails, don’t be afraid to send another email (or even pick up the phone). The worst that can happen is they’ll ignore you again, but at least you tried!

Don’t overdo it:

With that said, you don’t want to become a nuisance. If you’ve sent a few follow-up emails and you’re still not getting a response, it might be time to give up.

There’s no need to keep sending follow-up emails if it’s clear the other person isn’t interested.

This goes back to your lead management processes and how well you’ve qualified your leads. If you’re sending follow-up emails to unqualified leads, you’re just wasting your time (and theirs).

Don’t be afraid to follow up:

A lot of people are afraid of being too “sales-y” or pushy when they’re sending follow-up emails. This is one of the biggest mistakes a salesperson can make.

The truth is, most people appreciate a good follow-up email (as long as it’s not too frequent). In fact, a multitude of studies done over the years reveals that 80% of non-routine sales occur only after at least five follow-ups.

So don’t be afraid to follow up with your prospects! A little follow-up can go a long way. The key is to strike the right balance between being interested and being pushy.

And of course, always use your best judgment. If you think the person you’re emailing might not appreciate a follow-up, it’s probably best to err on the side of caution. But in general, don’t be afraid to follow up!

And that’s it! If you include all of these tips in your follow-up email, you’re guaranteed to write a great one.

But there’s one more thing we want to touch on before we wrap things up with the templates…

Give your leads an out:

Sometimes, recipients have a hard time or feel a bit uncomfortable following a request when they receive a follow-up email from you (even if they’re interested in what you have to say).

One way to combat this feeling is to give the recipient an “out” in your follow-up email. For example, you could say something like “If you’re not interested, no problem! Just let me know and I’ll stop bugging you.”

This gives the recipient a way to opt out of the conversation if they’re not interested, which can help put them at ease.

It also shows that you’re respectful of their time and not just trying to force a sale.

When should you send a follow-up email?

As you might have probably guessed, the answer to this question depends on the situation.

If you’re trying to build a relationship with someone, it’s generally best to wait a week or two before sending a follow-up email. This will give them time to respond to your first email and get back to you.

If you’re trying to schedule a meeting or close a deal, you might want to follow up more quickly. In these cases, it’s often best to follow up within a day or two (or even the same day). The key is to strike a balance between being interested and being pushy.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. And as we mentioned before, always use your best judgment.

If you’re not sure when to follow up, you can be on the conservative side and give it a few days. The worst that can happen is they’ll ignore your email (which was probably going to happen anyway).

But in general, these are good guidelines to follow when deciding when to send a follow-up email.

If you’re still looking for some inspiration, we’ve created a few follow-up email templates that you can use in your own business.

Take your follow-up emails to the next level with these 8 free templates

Hitting send on a follow-up email is only a tiny part of the battle.

The rest is making sure your follow-up emails are actually effective.

And that’s where most people struggle.

To help you write follow-up emails that actually get results, we’ve created a few follow-up email templates that you can use in your sales interactions.

Feel free to use these follow-up email templates as is or modify them to better suit your needs.

Option 1: The “I’m just checking in” email (First time following up)

Option 2: The “Thank you” email

Option 2.5: The “Checking in” email (Follow-up after meeting or call)

Option 3: The “I think I can help” email

Option 4: The “I have some news” email

Option 5: After a prospect takes an action (meeting request, etc)

Option 6: The “We missed you” email

Option 7: The “Are you interested?” email (Follow-up during/after the free trial)

Option 8: The ” Customer feedback request” email

There you go! Eight follow-up email templates that you can start using today.

Remember, the key to a good follow-up email is to keep it short, sweet, and to the point.

Your customers will appreciate your efforts and you’ll be one step closer to closing the deal.

Follow up with your prospects like a pro!

So there you have it – the rundown of follow-up emails. They’re a powerful way to stay top-of-mind with potential and current customers and will help increase your sales figures if done well.

But before we sign off, let’s quickly recap some tips for writing an awesome follow-up email:

First, keep it short and sweet – nobody wants to read a long-winded email. Second, be personal and relevant – mention something specific that you talked about in your previous conversation. Finally, use a friendly tone and make sure your message is clear.

If you follow these tips, you’ll be on your way to writing follow-up emails that get results. Thanks for reading!

What are some of your favorite follow-up email templates? Let us know in the comments below!

And with that, happy emailing!