How to Write a Sales Follow-Up Email (with Templates)

Want to learn how to create an excellent sales follow-up email?

One of the most underrated aspects of acing sales emails is the follow-up. In several cases, the follow-up is more important than the initial message since response rates dramatically go up with persistent follow-ups.

Research backs this up. Sending just one follow-up message to qualified leads can boost your reply rate by as much as 27%.

So it’s clear that follow-ups are essential.
But, how do you craft a follow-up that will actually grab the prospect’s attention?

In this guide, I’ll cover some tips for writing an excellent sales follow-up, including how to write an effective subject line, and I’ll highlight five handy templates to help you get started.

As a bonus tip, I’ll also show how you can automate the process of sending sales follow-up emails.

This Article Contains:

(Click on a link to jump to the specific section.)

• 3 Tips for sending a sales follow-up
• 5 Sales follow-up email templates
• How to automate sales follow-up emails

Let’s get started.

3 Tips for Sending a Sales Follow-Up

To ensure your sales follow-up email has the desired impact, here are some practical tips for your sales team:

1. Be patient

While every salesperson loves a hot lead, most of your sales will come from leads that require a little more effort.

The key is to develop a follow-up system in your sales cycle so that you can consistently follow up over time. That said, you should send your first follow-up message about a day or two after the initial email.

Remind the prospect who you are and what you discussed last time. It may also be a great idea to add some additional information, such as the next steps you have in mind.

Additionally, be sure to give your recipient more time between each follow-up. By the third follow-up, you should wait four or five days instead of just one.

A study reveals that the optimal number of follow-up emails is five. So if the lead doesn’t respond immediately, don’t give up.

2. Emphasize the subject line

While emails can be an excellent touchpoint to interact with a lead, they’re pointless if the recipient doesn’t even open them.

Having an eye-catching subject line can drive up open rates by 42%.

While creating an excellent subject line can be tricky, the best way to do it is to experiment.

Here are a few solid subject lines most sales professionals can use:

• Let’s cut to the chase
• Have any updates for us?
• [Name] suggested we chat
• How [company] can help improve [business objective]
• Wanted to make sure you got my email
• Thoughts about [title of blog post]

Once you’ve tried these out, be sure to experiment with writing your own subject lines.

Keep these tips in mind when writing your subject lines:

• Keep it short and sweet

Remember that some recipients will be reading your email on their mobile phones, so ensure they can see the entire subject line.

• Personalize

Always try to include their name or company to strike a chord. Studies have found that personalized emails generate 6x higher transaction rates and revenue per email.

• Time them right

Ensure the email arrives in the recipient’s inbox while the topic is still fresh in the recipient’s mind. You can test different sending times to find out which works best for your email lists.

• Include an action word 

This will encourage the recipient to do what you’re asking them. Use compelling verbs in your subject, such as get, read, or try, to increase the chance that those in your audience will open your email.

3. Be clear and tailor your message to each recipient

Ensure your sales follow-up is relevant to the recipient and doesn’t require them to decipher what you’re trying to say.

Avoid being vague by including details about the recipient, such as the company they work for and their position. Alternatively, if you’ve seen something on their social media accounts like Twitter or LinkedIn, include it to improve the connection.

How does personalization help?
Research has shown that personalizing your email increases click-through rates by as much as 139%.

And while manually personalizing each follow-up email can be a tedious process, read on to find out how you can easily personalize your emails.

5 Awesome Sales Follow-up Templates

Here are some  follow-up templates you can use depending on where the prospect is in the sales pipeline:

1. Following up after leaving a voicemail

If you tried calling the potential client for a sales meeting and left a voicemail, send this email to drive the message home with this email template.

Hi [Name],

I just left a voicemail to [explain why you  called]. 

I will try to call again on [date and time], but you can always call me anytime between 9 AM-9 PM [mention time zone of the prospect] on [phone number], or email me at [email address]. 

If you would like to hop on a video call, please feel free to choose a time from this link: [link to your scheduling tool such as Calendly]. 

Thanks! 
[Name]

2. Following up after a sales call

If you’ve had a successful phone call with a potential client or presented the sales pitch at a networking event, don’t wait for them to respond before emailing. Send them a sales follow-up after the call to reinforce key messages.

Hi [Name],

It was terrific connecting with you and learning a little more about you and [company name]. 

I now have a clearer picture about [pain point discussed during the call] and how it negatively affects [company name] by complicating its efforts to [something they’re trying to achieve]. 

To help, I’ve attached [your company name]’s solution to show how we can help with [problem]. 

Let me know if you have any further questions or need any additional information. I’m looking forward to our next conversation on [date, time]

Many thanks,
[Name]

3. Following up if previous follow-ups have been unsuccessful

If you’ve already sent the recipient a follow-up but haven’t heard anything back, it’s worth checking in again.

