A follow-up email is an email that you send to customers you’ve got in touch with earlier. You can send them at different customer journey map points — no matter if your clients performed the target action or not. For example, take a look at this cart abandonment email from Everlane:
But in this article, we’ll focus on follow-up emails after no response — by the “response” we mean performing the target action from the previous email. Why should you care? Let’s take a look at the study conducted by Woodpecker. They reported that sending a follow-up can increase the initial response rate up to 40%. For example, if your first email got a 5% response rate, after a follow-up email it will be as high as 7%. It’s especially important for cold outreach campaigns. Many sources claim that the average response rate for cold emails varies between 1 and 5% — and follow-up emails are a good way to boost such campaigns.
You’ve probably been ghosted at least once in your life. HRs, Tinder matches, or even friends do it for different reasons that often have nothing to do with you. When it comes to email campaigns, you can’t appeal to everyone as well — but you can increase the response rate if you avoid these email mistakes:
But even if your emails are well-segmented, have a crystal clear CTA and a good copy, you can still send follow-up emails to increase your campaign’s efficiency.
Again, will you lash out at your Tinder match for not answering within two hours? Of course not. But it doesn’t mean that you should wait for weeks to send a follow-up.
Sales and promotional emails are similar to Tinder chats in this aspect. Most sources suggest sending follow-up emails 1–3 days after the initial email. Give this time to customers so they can digest the email’s contents and come up with a reply that sounds reasonable. But follow-up timing also depends on:
That’s why you should consider these numbers as advice, not the ultimate success recipe. For example, you’re running a campaign for a B2C business that sells consumer goods like food or makeup. Sending a follow-up email on a weekend in this situation will be ineffective — your customers won’t read it. At the same time, a weekend follow-up might work for a B2B business that targets startup CEOs — they will check their inbox at least on Saturdays. The best way to figure out the perfect follow-up strategy for your campaign is A/B testing. Experiment with time windows between emails and sending time, analyze the results — and you’ll figure out what works best for your campaign.
The short answer is: not really. If your prospect already rejected your offer, leave them alone. But if they keep ignoring you, feel free to send up to 5 follow-up emails. However, when it comes to time intervals, different sources provide different information. If we are to make a conclusion out of several sources, we get a schedule like this:
You can use it as an approximate course of action.
As you can see, for each email in the sequence, there’s more and more time to answer. And again, we don’t know the best recipe for your campaign specifically. We think it’s too extra to follow up after a month — but it might work for you. The only solution is testing — keep experimenting with time intervals and other characteristics and analyze the results.
Writing a follow-up email might feel scary. But if you use best practices and stick to email etiquette, you’ll be able to write polite follow-ups that boost your campaigns like a pro. Let’s take a closer look at the writing process step by step.
OptinMonster found out that 47% of people base their decision to open an email on subject lines. That’s why email subjects are especially important for follow-up emails. Here’s what you should never put in the follow-up subject line:
Instead of these bad practices, try some of these tips for follow-up email subject lines:
But remember that there’s no universal recipe for a perfect follow-up email subject. We gave you some inspiration and listed common mistakes — and it’s up to you to brainstorm ideas and test them.
Different types of emails require different greetings. If we’re talking about follow-up emails, you don’t need to start the whole introduction process all over again. Instead of doing that, start talking about your customer and refer to your previous encounter. Here’s an example:
You don’t have to use this example as a template. But if you consider writing an intro from scratch, take notes on our tips to write a similar greeting or even do a better job:
If you managed to make a good impression with a warm greeting, you’ve done a great job. But it doesn’t mean you can chill and write a half-baked copy.
Here’s the thing. Your follow-up email is an addition to your first email. That’s why the body should be as short as possible — stick to 2–3 paragraphs tops. And don’t include too much new information. Instead, try giving a different view on the value you offered in the first email.
For example, you’re promoting an online therapy service. It has a blog with articles about mental health and psychological quizzes. Your business also runs events like free webinars and workshops. Your first promotional email contained a selection of articles about how to ease depression with lifestyle changes. But what if your content didn’t appeal to customers who have a different condition or already tried meditating and it didn’t work? You can fix that in your follow-up email — here are possible strategies for this situation:
Here’s one of the options:
As you can see, the key to a good follow-up email body is keeping it short, offering something valuable, and showing empathy for customers’ pains and frustrations.
Don’t leave your customer hanging — add a clear CTA at the end of your email. All the standard CTA practices apply to follow-up emails as well. But consider these two nuances:
Let’s come back to our therapy service case. For example, you asked to book the first appointment with a therapist in your first email. But therapy is expensive and starting a long treatment process is a serious decision. And some customers don’t understand what therapy is and how it works. So why not offer an educational quiz instead? Here’s an example:
Email sign-offs vary in tone a lot — use this to show your brand personality. For example, if you’re promoting a B2B company, using “Best regards”, “Sincerely”, and other formal sign-offs makes sense. But if you’re running a campaign for a B2C business targeting a younger audience, they won’t fit in the brand and the style of your email — it’s like wearing worn-out sneakers with a brand new wedding dress.
Let’s get back to our example. As you can judge by the email’s greeting, body, and closing, the tone of voice is more on the informal side, friendly, and empathetic. Sign-off cliches won’t work in the context of this email. But we can make something from scratch. The most appropriate strategy for this email will be to express genuine concern — like this:
Our guide on follow-up emails would be incomplete without including real examples. We picked 3 follow-up emails that actually worked — and explained why we loved them.
Mozilla is a non-profit IT company that gave us Firefox. The company’s principles include open and safe internet for everyone, respectful communication, fighting misinformation, and supporting open-source software. Here’s their fundraising campaign follow-up email.
Donating money is a big favor — and customers still should understand what they’ll get in return for the charity. And Mozilla managed to explain the values in their follow-up email. You’re paying for the open and accessible internet — even though you don’t have to. Another good thing about this follow-up email is that it undermines the initial big favor — we’re already close to achieving our goal, so you don’t have to donate a lot of money. That’s why customers who hesitated to donate after the first email are more likely to perform the target action after the second email.
GlobalData is a company that performs data analysis for businesses, governmental organizations, and universities. Here’s their follow-up email.
One thing they did right is that they added more details to their previous email instead of giving completely new information. GlobalData also included a clear CTA — they want to talk to the customer about how they can be useful.
Twillo is a B2B tech company that makes customer engagement systems. Here’s their follow-up sales email.
This email sample is different from the other two because it’s a part of private interaction with a client — but we decided to include it anyway. Twillo made a textbook follow-up email — the sender made valuable suggestions to improve the recipient’s business and included a clear CTA at the end of the email. It leaves a good impression — the sender looks professional. When you send bulk emails, you can’t personalize messages at this level — but you can still use its tricks and make your follow-ups more effective.
Sometimes customers don’t respond to your emails — some of the reasons include:
But you can save your sales if you follow up 1–3 days after the first email. Here are some tips on how to write polite and effective follow-up emails:
