The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Follow-Up Email (2023)

You've already met your prospect, talked to them on the phone, or exchanged information over email; now is the time to send your follow-up email. Before you start crafting your email, you need to identify and clarify the ultimate purpose of your message.

This way, you can incorporate a strong call-to-action (CTA) that will make your recipient want to come back to you so you can reach your ultimate goal (be it a conversion, a sale, building a stronger relationship with your recipient, etc.) .). ..).

Let's review four of the most common main purposes of a follow-up email:

Needed information

Sometimes after having an initial conversation with someone, you may realize that you forgot to ask something or need additional information to help you.

You can ask your recipient to clarify some information about your business and/or pain points, get a status update on a deal you're working on with them, or determine whether or not you've made a sale. By clearly stating your need for the specific information you wish to obtain, you will provide them with clear instructions on how they can respond to you in a mutually efficient manner.

meeting request

Whether it's picking ideas, pitching a product or idea, asking for help, or getting feedback, chances are you're writing your follow-up email to request another meeting or conversation. In your email, you should provide details about what you want to discuss at the meeting and why the discussion will be valuable to the recipient (learn how you can help the recipient).

To make things even easier for your recipient, you can add a link to afree meeting scheduling software, so they can add time to their calendar.

Reach

If you haven't talked to a connection in a while, hear great news about her or her company, or learn that she's made a big deal, you probably want to reach out to her and get the details directly from her. What happened. After all, these situations can change your need for support from you and your company.

For example, maybe your business has recently expanded and they're finally in a place where they can afford your support, or they need your services now more than ever. That's why updating yourself via a follow-up email can be so helpful. Be sure to state what specifically you hope to update in your email to avoid a vague or even lazy message – show your recipients how much you care about what you want to review with them.

Gracias

Saying "thank you" helps a lot. While this type of follow-up doesn't always guarantee an immediate response, it does leave recipients with a positive feeling about you and your brand. Showing gratitude is professional and something that people will remember in the future; they may need to do business with you again in the future or refer you to a friend, colleague, or someone else in the industry.

Examples of situations where you want to say "thank you" to your email recipients includeWhen they ...

... provide you with a reference.

... write a review or help you complete a case study.

... close a deal/do business with you.

... pay attention to you, talk to you (through any means of communication) or meet you in person.

As you can see, once you've determined the purpose of your follow-up email, you can start writing your note with a clear purpose. This way, you can insert your CTA in a way that is obvious and easy for your recipients to understand and act on. This includes responding with the information you requested, scheduling a meeting with you, learning what has happened in your life, professional or personal, since you last spoke, or simply reading and acknowledging your thank you note.

By identifying and stating your objective in your follow-up email, you can provide your recipients with a professional-sounding message and CTA that provides them with some sort of immediate value (depending on their specific objective) and a way to act on it.

Let's take a look at a follow-up email template with a clear objective so you can get a better idea of ​​how to establish your purpose and include a CTA for your recipients. This particular model falls under the "meeting request", but feel free to tailor this template to your specific purpose and audience.

How many emails do you receive every day? "A lot" might be what you're thinking, that's certainly my answer to that question.

With the high volume of email most people receive these days, it's important to include a personal connection, some sort of identifier, or common interest in your message that provides context to help your contact remember you. Doing so is especially important if this is your first follow-up email, if you don't have a close relationship with the recipient, or if a significant amount of time has passed since you last spoke.

Emphasizing and providing context around your initial communication, email, conversation, or interaction will help jog your memory and make the email easier to understand and respond to. Be sure to start your email with this context so the email recipient knows who you are and what you're following up on; The last thing you want to do is confuse the person (or people) you want to impress and do business with.

Here are some examples of strong email openers you might consider using in your follow-up to give your recipient the context they need.

Effective Email Openers

• We met last week at [Event or Venue Name].
• I was inspired after you spoke at [Event Name].
• Our friend [name of mutual friend] suggested that I get in touch.
• Last time we talked about... [Theme].
• I'm reaching out regarding the email I sent a few weeks ago about [Topic].

Now, let's take a look at a follow-up email template with an email opener that is sure to give the recipient the context they need.

Now is the time to clearly state the purpose of your follow-up email. You must be sincere with your intentions from the beginning; this will prevent it from appearing spammy, unreliable, vague, or confusing.

For example, you wouldn't just say, "I'd like to have coffee and talk about what you do." Instead, would you like to say, "I'd like to grab a coffee to learn more about how you consistently hit quota because I've been struggling with my goals."

With that level of specificity, your contacts will feel that you are not wasting their time and will understand why you are requesting their attention; this will increase the likelihood that you will get the information or response you want from them. .

Let's look at some ways to clearly state the purpose of your email in your follow-up message.

Common Ways to Articulate a Purpose

• I want to invite you to join me at [Event Name], I think it will be useful for what you do at [Company Name].
• As we discussed, here is the [insert link] developer who can help you with your new website.
• It would be great to know more about [topic] as I'm working on something similar at [Company Name].

Now, let's review an example template with a clearly stated purpose for you to base your follow-up email on:

Have you ever had a teacher in school who taught you to "write your introduction after writing the body of your essay"? Of course.

You can also think of your follow-up email this way: Try to work with the content of the email itself (opening line, body, closing line, and signature) before writing your email subject line. That way, you can ensure that you've written a strong and compelling subject line that's sure to make your recipients want to open it, and is therefore an accurate description of what you've written in the message.

Here are some other ways to write a strong subject line that will help you improve your email open rates: These tips and tricks come from a study HubSpot conducted in 2014 using 6.4 million emails sent with HubSpot Sales.

Tips for strong follow-up subject lines

• Use concrete numbers and times.Emails with "Fast" in the subject were opened 17% less than those without.
• Create a sense of urgency by using "tomorrow."Emails with "tomorrow" in the subject were opened 10% more than those without.
• Try omitting the subject line.Emails with no subject line were opened 8% more than those with a subject line. (Since this is a less common practice and doesn't necessarily work for all types of businesses and in all situations, you might want to tryA/B testingsubject line vs. no subject line in your emails to see what works best for your target audience, customers, contacts andpeople two buyers.)

Now let's take a look at an email template with a strong subject line that grabs the recipient's attention and accurately describes what the recipient is about to read.

Your follow-up email is written: there's a purpose behind it, it opens with context, your purpose is clear, and you've decided on a subject line (if applicable). Now you need to decide when you are going to click "Submit".

Depending on your specific situation, you'll want to send your follow-up at a certain time to ensure that your message remains relevant to your recipients.mihas the highest possible probability of being opened.

Here are some suggested deadlines that have worked for HubSpot employees to submit follow-ups.aboveemails based on various use cases.

• Within 24 hours:Say "thank you" after a meeting, sale, conference, interview, or other special occasion that warrants an immediate thank you or follow-up.
• Within 48 hours:After submitting important documentation (such as a job application or other type of submission form) or if the specific reason for follow-up is very urgent (and cannot wait 1-2 weeks).
• Within 1-2 weeks:Follow up on a meeting request, after there's no response on a job offer, or to confirm receipt of a previously sent email that you need feedback on.
• Every 3 months:Follow up on a previous connection, ask if anything has changed for them or your business, or learn about a new development in your business or personal life (depending on your relationship).

And it is that! Congratulations, you've officially written a strong and compelling follow-up email that's sure to get your recipients excited to reply and get in touch with you.