We’ve all probably seen the ubiquitous “just checking in” follow up email.
While such messages are direct in that they indicate a desire to get more information, they’re usually quite ineffective.
This is because they hardly get people’s attention and provide near zero value.
What people fail to acknowledge, is there’s never a “just checking in” moment.
In truth, most of us are trying to achieve much more than that.
Follow up messages are meant to realize a goal – make a sale, generate business, clarify a point, or learn something new.
As such, you need to tailor your follow up emails to spark interest in clients from the word go.
Since not everyone is adept at this skill, we’ll be seeking to share some pointers on how you can draft follow up emails like a pro.
10 Fantastic Follow Up Email Templates
1. The “Glad to meet you” email
It’s always nice to reach out after you’ve made the first contact with a stranger. Having already exchanged pleasantries on the first meet allows you to set up a tête-à-tête later on.
Nothing says welcome to the team like a follow up email.
You, therefore, want to ensure that the first correspondence you share touches all the important points.
Here’s some vital information that needs to be included in the template:
- Remind them how you met. In the hustle and bustle of daily life, it’s easy to lose track of some things
- Highlight a takeaway from the conversation. People love to know they were being listened to
- Mention your ask. This keeps the ball rolling and ensures they get to understand why you want to converse further
Check out this sample on how we’d string it all together:
Subject Line: Glad to meet you at [Occasion]
Hi [First Name!]
Glad to meet you at [where you met]. I appreciated hearing more about [topic discussed]. On the way back home, I was so intrigued that I felt I needed to reach out to learn more about your job as [job title] at [mention the place of work].
Feel free to let me know if you have some time to spare in [mention time duration]. I would love to engage you on [follow up action]. Usually, I’m free on [days and time of the week]. Does that work with you?
Looking forward to hearing from you!
2. Follow up email after a voicemail
How can you tell that your missed calls are actually missed? What if your prospects are simply just ignoring your advances?
It’s quite hard to tell.
That’s why you need to find a way to capture their attention.
Sending a voicemail message for them to listen to once they’re back on is the first step. To ensure that the message really hits home, it’s best to send an email that reinforces your value statement.
Something like this would work:
Subject Line: Just tried to contact you
Hello [First Name!]
Just left you a voicemail but I felt a need to follow up with an email since this is maybe more appropriate.
The reason behind me reaching out is because [make your point]
We’re [company looking to make a pitch to them – you may do some name dropping while at it]
[First Name], I would love to discuss a little about what you’re looking to achieve. I happen to have a couple of exciting suggestions on how you can [reveal the desired result]
Kindly call me back on [share phone number], whenever convenient with you. Alternatively, just reply to this email and I’ll promptly respond.
Thanks!
3. Colleague referral follow up email
On occasion, the leads you’re chasing don’t pan out.
It’s important to always access your points of weakness after a lead moves on to another person. Usually, this happens when they perceive you to be a stranger, feel no obligation to act on your prompts, and respect their colleagues more.
To win them over, you need to work on building trust with value and involve their colleagues in the mix.
As you draft up such follow up emails, it’s important to CC the colleague who first reached out to you since this is likely to increase odds of a reply by as much as 12%.
Here’s a template we like to use:
Subject Line: Reached out to [Mention Person]
Hello [First Name!]
I just conversed with [Person] over the phone, who referred me to you.
The reason behind me reaching out to connect with [Person] is because I spotted that your sales team operates a manual system for data entry.
At [reveal company], we operate an automation system that can enhance your productivity levels. Not only will you be able to save time, but you’ll also have all your data available in your CRM.
Do you think it’s possible for you and I to catch up for 30 minutes this week to discuss how you can leverage our system?
Best regards,
[Your Name]
4. Follow up email right after a meeting
Holding a meeting with a client is definitely a good sign.
It shows that they are interested in what you have to offer, be it a product or service you’re providing.
Having already allocated you some time in their calendar to meet, they’re more likely to be receptive to your advances of a follow up.
The trick lies in going above and beyond the opens and increasing engagement levels. As alluded earlier, it’s necessary to recap what you discussed in the previous meeting.
Here’s a great template you can use in follow up emails:
Subject Line: Our meeting notes and next steps
Hi [First Name!]
It was fantastic catching up with you today. I’m looking forward to chatting some more on [Date of next meeting]. You can expect to receive a calendar invite shortly.
Here’s a recap of what we discussed in our meeting. Feel free to let me know if there’s anything missing from the analysis.
Your Goals:
[Highlight 3 actionable goals from the last discussion]
Evaluation Success Criteria
[What strategy is most likely to yield results?]
How We Can Help
[Reveal some benefits of your product and/service]
Next Course of Action
Expect [Person] to come by and collect various addresses of users ready to be on-boarded on our platform
I will synchronize the rest of the details to ensure that everything proceeds without a hitch
5. Follow up emails after an interview
Interviews can be a bit tricky to navigate.
That said, you always want to have your best foot forward during, and after the interview.
Once you step out of the interview room, the goal is to stand out from the rest of the applicants. It doesn’t take much to do this, with a little practice, you can become quite skilled at personalizing your thank you note to each person.
