No reply to your cold emails? Trying to move the sales process forward without being too pushy? We have follow-up email templates to get you started. Write follow-ups for one-on-one use or automation workflows that’ll get results and create an effective sales email sequence.
The hard truth of the matter is that when starting out with follow-up emails, it will take time to build up a high response rate. But they’re still a necessary part of your email marketing strategy. Why?
Because prospects aren’t always going to reach out to you on their own. And, your competitors are already doing it.
In this article, we’ll cover follow-up email templates, examples, and tips so you can write a professional email that goes beyond “Just checking in,” and improve your email outreach.
Sales follow-up email templates
Below we cover templates for how to write an official follow-up email for common use cases so your prospects don’t fall through the cracks. Use these as a guide and personalize as needed.
1. Follow up after a meeting
Scenario: You've had a productive meeting with a potential client or business partner. You want to follow up to recap the meeting and discuss next steps. The example below is from the perspective of a financial consulting company.
2. Follow up after presenting at an event
Scenario: You've attended a networking event or conference and made valuable connections. Now, you want to follow up with those contacts to continue the conversation and explore potential opportunities.
3. Trigger event follow-up email template
Scenario: A contact interacts with a page on your website or content in your email campaign. For example, they request more information about a service. By adding this trigger in an automation workflow, you can send a pre-made follow-up email template to reach out to them while they’re interested.
4. Follow up after no response
Sent a cold email to a potential prospect and they haven’t replied after a few days? Or did you talk once, and now radio silence? Now’s the time to send a first follow-up email.
4.1 Politely bump an email
4.2 A second follow-up
This email is an adapted email that nailed the sale.
4.3 Final follow up
At some point, you need to know if you’re just wasting your time. The final follow-up email is essentially a “last chance” and creates a sense of urgency without being pushy.
5. Inquiry follow-up email template
Scenario: A prospect has inquired about your product or service. You want to follow up to provide more information and answer any questions they may have, ideally through a call.
6. Follow up on a proposal
Scenario: You've submitted a proposal to a client, and you want to follow up on your previous email. The goal is to address any questions or concerns they may have and move the deal forward.
7. Follow up email template after leaving a voicemail
Whether you’re cold-calling your prospects or reaching out to someone you met, following up with an email gives your prospects a bit more context.
If phone calls are a primary part of our business, consider a VoIP service so you can record calls and keep track of client conversations.
8. Follow up after a demo or trial
Scenario: A prospect has participated in a product demo or trial, and you want to follow up to gather feedback, address any issues, and discuss next steps.
How to write a follow-up email: dos and don'ts
These are the favorite dos and don'ts our Brevo sales experts shared with us. We also included our favorite tips from around the web to help you master follow-up emails.
Do
Follow up promptly. Prompt follow-ups (1-3 days) leave less time for contacts to forget the context. However, it’s always good to A/B test what works best for your campaign. Try 12 hours and work from there.
Be brief. People don’t have all day to read emails, so make your message concise. A couple paragraphs is a good range to aim for.
Add value. To make your follow-up successful, offer something useful to potential customers. Is it a resource, a chance to chat, or a solution to their problem?
Put the prospect first. Think of their needs and respond with genuine suggestions.
Reply to their original email. Reply to the email thread and include original attachments if applicable. If you met your prospect another way, provide a quick refresher about how you met.
Create an informative follow-up email subject line. Let your recipient know what to expect. 30-50 characters is a good length. If it’s too long, it’ll get cut off in Gmail inboxes.
Was it nice meeting someone at a networking event? Say, “Great meeting you, {{Name}}.” Are you thanking someone for a download, “Thanks for downloading our {{resource name}},” or answering an inquiry “In response to your inquiry”? And so on.
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Create a professional sender name. Having a professional email sender name increases the chances someone will open your email. Beyond building trustworthiness, it allows you to easily segment your email lists later on. Include a profile picture to perfect it.
Include a clear call to action (CTA). In a B2B email, this is your ask. Do you want them to schedule a call? Or plan a demo? In a B2C email, your CTA is usually a button with persuasive text such as “Unlock my free trial.”
Analyze your campaigns. Campaign reports show how well your templates perform. Track key email metrics like open rates, clicks, and unsubscribes. Then optimize your follow-up email template for future prospects.
Email campaign metrics in Brevo
Use automation. Not all follow-up emails are personal, handwritten emails. Sometimes, it’s better to automate them. If you had a lot of attendees at your webinar, you can email them all individually, but it’ll take a lot of time.
Follow-up email campaign automation
Set up lead nurturing automation follow-up sequences and populate your sales follow-up email template with dynamic content, like each contact’s name or industry.
Don’t
Don’t attach large files. This may cause your email to bounce.
Don’t use jargon. As Motherofcatss put it on Reddit, “Write like you talk.” Your prospects might just skim emails on their phones, so make it easy to read.
Don’t start an email with “Just.” Using “Just” makes whatever you have to say less valuable, explains Borla78.
“Just seeing what you thought about our [proposal]” is much less confident than “What did you think of our [proposal].” Don’t let your prospects doubt you.
Real-world follow-up email examples
Here are a couple of follow-up messages we sourced to show some real-life methods.
Networking event follow-up email example
Follow up email example after an event
Use the adapted follow up template below.
Subject line: Great meeting you!
Good Afternoon,
My colleague and I enjoyed getting to meet your team at [event name] on [date]! I spoke to your colleague, they suggested I send an email to this address.
We chatted about [topic].
That happens to be exactly what we specialize in. We’re great at [what you do]. Take a look at our [resource] to how we help clients achieve [ goal].
Are you free [date] for a coffee chat? Let me know.
[Signature]
This follow-up email template starts with a quick refresher, shows expertise, and finishes off with a call to action for a coffee chat.
Lead nurturing follow-up email example
Subject line: Inside CRE: The page we send to our new clients (to improve their success rates)
This follow-up email is part of a lead nurturing workflow. It shows how to add value to a follow-up email by including some top resources. You can use a similar tactic in your follow-up email.
Survey follow-up email example
This follow up email example is asking for feedback or a review after an event. This format can also be used to ask for client referrals.
Create your own follow-up email template
Ready to send follow-up emails and get results?
With the Brevo CRM, your salespeople can easily design email templates to use in follow-up email sequences. Then, track prospects’ progress through your CRM database so you never miss a key moment to touch base.
