A Guide to Follow-Up Sales Emails
Izabela is a leading contributor to the Bouncer’s blog. She is inspired to help companies all around the world to get emails into their recipients’ inboxes
Sometimes, sales emails don’t bring the type of response you were hoping for. In this case, a good sales follow-up email is an essential step in getting you closer to closing the deal.
There is often a fine line between being persistent and pushy when it comes to chasing leads. Although approaching leads and pitching your services might be something that happens quickly and early in the process, closing a deal may take a long time. In fact, around eighty percent of successful sales happen after between five and twelve separate times of contact between the salesperson and the prospect. Once a lead is qualified, don’t expect them to convert immediately – turning it into a sale can take months of work. Since there is so much riding on sales follow-up emails, it’s no surprise that they can be tricky to get right.
How Do I Write an Email for Awaiting Response
Suppose you have sent a sales or marketing email to a contact to no avail. In that case, the good news is that there are various things that you can do to implement efficient sales follow-up emails into the process while generating interest from your audience. Annoying, pushy sales emails tend to have the opposite effect, and there is certainly no shortage of them, but your follow-up email doesn’t need to be one of them.
Personalise Follow-Up Emails
Take a moment to think about the number of emails you get daily. Most of your prospective customers probably quite like you receive tons of daily emails they will need to scan before deciding which ones are worth opening and replying to. Receiving an email that appears very generic and like it’s probably been sent to hundreds of other recipients without giving any thought to them as individuals probably feel annoying to you, so you can assume that your email recipients will be the same.
Whether you use it in email marketing or elsewhere, personalisation has proven itself to be one of the best ways to build a strong relationship with your sales leads and prove your worth to them. Personalisation isn’t just simple things, like addressing recipients by name, but it also involves tailoring content to the individual lead and appealing to them based on their preferences and experiences.
Be Sure to Offer Value
Focusing on providing value is one of the main ways to ensure prospective customers see and read your follow-up emails. To provide the maximum value to a customer through email, the main thing to do is focus on showing them that you understand their needs and goals. Use your follow-up sales email as an opportunity to show the value that your company creates for customers. It is a chance to let customers see that you have listened to them, learned about them, and are interested in offering solutions that will work for them. With this proactive approach, you can expect customers to react more positively and potentially get a faster response.
Time it Right
Give your recipients some time to open and read your email before following up. However, with that being said, waiting too long to send a follow-up email can be just as bad as not giving it enough time.
Generally, the longer you leave it, the less successful you will be, so it’s essential to get the timing right. Bear in mind that, on average, leads can take around two days or so to reply. Anything sooner than this might be too soon for following up, but leave it too long, and your lead might have forgotten about you and what you’re offering.
Timing it well is crucial for making sure that follow-up emails are effective. Ensure that the email you send is relevant without overwhelming the customer. For example, if you’ve had a meeting with a prospective customer or client, then following up via email the next morning is good timing without being too overbearing. Prompt and quick follow-ups and responses allow you to keep the momentum going.
How Long to Wait Before Sending a Follow-Up Email
It’s important to get the balance right when sending a follow-up email, as it can be too obvious when the salesperson is trying too hard and feeling a bit desperate about getting a response. The good news is that you can do many things to follow up more naturally and time it right, so you don’t need to come across as pushy and desperate and end up putting off your lead or customer instead of encouraging them to take action.
Besides giving them enough time to read the first email you sent and reply to it before you start thinking about following up, consider other ways to reach out to them more naturally. Such as content that might be worth sharing with them. Remember that reaching out to follow up with a prospective customer or client correctly can demonstrate that you are proactive about building a professional relationship with them.
A good follow-up email relies on good timing. Understanding how long to wait before sending a follow-up email, what time of day, and even what day of the week is best to send a follow-up email will help you get a better response rate from prospective clients and customers.
How to Follow Up on an Unanswered Email
There are various types of follow-up emails that you may want to send, which may vary depending on the reason why you are sending them. Some different types you should be using include:
Unanswered Email
A follow-up sequence for when you send emails that go unanswered is important. These emails can serve as a reminder to your prospect that you have not forgotten about them, and give you a chance to offer additional resources, find out more about what your prospect may need to take the desired action and ask them if they are still interested.
After Pitching
Following up via email is crucial if you’ve recently made a sales pitch or presentation. Usually, the best time to do this is a couple of days after the pitch. This type of follow-up email can be an excellent opportunity to review prospect pain points, demonstrate your gratitude for their time, and include a call to action to clarify the next steps.
Decision Maker Reviews
If more than one party is involved in the buying or decision-making process, you can usually expect the sales cycle to require a little more time. In this situation, it’s best to wait around four or five days before you send the first follow-up email. It gives the team enough time to get together and discuss options before making a decision.
Final Follow-Up
If you’ve attempted to follow up via email several times and are still not getting a response from your email recipients, then it could be the time to send the final follow-up email to wrap things up. Some may see this as a good opportunity for one final last-ditch attempt to get a response from the recipient, while in other cases, it may simply be to let them know that their file is being closed and they won’t hear from you again.
How to Follow Up and Send a Lack of Response Email – What to Avoid
Developing a consistent follow-up process is the key to success when getting in touch with leads that haven’t responded. However, there are several common mistakes that you should be aware of and avoid as much as possible. These are:
Taking Too Long to Follow Up
Give your prospects some time to think about your offer or discuss it with their team, but don’t wait too long, so they forget all about your business and offer in the meantime.
Not Following Up Often Enough
Studies have found that a vast number of leads take up to six attempts to reach. So, please don’t make the mistake of giving up after the first couple of follow-ups, as it may take a few more for you to reach your intended goal. Make sure that you follow up often enough and add value each time you do.
Not Focusing on the Team
In B2B sales, a common mistake is to only focus on the main prospect rather than thinking about the multiple people that are likely to have an impact on the decision and need to be followed up with, especially if you are selling to a larger organisation.
Following up when an email goes unanswered or after a pitch or sales meeting is important to succeed. Understanding how, why, and when to follow up can help you get further when turning leads into customers and clients.
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