You need to be mindful of two things as you contemplate this:
- The people you conversed with have a busy schedule. Having spent their precious time interviewing you, it’s necessary that you demonstrate that it wasn’t all in vain. Sending out generic emails is one way that would make you lose bonus points
- Colleagues talk. Therefore, don’t be the one person caught up in a lie after sending out the same thank you email to all the people in the room
Your follow up email needs to contain 3 essential elements.
- One paragraph needs to recap a point made during the interview.
- The second paragraph should reference something about the terms of your collaboration
- The final paragraph should go into detail on what the interviewers revealed to you about their organization
Here’s a follow up email you can use:
Subject Line: Thank You for the insight!
Hello [First Name]
Thank you for having a sit down with me today to discuss my role at [company name] in the sales team.
[Share your point of discussion]
[Mention a thing or two about the essence of being in a team dynamic]
[Provide candid insights on how their advice was able to help you advance your career]
Glad to hear that [company name], has such a solid foundation and can steer forward my growth as a professional.
Thanks for your time and I look forward to talking with you soon!
Best regards,
[Your Name]
6. When they’re past due payment
Just because you’re collecting a debt doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be courteous.
You can make an uncomfortable situation easier by making good use of our follow up email template.
Subject Line: Hello [First Name!], just a quick note
Hi [First Name!]
Trust this finds you well. I would love to follow up on an invoice dated [Date]. Having not yet got information on payment yet, I would like to make sure that you were adequately informed.
Kindly confirm with me whether the amounts were remitted. Will happily resend the details if necessary. Otherwise, I look forward to getting payments within a week.
Thanks for your time!
7. Winning a PR pitch the second time around
Second time does it!
Even after failing to convince prospects the first time around, you need not down your tools. Instead, you need to think of it as a new challenge and up the ante.
When drafting such follow up emails, the goal is to go straight to the point. If possible, tailor the content to be in bullet-form, stray away from buzzwords, and offer exclusives.
Here’s an example of how we would approach the situation:
Subject Line: Email subject lines that actually work
Hi [First Name!]
Just wanted to confirm whether you’ve had the time to review the data analysis I sent over during the weekend.
In our study, we’ve ascertained that out of the 100,000,000 emails we’ve tracked:
- Personal greetings are ineffective
- Subject lines which are posed as questions have poor open rates
- People are not that receptive to event invites. Webinars seem to be a played out concept.
There’s plenty more information for your reading pleasure in the report. Kindly find it in the attachment section for review.
Thanks
[Your Name]
8. Follow up email for an inbound lead
Nurturing leads is an art. What many people fail to realize is that just because someone looked you up online or downloaded content you shared, doesn’t mean they’re ready to talk shop.
Through nurturing, you can convince them that you’re really worth their time. During this process, you should seek to continuously provide new value.
Here’s a sample of how we’d go about winning the hearts of prospects:
Subject Line: The Essence of Data
Hi [First Name!]
I noticed that you took some interest in our content. More specifically, it was the article on The Essence of Data in Conversions. I hope you were able to find great insights in the piece!
If you’ve ever felt that you’re not getting the most out of your data, then, I’d love to share [Company name], solution. We’ve come up with an amazing system that is able to synchronize all our operations in harmony.
Given the opportunity, I would like to demonstrate our solution and explain how we can help you notch more conversions.
What do you think about Monday morning? Does that work with you?
Feel free to reach out.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
9. When they requested you to circle back later
Procrastination in business operations is quite common. At times, it’s not always you who is at fault. Clients also have their moments where they would rather remain in solitude, even after acknowledging that they’re interested in your enterprise.
Because commitment is not an easy thing, you need to sit back and wait until the next quarter, next month, or a time of their convenience when they’re ready to engage.
Having revealed this, it doesn’t really mean you should do nothing about the situation you find yourself in.
Here’s how you could follow up with an email:
Subject Line: Here’s something else I wanted to share with you
Hi [First Name!]
As I await your communication, I wanted to share a case study that is sure to speak to you on how you can make the most of interactive content to lower the cost of lead conversion by as much as [social proof].
Kindly check out the case study in the attachment section.
Also, how soon do you think we can get to discuss this?
Thanks!
[First Name]
10. The break up follow up email
After months nurturing a ghost with a drip campaign without bearing any fruit, it gets to a point where you have to let go.
If you lack the words to express this, here’s how to approach such situations.
Subject Line: Last call
Hello [First Name!]
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been sharing insights with you on how using [product name], can positively impact your business. Not only will you be more visible in the market place, but you’ll also be more efficient at prospecting.
Having received no communication from you, I’m going to have to try reconnecting in a couple of months’ time. Unless you actually tell me you’re ready to conduct an evaluation sooner. Alternatively, you can always try out our pilot program if you have some reservations whether our system is tailored to meet your demands.
In the meantime, stay tuned to [share link to your service offering]
Thankyou
[Your Name]
Conclusion
Time is always of the essence in follow up emails.
You need to strike while the iron is hot and engage as many prospects as possible in the shortest of timespans.
Having reviewed a couple of real-life situations in our follow up emails discussion, we’re confident you’ll have the right poise to mingle with clients.
Was there a follow up email template which got you thinking?
Let us know in the comments below and we’ll be sure to reach out.
