How To Write Cold Email Follow-Ups? Free Templates Included
You crafted and sent the perfect cold email but didn't hear back from the recipient.
What should you do next?
Short answer: you should follow up!
Unfortunately, 70% of cold email chains stop after the first attempt. However, guessing by the fact that you are reading this blog post, you don't seem to give up so easily.
And, rightly so! Even the first follow-up email has a 21% chance of getting a reply.
The bottom line is that follow-ups are a must for any successful cold email marketing program.
This guide offers you a systematic approach to planning and executing a follow-up cold email strategy to dramatically increase your reply rates and produce results.
How many follow-up emails should you send?
While there is no magic number or common consensus on how many emails you should plan in your follow-up sequence, 3-4 emails seem to be a good starting point.
The best way to come up with a follow-up number is to run statistically significant tests.
The follow-up email count can vary based on a number of factors, including:
- Type of outreach campaign
- Your prospect's industry
- Your email content
- Your ask in the email
How long should I wait between my follow-up emails?
Once you decide on the number of follow-up emails to use in your campaign, the next step is to plan their timing.
Once again, there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Send too fast, and you will annoy your prospect ( maybe to the extent of them marking your email as spam).
Send too slow, and it could be a challenge to maintain context to drive any action.
Here is a follow-up cold email schedule that you can start with and optimize based on your results:
- Day 1: Initial cold email
- Day 4: Follow-up email #1
- Day 8: Follow-up email #2
- Day 14: Follow-up email #3
- Day 28: Follow-up email #4
After that, you can add more follow-ups every 3-4 weeks.
How to write a follow-up for a cold email in 7 steps
Every follow-up email you send after your initial outreach has the power to get you a reply, whether it’s your first or fourth.
We have compiled the most impactful steps you can take to make your follow-ups worth the effort.
- Provide context from previous emails
When you send a follow-up email, make sure you provide context for why you are following up.
It's important to do this because people will often forget about who you are. They may not even remember your name or what company you work for.
So how can you avoid this situation?
You need to provide context by referencing something specific from your initial cold email. Then you can reference that same thing in your follow-up message so both parties understand why the conversation is happening.
- Add value with every follow-up email
It's not enough to send a cold email, wait for a reply, and then follow up.
Here are a few reasons:
- Most prospects will ignore your first cold email
- Prospects rarely make buying decisions based on one interaction with a salesperson or company representative
- Cold emails are often discarded or deleted without being read by the recipient because they're perceived as spam or junk mail (or both)
- You must work hard to earn your prospect's trust before they consider doing business with you
Adding value is the best way to ensure that your prospect reads your emails and responds back to you.
Even if they don't respond immediately, if they know that you're providing them with valuable information and insights, there's a much better chance you’ll get a positive response..
How to add value to your follow-up emails
Here are some useful tips to add value to your follow-up emails:
- Share links to resources that are relevant to their problem
- Propose giving them a free consulting session
- Ask them if there is anything else they would like from you
- Let them know that if there are any questions, they can ask you directly
- Ask for feedback about your first email and what they thought about it
- Include an insightful quote from an industry expert that relates directly to their business
- Share a relevant news story related to their industry or sector
- Include a CTA in every follow-up
The first email is crucial: It's your chance to make a good first impression!
The second email is also important. It's a chance to follow up on your initial message and give the person another reason to respond to you.
Including a clear call-to-action (CTA) in all your follow-up emails will help you get more responses from your cold emails.
- Try lowering your ask
A follow-up email is often the key to getting a response from the prospect.
However, when sending follow-up cold emails, it's important to remember that sometimes lowering your ask can help you get a reply from the prospect.
Modifying your request can get you a reply from the prospect because it:
- Shows that you're willing to compromise
- Makes it easier for the prospect to say yes
- Makes the prospect feel like they're in control
- Can increase the relevance of your email
For example, if you’re looking for a job and have sent your resume to an employer, it would be best not to ask them for an interview in your follow-up email.
Instead, try to warm them up by asking some basic questions like what they do and how they like their work. This can result in a more natural trigger to start a conversation.
- Experiment with a new email subject line
When you send your follow-up emails, you have two options:
- Reply in the same email thread, keeping the subject line the same throughout
- Start a new email thread with a different subject line
The first option is a common practice. However, if you do this, your prospect might see that there are several emails with the same subject line and start ignoring them.
The second option gives you a new chance to stand out in the recipient's inbox with a more compelling subject line.
However, this makes it a bit tricky to keep the message trail clear for context. You can copy-paste your previous email messages below your new message.
Ultimately, you should try both options and compare the results.
Pro Tip: Generate persuasive email subject lines in a matter of seconds with this AI-powered, free email subject line generator.
- Diversify your channels
Cold emailing is a powerful tool, but what if you don't get a reply after multiple email follow-ups?
