Did you know 60% of customers say "no" the first four times before saying "yes"? 80% of sales require five follow-up calls, while 44% salesperson leaves after making one. Every marketer or sales representative must follow their prospects, as closing deals and improving the bottom line are part of their job.
In today's market, customers have more choices than ever before and are constantly inundated with marketing messages from both established and emerging brands. As a result, it's crucial for marketers and sales representatives to actively pursue prospects without being overly pushy in order to successfully convert them into paying customers.
With that in mind, we've created a comprehensive guide that outlines effective strategies for writing follow-up emails, along with twenty attractive email templates to help you get started.
What is a follow up email?
A follow-up email is a single email or a sequence of emails sent by the sales representatives after sending out the first email to prospects during a particular stage in the customer's journey.
What to do in a follow-up email
There can be several reasons for a prospect not responding to your email the first time, but your goal is to close as many deals as possible. So you need to send follow-up emails. Let's take some cases where you can curate follow-up emails,
Case 1: Prospects opened your email but didn't reply.
It's upsetting frustrating to see someone open your email but not respond. However, you must remain optimistic and create a value-added follow-up email that includes:
A reminder of the previous email sent,
A polite request for a quick call,
A request to connect you with the right person if you are not conversing with the appropriate person.
Case 2: A prospect asked you to follow-up later.
You spoke with a prospect, but they aren't ready to buy a product from your company right now and asked you to return in a few months. How are you going to engage them in the conversation?
Send them a follow-up email with the following elements:
A reminder about what you previously discussed
An offer to help answer any queries
A request to speak about any unanswered questions
Reasons why it is important to send follow-up emails
Sending follow-up emails to your prospects has several benefits:
It helps you increase conversion
There can be several reasons why a prospect doesn't open an email. Sending them up to 5 follow-ups can increase the chance of the prospective client connecting with you and converting into paying customers.
It builds trust
When a company sends follow-up emails to prospects, it shows that their business is more customer-centric. It makes potential consumers think you are genuinely interested in doing business with them, further developing trust.
It helps in filtering leads.
If you are targeting people who are not interested in your products and services from the beginning, it's wasting your time. However, with follow-up emails, you can filter the suitable targets and invest your time in acquiring them as paying customers.
7 steps to write a follow-up email
Here are the key steps on how to write a follow-up email.
1. Identify the prospect's level of intent.
Prospects can be at different levels in their buying journey, and you need to carefully consider their intent before sending follow-ups. Otherwise, you will send the same sales follow-up to all your prospects. Thus, you miss out on opportunities to close deals.
2. Create a catchy email subject line.
You must craft the subject line carefully so that it makes your prospects find interest in your email, or they might ignore them. If an email is not opened, it will not be answered, and your waste is down the drain.
For instance,
Subject line after no response
Still interested in our service?
Any update for us?
Let's cut to the chase.
Subject line after a trigger email
Discussing your future goals today
Questions about our (new product name) features
Subject line for general follow-up
How can we improve your {business goal}?
Let's have a 10 min call on this.
3. Add value
Your follow-up email must have contents that add value and have a clear, direct message. If it is not adding value to the prospect, they will ignore it, and all your efforts will go in vain. Put effort into curating the email body, look into different templates, have important information, and have a clear CTA.
4. Keep the language clear
When the email language is clear and easily understandable, it reduces the reader's time. They don't need to put extra effort into understanding the email, which increases the chance of a response.
5. End your email naturally
You must end the email naturally by keeping in mind the previous conversation. Adding a sentence like "looking forward to hearing from you" or "Let me know what you think!" is usually appreciated by prospects.
6. Get ready with the subsequent follow-up email.
Depending on your sales funnel, you must always have a plan while sending follow-ups. Remember, it usually takes five follow-up emails before some prospects respond.
Types of follow-up emails
Free trial follow-up
Free trial follow-up emails aim to convert prospects into paying customers by offering them a full range of solutions. You can ask for feedback and guide them about how using your product or service can help their business. It is usually used in the SaaS industry.
Lead magnet opt-in follow-up
People disclose their email addresses in exchange for valuable materials. You can request your prospects to subscribe to a newsletter if you have a blog. If they have not completed a process, i.e., not bought the product but have things in their cart; you can send a follow-up email to remind the prospect to complete the checkout/sign-up process.