Without being too pushy, ask if they need any assistance or if they have feedback from the previous email conversation. Use this follow-up email template as an example:

Hi [Name],

I want to check in to find out if you tried [details of the first email] to improve [business aspect]. If you’re having difficulty implementing this or have any further questions, I’m happy to help.  

If you’re available for a call sometime next week, I’d love to go into more detail. Feel free to book a time here: [add a link to your calendar]. 

I’m looking forward to hearing from you! 

Regards, 
[Name]

4. Sending a break-up email

If you’re still not getting anywhere, consider sending a break-up email.

Maybe they aren’t the right person to contact, or they just aren’t that interested in hearing from you. Either way, if you keep trying, you’ll probably start annoying the recipient and clogging up your sales funnel.

Instead, let the prospect know that you won’t be contacting them again unless they ask.

Hi [Name],

I tried getting in touch with you to offer some suggestions on how I believe [your company] can help [their company] improve [business aspect]. 

However, it looks like you’re busy, and I don’t want to bother you any further.

If possible, could you please let me know which of the following situations applies to you?

1 – You’re satisfied with [product/service] and don’t need [your company’s] help.

2 – You’re interested in the [product/service] but aren’t ready to make a purchase just yet. In that case, I’ll reach out again in [a month, a few months, next year]. 

Many thanks,
[Name]

5. Including value-adding information

Instead of sending a generic follow-up email, improve your lead generation by adding value to your email.

Consider including social proof, statistics, or any other kind of info that reinforces your message and enhances your value proposition.

Hi [Name],

I’m sure you deal with your share of [business pains], so I thought I’d share a few solutions we’ve implemented for our other clients: 

[include some social proofs]. 

I’d love to get into more detail about these if you’re interested.

Please let me know if you are, and I’ll be happy to schedule a call. 

Many thanks,
[Name]

Tip: If you have detailed user stats that you’re sitting on, always try to leverage them as social proof in your follow-up sequence to add more credibility to your company and sales message.

Bonus Tip: How to Automate Sales Follow-Up Emails

Creating an excellent sales follow-up email takes a bit of work.

As a sales rep, you need to balance wanting to achieve sales targets without being pushy or rude. Additionally, you need to reach out to as many prospects as possible while ensuring that each email is personalized.

All these elements can make writing a follow-up email a time-consuming process.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be.

You can quickly get the follow-up process rolling with GMass.

GMass is a powerful outreach tool that can automatically send follow-up emails. You can even customize many different aspects of the follow-up, including the follow-up schedule.

For example, once you’ve sent out your email campaign, you can set GMass to send a follow-up two days later to anyone that hasn’t replied or didn’t open the email.

GMass can then automatically send another follow-up according to a predetermined schedule until you finally get a response. Alternatively, you can set a limit where after a certain number of unanswered follow-ups, GMass won’t bother your prospect again.

You can also customize the content of every follow-up email by including the recipient’s name and the company they work for, too!

Additionally, if you connect GMass to a Google Sheets spreadsheet, you can use any column from the spreadsheet, such as the recipient’s date of birth, to automatically personalize your follow-ups with ease.

 

Think setting all this up is going to be a hassle?
Don’t worry; getting started with GMass couldn’t be easier.

Just follow these steps:

1. Head to the Chrome store to download the GMass extension and sign in using your Gmail account.
2. Open the Gmail Compose window and click the down arrow next to the GMass button.

3. Select Auto Follow-up.
4. Compose your email. Once complete, choose how long to wait before sending the email.

From personalizing your follow-ups to setting up automated emails, GMass takes care of everything.

Some other prominent GMass features include:

• Automatic email personalization – GMass offers several ways to automatically personalize your email subject and body. From basic mail-merge style personalization to personalized images and links, GMass does it all.
• Scheduling mass emails – Write your emails when you have the time and schedule them to be sent later with GMass. You can choose from a list of set times, or you can pick your own, to ensure your messages always reach your recipients when they should.
• Reporting and analytics – GMass generates a Campaign Report after each email campaign to help you analyze stats like total recipients, open rate, click rate, and more.
• Click tracking – See who is clicking on a link in your email campaign with GMass. Once someone has clicked a link, GMass will compile a report and send it to a dedicated folder within your Gmail account.

Wrapping Up

Sure, mastering the sales follow-up email can be tricky. But it isn’t impossible.

Ensure that you ace your subject line, personalize your follow-up, and send it at the right time. Once you’ve got those factors sorted out, you’ll have no difficulty engaging your prospects!

The downside is that crafting the perfect sales follow-up can become time-consuming.

That’s where GMass comes in.

GMass’s powerful email features take the hassle out of writing follow-ups. With features like automatic email personalization and automated follow-ups, GMass does it all.

Download the Chrome extension today and see the benefits for yourself.