You may feel like you have no choice but to send another email, hoping that maybe this time your message will be read and responded to.
However, the truth is that if you don't hear anything back, it's not necessarily because they didn't want to talk to you. It could just be that they didn't see your message in their inbox.
Here is how you can use other channels to increase your chances of getting a response:
- Try sending your cold emails through LinkedIn instead of through email
- Try sending a text message via SMS or instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter DMs, etc.
- Try calling them directly if you have their number. If they don't pick up, leave a voicemail explaining why you're calling, and nudge them to check out their inbox again
Overall, a multi-channel cold email outreach strategy has the potential to drive the best results, because it increases the number of ways someone can view your message..
- Leverage automation to scale your outreach
Writing and sending follow-up emails is a time-consuming task.
However, you can automate or streamline many of the activities with a good cold email outreach software.
Here are a few ways automation can be leveraged in your cold email outreach program:
- Schedule your follow-up messages
- Personalize follow-up email content
- Get engagement metrics like open and click rates
- Save email templates
- Link multiple email accounts
For large outreach campaigns, integrating software in your workflow can free up your time to focus on more valuable activities, like building meaningful relationships with your prospects.
7 Cold email follow-up templates
We have created some pre-configured cold email follow-up templates covering some common scenarios.
Feel free to copy and edit them to adapt to your goals.
Template 1: First cold email follow-up after initial business prospecting outreach
Dear [recipient name],
I hope this email finds you well. I was hoping to follow up on our initial email exchange and see if we could set up a time to chat further. I'm interested in learning more about your business, and I have a few ideas that might be of interest.
Would you be open to having a 15-minute call next week? If so, you can quickly book a suitable time on this calendar - [link]
Otherwise, please let me know if there's another way we could connect!
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
[Your signature]
Template 2: Second cold email follow-up after business prospecting outreach
Hello [recipient name],
I hope this email finds you well. I just wanted to check in and see if you've had a chance to look at the information I sent you earlier this week. If not, please let me know, and I'll be happy to send it again!
I'm excited about [business opportunity] and think it could really help your organization.
Please let me know if you'd like to set up a time to talk further or if there's anything else I can do to help.
Thanks again for considering working together. I look forward to hearing back from you soon!
[Your signature]
Template 3: First cold email follow-up after initial job application outreach
Hello [recipient name],
I just wanted to follow up with you on the job application I sent over a few weeks ago. I know you're probably busy, but if you would be open to talking, I'd love to chat. If not, no worries!
Anyway, here's a link to my resume - [link]
Thanks!
[Your signature]
Template 4: First cold email follow-up after internship opportunity outreach
Hello [recipient name],
I am writing to you to follow up on my earlier email, in which I asked if you would be able to offer me an internship this summer.
I would love to work at your company and gain some experience in the field of advertising.
If you have any questions or concerns about my resume or anything else, please let me know.
Thanks again,
[Your signature]
Template 5: First cold email follow-up after candidate interview availability outreach
Hello [recipient name],
I'm writing to touch base about the position of [position] at [company name]. I want to make sure that you received my email regarding interview availability and see if you have any questions or thoughts on the role.
If you're available this week, we'd love to schedule an interview with you. If not, just let me know what works best for you, and we'll try our best to accommodate your schedule.
Sincerely,
[Your signature]
Template 6: First cold email follow-up after link-building outreach
Hello [recipient name],
I'm reaching out because I noticed you had a link to one of my articles in your newsletter.
I'm a writer who specializes in [topic] and would love to write for your publication.
Here's the article I sent you earlier - [link]. It's about [topic].
Thanks for your time!
[Your signature]
Template 7: First cold email follow-up after startup funding outreach
Hello [recipient name],
I'm writing to follow up on our conversation about [company name]. I'd love to get your feedback on the product I created, which is [product name].
It's a [type of product] that [what it does]. It's designed for people like you who are interested in [target audience], and it solves the problem of [target problem].
We're currently working with a few early users who have been testing the product out, and they've had some great things to say about it:
- "This makes me feel like my life is easier."
- "This makes me want to work harder."
- "I don't know how I lived without this product!"
If you're interested in testing out this product, please let me know.
Thanks again,
[Your signature]
Closing remarks
If there is one takeaway you should remember after reading this guide, it’s the fact that follow-up emails are a no-brainer for any successful cold email outreach campaign.
While the number of follow-ups and their frequency will vary, the effectiveness of well-crafted follow-up emails is widely accepted.
Creating a solid follow-up email strategy requires research and practice. We hope this guide taught you some amazing follow-up techniques so you can maximize your open rates.
If you want to supercharge your email copy, adding AI to your workflow can do wonders.
CopyAI makes this a cakewalk with its easy-to-use suite of AI copywriting tools. A free trial will make this clear.
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