9 Follow Up Email Templates

Alright, chances are you know the importance of sending cold emails for sales.

But here’s the catch, it is more common to see a higher response rate from a follow up than the original email. 

Needless to say, a strong follow up email template will help you drive sales. 

9 Follow Up Email Templates 

Well, I won’t keep you waiting, so here are the templates! (I explain how to send them later) 

Example 1

Explanation: This comes off as personal and makes for a high response rate

Suitable Situation: After no response from a previous email

When to send: 2-7 days from the last contact 

Subject: Re (previous subject)

Hey did you get my last email?

-Sent from my iPhone, excuse any typos

Example 2

Explanation: This gives you the opportunity to find out whom you should be emailing

Suitable Situation: After a cold email sequence with no response

When to send: 5 days after the last email of the sequence

Subject: Re (previous subject)

Hey (Name)

I am sorry for bombarding your inbox like this. After doing some research I'm thinking you might not be the best person for me to talk to about (topic).

Could you please tell me who I should talk to about (topic)?

Thanks a lot!

(signature)

P.S. I promise I won’t email you about this again.

Example 3

Explanation: This allows you to move your prospect down the stages of your pipeline

Suitable Situation: After a positive first meeting

When to send: same day as the meeting

Subject: Re (previous subject)

(Name) - Thanks for sharing some insight into (Company) earlier today.

To recap, you’re currently (struggling with X challenge, trying to achieve Y goal). 

I've attached (Resource), which covers (Topic).

Here are our action items before our next call.

1. 

2. 

3.

(Name), I’m looking forward to speaking again on (date and time).

Talk soon,

(Signature)

Example 4

Explanation: This pushes them to take the next steps and allows you to stay top of mind. 

Suitable Situation: After a meeting

When to send: Same day as the meeting

Subject: (topic) meeting summary

Hey again (Name),

Great talking to you today. Here is the summary of our meeting from today.

SUMMARY OF MEETING:

• (Summary of meeting)
• (Resources used)
  

NEXT STEPS:

• (Step 1)
• (Step 2)
  

Let me know if I forgot something?‍

Thanks for your time!

(signature)

Example 5

Explanation: This reminds the prospect about your offer 

Suitable Situation: After a trigger event where you sent them a proposal and they asked you to circle back.

When to send: 1-2 months after the trigger event

Subject: Another look?

Last we chatted, you asked me to circle back in a few months.

We were discussing [solving x problem to achieve y result].

Is now a better time to discuss this?

(signature)

Example 6

Explanation: Great for making the first contact with a lead

Suitable Situation: After you leave a voicemail

When to send: Same day as your voicemail

Subject: I missed you 

Hi (Name),

I just left a voicemail to (explain your purpose).

Feel free to reach me whenever works best for you at (phone number) or shoot me an email.

Talk soon,

(your name)

P.S. I will circle back on (date and time). 

Example 7

Explanation: This gives you a reason to reach out and asks the prospect to set up a meeting

Suitable Situation: After a networking event

When to send: 1-2 days after the event

Subject: It was great to meet you at (Event)

Hi (Name),

What a wonderful event! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. 

After talking to you, it sounded like improving your (objective) is one of your top priorities, which is why I am contacting you now instead of later.

Let's set up a time to continue the conversation, are you free next week?

Regards,

Example 8

Explanation: This shows that you and your team will be helpful and can shape your offering around the prospect’s needs

Suitable Situation: After a demo

When to send: Same day as the demo

Subject: Re: demo with (product)

Hey (name),

It was great talking to you today!

After learning about your goals and workflows, I can customize the (product) so your team can utilize the features they want the most. 

We can get started next week, does that work for you?

(signature)

Example 9

Explanation: This shows that your team is willing to help them by shaping your offer to their needs

Suitable Situation: After a meeting where the prospect asked you a special request

When to send: 1-2 days after the meeting

Subject: Re (previous subject)

(Name), it was a pleasure to speak to you on (day/time).

I just checked with our software engineers and they would be happy to accommodate (special request).

In order to proceed we need to do (next step). Are you free at (date and time?

Thanks,

(signature)

How To Send Follow Up Emails

Optimize your emails beyond our template

These follow up email templates are a great start. But to have the best response rate, you’ll need to make them as personalized as possible.

Personalized vs Automated

Sending personalized emails is the best way to have a high response rate.

The problem is that it takes FOREVER to create personalized emails.

When sending follow up emails, ask yourself what can be automated and what cannot be?

In other words, finding a healthy ratio of automation to personalization is necessary to have great results with your follow up emails. 

Using a template and personalizing a few sections is the best option to automate without sounding automated. 

For example, if you frequently go to networking events and follow up with prospects I recommend you have one template for each networking event.

Now that you have a template that will work for the prospects from that event, personalize the email before you send it out. 

In this day and age, we can find out more about a person on the internet than ever before. 

So do it!

Then add some juicy and specific words in your email to capture the attention of your reader.

Shorter the better 

As a general rule, less than 50 words is best for emails, which is harder to achieve than you might think. 

Jeremy Donovan studied 4 million emails and found that the highest reply rate is 25 words.

It is ok to go a little above 50 words. But the goal is to get your point across with as few words as possible. 

Back up anything you claim with the statistic

Using data to express how helpful your services can be is a great method. But you need to make sure that you have a quality source that proves you are right.

If you are talking about your own data, then a screenshot will likely be sufficient. 

This is an email I have been using that has recently made my pipeline explode. 

This works great because the prospect can see how big of an impact I have made for other people, giving me social proof. 

(I call it the extreme weight loss email because of the before and after pics 🤣)

Track your results and figure out what works the best 

Just like all areas of sales, it is best to track your analytics and what results you produce.

Every industry will have different ways of generating results, so it is best to track what works for you so you can continuously improve upon your efforts. 

Some of the best email tracking software are Outreach.io, SalesLoft, Lemlist, and Hubspot. 

Subject lines

Since subject lines and the first sentence of any email is the first thing the reader will see, it is one of the most critical parts of an email. 

In general, good subject lines are:

• Personalized
• Include An Offer
• Use Odd Words
• Spark Curiosity
• 2-3 words
• Urgent
  

But for follow up emails, it is best to reply to a previous email of yours. 

Some other emails you should be sending are touching base emails, but I won’t cover that here. 

Is your team meeting your expectations?

If you have a sales development team and are interested in learning how we can help you dramatically increase their results, give this page a read.

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