Follow-Up Emails that Intrigue Prospects

Email marketing is a form of marketing that many companies have settled for, and it seems to be more convenient as well. It all starts by sending a single email to your prospect, hoping to get a response from them, or you might be having a hot opportunity that’s turning cold. The main reason that pushes prospects away is that you might have reached to the wrong people, or you might not have built up enough intrigue during your first contact.

It would be best if you did not give up at this stage because there is still a lot that you can do to get back on track. You have the alternatives of sending emails and follow-up emails, which will give you another chance of landing a sale. Research done by velocity shows that sending five messages to a prospect before personal contact has a 36% conversion rate compared to the group that receives a list of follow-up emails.

How to Get the Right Timing and Frequency

If you’re wondering how often you should send follow-up emails, then consider the instructions from close.com. Pay attention to the first point that you should send only five follow-up emails for all cold emails. On the other hand, you might have some interactions with the prospect in the form of questions and responses. For the latter scenario, keep sending the follow-up emails until you have a clear response, whether it is a close of sale or a simple ‘no.’

You can use the following sequence to send your follow-up emails after making your initial contact.

Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 7 – Day 14 – Day 28 – Day 42 – After every month

Note that day 2 is when you are supposed to send your first follow-up email.

Tips on Writing Follow-Up Emails

It is improper for us to go all us and give you information when you should be sending follow-up emails and fail to provide you with tips on how you should be writing them. Follow-up emails come in handy in several situations, and learning how to write them, and write them excellently, for that matter, is essential. Below are the tips on how to write useful follow-up emails;

1. Make them Short – Do not push away prospects by sending them a long follow-up email. Many people are not interested in reading long sentences neither are they attracted to wordy emails. Keep your follow-up emails short and precise, from about three to eight sentences depending on the number of words per sentence.
2. Personalize Them – For a prospect to get the push of ending up reading what you’ve sent, there has to be a form of personalization. Slide in a name or if you had interacted earlier, let the response be the center of the follow-up email for personalization.
3. A Single Question is Enough – Try as much as possible not to scare away prospects with a series of questions in a single follow-up email. Ask one question to make it comfortable for the candidate.
4. Let it be Simple – When asking the only question, make sure it’s easy for the prospect to answer it as soon as they read the email. Avoid complicated queries that will push away the possibility.
5. Be Specific – The right move is to use particular questions with a direct answer and nothing someone should think about. Make the questions have responses such as ‘yes or no,’ ‘2 pm’, ‘true or false,’ etc.
6. Include a Post-Script – You can slide in some extra information after the email in the form of a link. Just point it out as PS or FYI and follow it up with an embedded URL.

The Proper Circumstances to Send Follow-Up Emails

To ensure that your follow-up emails are useful and that they impact the prospect, you should learn when it is proper for you to send them. The right circumstances to send follow-up emails to include;

Cold Call

You ought to send this follow-up email within one day of the initial cold call. Some of the tips on how to write cold call follow-up emails include;

• Appreciating the prospect for reading the email and for their feedback
• Stating your success with another company and assuring them of your ability to deliver
• Issue further details and showing interest with a request to follow up after a specific time
• Following up on the matter and posing a question.

Lead Magnet

They are to be sent upon an online automatic trigger by the prospect, e.g., white paper request and sign up for e-newsletter. Tips include;

• Appreciation for the action taken by the prospect
• Displaying your strength from experience with other customers
• Congratulating them for the step made
• Dropping a link for study purposes and allowing them to set a meeting
• Following up on everything and giving more materials.

External Trigger

These are emails sent to prospects you identified from external sources such as regulation change or industry news. Tips include;

• Dropping a congratulatory note
• Stating where you can come in to help out
• Requesting for a response before further communication
• Checking up on the prospect
• Laying your track record and throwing in a question.

Web Enquiry Contact

It’s to follow up on prospects who took the step to fill out your website’s contact form within a day. Tips include;

• Welcoming them and appreciating their effort to visit your website
• Providing materials for the study
• Ask for their thoughts and requesting for a reply.

Outbound Call

These follow-up emails are meant to be sent after you have left a phone message to the prospect. Tips include;

• Letting them know that you tried to reach out
• Asking for them to get back to you when they can
• Explaining what you mentioned in the phone message.

Inbound Call

You have to immediately send this follow-up email after being on a call with the prospect. A phone call might be better in some situations rather than an email. Tips include;

• Appreciating their efforts in contacting you
• Providing materials for the exact point in the conversation
• Requesting for another call later on for further explanations.

Networking Event

It is meant for a follow-up if the previous email send, post-networking or post-tradeshow event, wasn’t convincing enough, although the prospect showed interest. Tips include;

• Acknowledging the first interaction and confirming if they read the previous email
• Asking for their opinion
• Requesting for a conversation.

Face-to-Face Meeting

The follow-up email to be sent within a day after a skype call or face-to-face meetup. Tips include;

• Appreciating their efforts and time to avail themselves
• Posing a question and expressing interest to communicate further.

Proposal or Quote

These follow-up emails are for the prospects you requested for a quote or proposal but ended up not ordering from you. Tips include;

• Appreciating their efforts in communicating to you
• Stating a reminder of what you talked about
• Asking if they have any further questions.

Double-Take

The primary purpose of these follow-up emails is to keep pushing despite no response from a couple of earlier emails. Tips include;

• Recapping on the last time you communicated
• Asking for their availability to plan for a meeting
• Letting them know what you’ve been up to.

Lead-Gone-Cold

It is a follow-up on an impressive lead that went cold. Tips include;

• Reflecting on your last conversation
• Giving an achievement similar to the prospect’s lead
• Requesting for their availability and willingness to learn more about the lead.