Prospecting email follow-ups: how many, how often, and what to write

When you launch your first campaign, you watch replies to the first email nervously. There are very few. You conclude that the message isn’t working, or that you’re targeting the wrong people. In many cases, it’s simply too early: a good share of replies only arrives on the second, third or fourth touch.

It’s not that the prospect changes their mind between two emails. They were in a meeting, on holiday, in the middle of an urgent piece of work. