How To Write Follow-Up Email To Increase Reply Rate?

A follow-up email has a special place in the lives of salespeople as you can make only 2% sales take place in the first point if contact i.e. not all individuals will make the purchase right after receiving the first email. You have to follow up with most prospects, which is why follow-up emails are so important in sales.

Email follow-ups often fall flat because salespeople send them just for the sake of it. What they fail to understand is that every follow-up email is an opportunity in itself to turn a prospect into a customer. You have to master the skill so that your email makes the prospect respond to you.

If you are unsure how to get started, you are at the right place! In this blog, we will show you the benefits of sending follow-up emails, the best time to send them, top tips, common mistakes to avoid, and much more. So, stay tuned.

What Is A Follow-Up Email?

A follow-up email refers to the email you send to a prospect you’ve already reached out to. The purpose of a follow-up email is usually to remind the recipient that you had contacted them earlier and request them to give you a response. You can also remind the recipient about an upcoming event or meeting.

Follow-Up Email Statistics

Research says that a single follow-up email can increase the reply rate from 9% to 13%.
Also, sending more follow-up emails increases the reply rate three times.

Fifty percent of sales occur after the 5th follow-up. But on average, sales reps only make two attempts to reach out to a prospect.

Also, prospects may say NO five times before saying a YES, but it is disappointing to note that 44 percent of sales reps tend to give up after one follow up and 22 percent give up after two emails to which they get no response.

That directly means that salespeople need to be more persistent to close more sales. The prospect may not be affirmative initially, but after a few follow-ups, they may say yes.

Benefits Of Follow Up Email

There are several benefits of sending email follow ups:

1) Increase in conversion

Not everyone would open the email sent to them initially. There are various reasons for that. The person can be busy or unable to spot the email in their overcrowded inbox. You can do your bit by sending a follow-up email, and the chances of conversion increase. That is precisely what you want, right?

2) Help in filtering the audience

Some people have no interest in your product or service right from the start. They are simply around hoping that you might give them some freebies. Follow-up emails filter out such uninterested people, and you get to focus on genuine leads.

3) Building brand trust

When you send follow up emails to prospects, you show them that your brand cares for their needs. It helps in building a good brand image, and as a result, there are higher conversions.

How To Write A Follow Up Email?

Here is a step-by-step approach to writing a follow-up email:

1) Find an objective to send a follow-up email

After meeting the prospect or getting in touch with them, you must consider sending a follow-up email. However, there has to be an objective or else the email will look somewhat awkward. 

Find the most common objectives below:

i) Gathering information

At times, you can miss out on a piece of information while interacting with the prospect. You can state that in your follow-up email. Also, add a CTA to make the prospect reply to you in a way you want them to.

ii) Requesting for a meeting

You can send a follow-up email requesting a meeting. Mention what you want to discuss and what is there in it for the prospect. You can let the prospect pick up a date on the calendar at his or her convenience using a meeting scheduler.

iii) Get in touch

Catching up with prospects through follow-up emails is a good idea. It is better to do so when they have reached a remarkable milestone professionally. Gather first-hand information by sending them an email. After an accomplishment such as a business expansion, they may be interested in your products or services. Following up would be helpful in most cases.

iv) Say thank you

When you want to build your company’s image, it is essential to say thank you to your prospects. By being courteous, you will leave a good impression in the minds of people. As a result, they will remember you when they want your product or service later on. Chances are also high that the person will refer you to friends and colleagues.

So, when should you say thank you to prospects without it seeming odd?

When they:

-Give you a referral

-Reply to your email

-Help you in some way

Now that you know how to find an objective for your email, you can add your CTA so that the prospect knows what to do.

2) Begin the follow up email with some background information

Everyone receives way too many emails daily. So, if you send an email to a prospect, the chances of it getting missed are high. To avoid that, begin your email by giving the reference of your last email, meeting, or conversation with the prospect. That will help you if this is the first follow up email from your side.

If you are wondering how to start a follow up email, begin by mentioning about yourself and what the purpose of your email is. It is better to be straightforward and clear with your email’s opening sentence.

Begin with something like the following:

1. Our last meeting was at {{location}}

2. Last time we discussed {topic}}

3. Your colleague {{name}} suggested that I get in touch with you.

4. I am contacting you in connection with the email I sent to you last week {{topic}}

The above will surely be of help and grab the attention of the recipient.

3) Mention the purpose of your email

After beginning the email with the correct opening sentence, you should mention the email’s purpose. Please come straight to the point so that you don’t look like a time-waster. When you are specific, your prospects can understand the reason for the follow-up email. Therefore, you can expect a response from their end.

Here are a few ideas to state your purpose

–I request you to join me at {{Event}} as you will find it useful for {{prospect’s_company}}

As discussed earlier, here is our service {{url}} which can help your company.

I hope you get the idea!

4) Decide what your subject line should be

The email’s subject line is the first thing that the recipient sees. 

But why is this step on number 4? 

It is so because once you have your email body ready, you can summarize the content in one line quickly and effectively. In other words, you can present what is there in the email in a much better way and send a meaningful message across.

Do you know that 33 percent of recipients open emails based on their subject line alone? 

That is why you should be extra careful about the subject line of your follow-up email.

Keep the following points in mind while writing the subject line of your follow-up email:

1. Make use of emojis. It will help you grab the recipient’s attention as a lot of people don’t do so.

2. Mention that you offer a coupon, discount, or a time-limited deal to get the recipient to open the email.

3. Clearly state what is there in the email in your subject line.

4. Create some urgency and make them feel that they might miss out on something exciting.

Why Don’t People Respond To Emails?

Are you wondering why most prospects don’t reply to your emails? The reasons may be one or more of the following:

1. Lengthy email 

Owing to reducing attention spans, nobody likes ready long paragraphs in the name of emails. As prospects don’t even know who you are, it is more likely that they would simply toss the email into the trash can. Therefore, you must be clear and concise with your message in your email. 

2. Unclear message

There are chances that the prospect cannot understand what you are trying to convey. If the message is confusing, you can’t expect the prospect to reply to you. Thus, before you hit the send button, ensure your email is clear enough.

Apart from the above, there are chances of even a perfect email not getting a response. Usually, this happens when the prospect gets caught up with work and cannot take time out to check emails. In such scenarios, it isn’t your fault, and you can’t do anything about it. 

Guidelines For Follow Up Emails After No Response

Here are some pointers you should keep in mind when following up on prospects:

1) Don’t wait for too long before sending your follow up mail

Your first follow up email should hit the prospect’s inbox ideally after a waiting period of 2-3 days.

The waiting period then has to be extended for every follow-up email you send after that.

It is important because it shouldn’t appear as if you are spamming someone’s inbox. Nobody likes to be bothered, and it also creates an image of you being a pushy salesperson.

 2) Include a call-to-action in the follow up email

The communication between the prospect and you should have a call-to-action each time. There should not be any uncertainty.

For example, ‘We would love to hear from you’ is not asking for a close. It would be much better to put up a firm question such as ‘Can I call you for your feedback on Monday?’ This is because it would require the prospect to take some action.

3) Tweak your call-to-action if it doesn’t get you a response

When you don’t get a response after the first follow-up email, consider changing your call-to-action for the subsequent ones. 

For instance, if you have asked for a meeting already and have not received any response from the recipient, try requesting a referral. If that doesn’t work, you can go ahead and try something else. That is how to follow up on an email after no response.

4) Don’t confuse the prospect

Tricking your potential customer is no sound while it may seem tempting. Being dishonest and using a subject line like “Re: Our telephonic conversation” to grab attention is not ethical.

Be a salesperson in the right spirit by being straight forward and keeping the introduction email subject lines clear.

5) Don’t have a rude undertone in your emails

Anyone can get annoyed upon not getting a response to their emails but being in sales; you must be more patient.

Having a rude undertone in your email follow ups can make offend the prospect, and you may lose them forever. It is, therefore, vital to keep your cool.

There can be lines like ‘We understand that you are occupied’. This kind of empathy may perhaps help you get a reply from the prospect.

6) Add a reference to your previous interaction

Another suggestion on how to follow up on an email after no response is to mention that you had sent an email a while back.

You can brush up on the prospect’s memory by referring to the interactions you had with them previously. The person may not remember but is more likely to respond if reminded about previous interactions.

It is better to give a reference to the last email in the subject line of the email.

7) Make the email worth opening

You should add value to your follow up email rather than sending lazy ones. The clear-cut fact is that you need to make it worth opening and responding to.