Product sales follow-up
The goal of product sales follow-up is to turn regular customers into loyal ones, and it needs the effort of your sales representative. Once a sale happens, you need to follow up with customers to ask about their experience and offer them related products at a special discount.
Mistakes to avoid in a follow-up email
Most salespeople spend a reasonable amount of time and effort drafting their first emails but not the same for follow-ups. A follow-up email needs content that adds an extra dimension and is more persuasive than the previous conversations.
Using the term 'follow-up' in the subject line
There are better approaches than using the term 'follow-up' in your email subject line, and it increases the chance of being ignored by prospects. They might feel you are blaming them for not responding and therefore write a subject relevant to the email content. Follow-up often sounds ominous to customers.
Missing or unclear CTA
Adding a CTA (call-to-action) in every email to your prospects is a must, including the follow-up emails. With that, your readers will understand what to do next. Your call-to-action can be anything like a prospect's reply, a callback, a request to fill out a form, etc. However, it must be clear and specific.
Not sending follow-ups on time.
You must always send follow-ups on time. For example, instead of waiting ten days, you can send a follow-up email after three days after your previous conversation. It ensures your prospects remember your product and what you expect them to do. Unnecessarily delaying in sending follow-ups will lead to losing potential customers.
Golden rules for sales follow-ups
Remember a few best practices while following up with your prospects after a demo session.
Don't follow up with them immediately after a conversation, and give at least a gap of 12 working hours.
Practice being patient even under pressure to complete a conversion, as rushing won't give good results.
Before following up with prospects, ensure your team is ready to handle any scenario.
Make sure you completed everything asked by your prospects in the previous discussion.
20 Follow-up email templates
Here is a list of 20 follow-up email templates that give you an idea of how to write a follow-up email.
[Use case: After the initial meeting]
Template #1
Template #2
[Use case: After a trigger event]
Template #3
Template #4
[Use case: Following up the follow-up]
Template #5
Template #6
[Use case: Follow-up email asking for referral]
Template #7
Template #8
[Use case: Post-meeting follow-up]
Template #9
Template #10
[Use case: Follow up after leaving a voicemail]
Template #11
[Use case: Follow up after a trade show, conference, or networking event]
Template #12
[Use case: Follow up email when a prospect needs to discuss others]
Template #13
[Use case: Follow up with a prospect who asked to reach out after some time]
Template #14
[Use case: Follow-up email when a prospect goes silent after showing interest]
Template #15
[Use case: Follow up email after sending a quote]
Template #16
[Use case: Follow up after a demo call session]
Template #17
Template #18
[Use case: Break up email]
Template #19
Template #20
Conclusion
In conclusion, incorporating a follow-up email strategy can be a game-changer for sales. By consistently sending follow-up emails, salespeople can increase their chances of closing more deals.
To create compelling emails that engage prospects, it's important to use the tips and tricks outlined above. Additionally, using automated tools to measure the effectiveness of your follow-up strategy can be helpful, but be sure to add a personal touch to your messages to elicit greater responses.
Above all, ensure that your email templates are respectful and make prospects feel valued, rather than irritating or off-putting. By adopting these best practices, sales teams can boost their success rates and drive revenue growth.
Layerise can assist brands in automating their follow-up email campaigns. By leveraging the tool's automation features, brands can create personalized follow-up email sequences that are triggered based on customer behavior. For example, if a customer abandons their cart, Layerise can automatically send a follow-up email reminding them of their items and providing an incentive to complete the purchase.
Additionally, Layerise's analytics feature provides insight into the effectiveness of follow-up email campaigns, such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Brands can use this data to optimize their email content and sequencing for better engagement and conversion rates.
With Layerise, brands can easily create and manage follow-up email campaigns, ensuring that they stay top-of-mind with prospects and increase their chances of closing deals. By automating and personalizing their follow-up emails, brands can create a seamless, engaging customer experience that drives revenue growth.
Learn how to collect valuable insights on your customers to sell even more.
How to Turn a New Obligation into a Growth with Layerise
A trusted, brand-safe AI assistant that knows your products, your customers and your content.
