Chapter #5
Follow Up Emails
If there is just one thing you need to know about follow up emails, it’s this: YOU NEED FOLLOW UP EMAILS.
Follow up emails are actually the most successful messages within your campaign, you can expect around 75% of your leads to come from these emails… so don’t skimp out on them!
Overview
Why Follow Up’s Are Necessary
You probably already know why you need follow up emails (I just told you…), but here are some cold hard stats on cold email follow ups:
- 44% of people give up after one follow-up, but 50% of leads occur on the 5th follow up or after. (Zoominfo)
- Persistency pays off, 65% of our leads come after our third email. The key is to not spam them with the same generic email, make it creative and unique to them! (AuraBloom)
- Only 30% of your leads will come from your first email, the other 70% will come from follow up emails. (Yesware)
As you can see below, over 75% of our leads come from follow up emails…
How Many You Should Be Sending
Sending out a never ending string of follow up emails might feel a bit spammy to you, and it is. There is no magic number, or one size fits all – I tend to stop after five or six follow up’s.
With that being said, every industry and list is going to be different… it all comes down to what you’re offering. I always ask myself this: Am I trying to sell them on something they already use, or will this be new to them?
If it’s something they are already familiar with and using (some version of), that justifies a larger amount of follow up emails that are appropriately spaced out.
An example:
If I’m trying to generate leads for an architectural rendering service, I know that 90% or more of architects are already using some type of renderings; therefore, I have no problem following up more often. The thought process is that they are already somewhat interested in my service, as they are probably already using it. I just need to get in touch with them at the right time – such as when a new project pops up that needs renderings, or their current renderer is booked and they need to look elsewhere. By continuously following up, I can stay in front of them for a month or two and hope that “perfect time” lines up close to one of my emails.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, if I’m trying to generate interest for something that will be brand new to them, I’m more likely to send them a shorter sequence of emails so I’m not bothersome to them.
An example:
If I’m trying to generate leads for a new SaaS product that sends automated emails, for example, I’m not sure how familiar the prospect is with automated email marketing, or if they have any interest in outbound marketing at all. Now, I know all the benefits a consistent flow of high quality leads can offer, but they may not see it the same way as me. In this case, I’d send a 4-5 step email campaign with each email spaced out between 3-5 days. The goal here is to portray a different benefit in each email – without being spammy or overly persistent so that the prospect is bothered by me.
“Without follow up emails, I wouldn’t have 80% of the clients I do right now. If you’re only going to send one message to a prospect, you might as well spend your time elsewhere. The power of email marketing is largely due to the ability to automate follow up messages to be sent out.”
In this example with Jesse, he describes how powerful follow up emails are when reaching out to cold contacts. To improve his cold email response rates, he devised a sequence of 7 follow up messages and increased response rate by 4x.
The Mindset For Follow Up Emails
Ok, you know how important it is to use follow up emails, but what should you be putting in these follow ups?
There is no universal cookie cutter template on how to structure your follow up emails, but there are a few key ingredients to making your cold email campaign a success:
Break It Down
If you didn’t receive an initial response, don’t fret! It’s likely that what your offering has multiple points of value within it…
You can start introducing more points of value in each follow up email. Example: You touched down on your first email on how your service can save them countless hours of time each month – now you can start breaking down on how each aspect of your service will save them time.
Test Different CTA's
Maybe the prospect didn’t have time to set up a free consultation call (they are probably busy after all!), test whether or not they will respond to wanting a customized report, an audit of their site, etc… the goal here is to just get them to commit to something, it opens the conversation.
Avoid Generic Follow Up's
“Hey Rick, I just wanted to follow up from our last email…” or “I just wanted to reach out again…” these boring intro’s aren’t going to get you many responses!
You need to follow the same styling as your original email, keep your copywriting short and sweet; don’t waste the prospects time with wording/phrases that aren’t adding any value.
Get Creative, Not Salesy
There are plenty of ways to get creative in your emails… and you should!
No one wants to receive sales email after sales email, they tend to get bland and boring.
Break it up with some witty writing, here’s a great example:
Subject Line:
It’s Friday
Body Message:
Hi Rick,
I bet the subject line made you think there’d be a Rebecca Black gif or video inside this email. But I wouldn’t do that to you 
The real reason I’m reaching out is to ask about your strategy for generating leads in Q3 2018. I have a few suggestions I’d be happy to talk through – after the weekend, of course.
Are you free on Monday next week?
Cheers to Friday,
Chris
better email as you see it
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
If {{prospect.company_name}} is like most commercial cleaners, you know how profitable it can be just pulling in 1 extra contract per month!
With LeadSend, you’re able to reach out directly to facility managers in your target market. Our database consists of 8,000 facility managers in {{prospect.city}} alone!
Can you write a simple email like this {{prospect.first_name}}? If so, you’re only one step away from a handful of new contracts…
If you’re up for it, I can give you a personalized demo next Monday…
Should I call {{prospect.phone_number}}?
Test, Test and test some more
Test as many variables as you can in your follow ups… it’s the same as your initial cold email, you want to figure out what works best with your audience! Here are some core areas to constantly be testing:
- Test different message templates
- Test different CTA’s
- Test the amount of personalization
- Test the time of day you are sending emails
- Test your copywriting tone