The use of free items or services to grab prospects’ attention is a widespread practice in marketing. The freebies are called lead magnets, and you can use them in your email follow ups to make conversions. 

It would be a good idea to offer an item that needs to be shipped or something that can be sent online, such as an e-book, a template, or something else.

Ensure that whatever incentive you give is relevant and would be helpful. The point is that prospects won’t respond to you if you don’t have anything to offer.

8) Mention the reason for emailing

State the reason why you are sending a follow-up email in a short and sweet style. When you tell your intent to the prospect, things turn better. This is a good suggestion for any sales team wondering how to write a follow up email.

9) Say no to breakup emails

If you have tried all possible gimmicks in the rule book and still have not got a reply, it is better to stop following up for the time being. You can come back after a few months.

Waiting is much better than sending breakup emails with lines like ‘As you haven’t replied, maybe you are not interested.’ You will lose the prospect forever that way which is not good for your business at all.  

The Right Time To Send A Follow Up Email

Timing matters a lot, especially in sales. So, when it comes to sending follow up emails, you have to be very careful. The wrong timing can make the recipient toss the email into the trash folder without even opening it.

Here are some guidelines for you:

1) Avoid sending follow up emails on weekends and Monday morning

Sending follow-up emails on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday is not the best thing to do. Most people organize their inboxes when the week starts and get rid of emails that don’t seem necessary. Your follow-up email might also get deleted during the sorting-out ritual. So, it is better not to send any emails on weekends and Mondays.

2) Fridays are the wrong time too

On Fridays, people plan stuff for the weekend, and nobody will be in the mood to look into new products and services. Just skip sending follow-up emails on Fridays.

3) Send emails on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays

The mid-week is the ideal time to send follow-up emails, that too in the afternoon. You can get good results by choosing to send emails on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays at 2 pm.

Follow Up Email Subject Lines

No one will like reading emails with uninteresting subject lines. That is why you have to put in effort to write convincing email subject lines. You can get started with SalesBlink’s Free Subject line generator.

Your email subject line should have the following qualities:

It should provide a benefit

You have to mention what the recipient can get upon opening the email. People don’t go around reading emails that have nothing to offer to them.

In case your product or service aims at helping prospects increase their revenue, you have to mention that in your subject line.

Example- “Increase revenue by 20% with <product or service>.”

Arouse curiosity

It would help if you tried to make the prospect curious about what is in the email. However, avoid click-baiting. Creating false curiosity will only lead to the recipient losing trust in you. They will mark you as spam.

What you mention in your subject line has to be there in your email body.

Here are some tips for writing follow-up email subject lines more effectively:

Provide value and mention it in the subject line

Sending a follow-up email just for the sake of it is not the right thing to do. Offer the prospect something of value like a free trial, an e-book or some other resource. As already mentioned above, you must emphasize that in the subject line. 

Don’t keep it too lengthy

Short and sweet subject lines work better than lengthy ones. A subject line should not be a complete summary of the email body. Try to convey as much as you can in a few words.

Long subject lines will get truncated, leaving you with just a part of what you want to say. When prospects read their emails on mobile devices, only 30 characters of the subject line will be visible.

Therefore, you have to be careful with the length. 7-8 words would be ok.

Don’t use misleading subject lines

Using a misleading subject line to get the prospect to open the email is a wrong mentality. The recipient will not trust you again in the future if he finds that the email is different from the subject line. It would leave a wrong impression on the prospect’s mind. 

Follow Up Email Format (Template)

If you want to know what the format of a follow-up email is like, look no further! Here’s how it should be:

• Write a catchy subject line

• Mention who you are to provide context
• Add value 
• Specify how you can help
• Add a CTA

Here’s a follow-up email template to get back to a prospect after no response,

Subject line: Still Interested, {{Prospect’s first name}}

Hi {{Prospect’s_first_name}}

I am {{Your_Name}} and I reached out to you for [mention the reason]. It has been quite some time since I last heard from you, so I wanted to ask you – Are you interested in [mention a bit about the previous email]?

I completely understand that you must be busy, or there has been a shift in priority, and I don’t want to interrupt you. Just reply to this email when you are ready, and we can connect for further discussion at your convenience.

Best Regards,

{{Your Name}}

How To Use Templates Effectively?

If you have follow-up email templates with you, there are a few tips that will help you use them effectively. Take a look at them below. But before that here’s our blog having winning follow-up email templates.

It’s not one-size-fits-all

A template that works for one business may not work for another. So you can’t blindly use a template that some other company found effective. There are many other factors to consider. 

Get inspired instead of copying

The first thing that you must bear in mind is that prospects can easily make out when you do copy-paste work. If you find a great cold email template, don’t end up copying it. Use it as inspiration instead and see how it would work for you.

When you send them a template instead of a personalized email, they will ignore your message and go about with their day. While it is always a good idea to refer to templates that have good results, you should try to customize the email to resonate well with the recipient. 

Spend time online to gather facts about prospects and write sentences relevant to each of them. Add those sentences into templates to give the email a personalized look. 

A/B test your subject line

It is always better to perform A/B tests on your audience to know what exactly will work in your favor. Even if you are using an approach that worked in the past, you should still perform split testing because the audience’s taste can change with time. 

Appear twice in the inbox

You can send a follow-up email once in the evening and again the following day stating that you forgot to attach a resource in the first email. It will make the prospect feel that you are a human as well and can make mistakes. The biggest advantage of this tactic is that your name will appear twice the prospects inbox and the chances of getting clicked are higher. 

Remove the formality

It is quite common to use phrases like “I am sorry for bothering you..” and “I hope it is not much trouble” from the email body. Such words bring unnecessary formality into the email and are not needed. You are following up for a reason, and there is no reason to apologize. 

Keep the length right

Keeping the emails short is the general rule, but there is no specific length that you have to abide by. Just make sure that it has all the elements in it to get the reader interested. 

Follow-up Email Examples

Now let’s take a look at the top follow up email examples.

Example 1

This kind of email is the best way to follow up with a prospect after no response from their end. There is an explicit mention of the reason for reaching out, along with asking relevant questions to qualify the prospect. Additionally, there is a CTA at the end, along with minimal personalization. 

Example 2

Here’s another way of reaching out to prospects who haven’t responded to your previous email. The request is clear, and the rep has concisely conveyed the whole message. The recipient’s name is used twice to make it personalized. 

Example 3

This follow-up email works as a reminder after you have already reached out to the prospect a couple of times but in vain. It is crisp and straightforward with a CTA at the end. 

Common mistakes to avoid in Follow up

Here is a list of some of the common mistakes that you should avoid while sending follow-up emails,

1. Adding “follow up” in the subject line

In follow-up emails, it is quite common to mention “follow up” in the subject line. This practice can backfire as your email is more likely to get ignored. It may also look like you are trying to blame the prospect for not responding, which can give negative vibes. Always try to keep the subject line aligned with the email body, as it will fetch you better results.

2. Not adding a CTA

By not adding a CTA in your follow-up email, you are doing more harm than good. Your prospect would be entirely lost after reading your email and won’t know what to do. That is why it is essential to add a CTA to your follow-up email. Try to ensure that it is straightforward so that they are less likely to get confused about what action to take. 

3. Not adding value with your email

Sending a follow-up email with the intent of just checking in won’t do. You must value other people’s time and try to add value. Try offering help to solve their problem or give them a useful resource. 

4. Waiting too long between initial and follow up emails

We have discussed this already. It is yet another common mistake most sales reps make while following up. What you must understand is that the other person may not even have the memory of the first email if you send a follow up after 10 days. It would be better to follow up after 3 days so that the prospect has lesser chances of forgetting. 

Automate Your Follow-Up Sequence

Following up is the primary technique that helps in boosting sales. With the right kind of follow up, most prospects would convert faster. However, when done manually, it can be quite a daunting task. For instance, if you send emails to 100 people followed by ten follow-ups to each person, you would end up with 1000 emails to send. It is a formidable volume. That is why you should opt for automation.

SalesBlink is one such tool that has an automated process of sending follow-up emails. Apart from that, you can track prospect behavior. Using such a tool would go a long way in helping you get desirable results.  

Start Following-Up The Right Way!

Getting the email follow-up game right is extremely important for those in sales. One has to be persistent and always on the go. At the same time, it is important not to behave like an aggressive sales guy who doesn’t bother about anything else except conversion.

Hope after reading the post you have got some insight on how to follow up on an email after no response. All you need is a strategy and patience to turn the tide in your favor. You can go ahead with a well-chalked-out plan of action and boost your sales with the tips and guidelines we discussed above.

Happy following-up!

FAQs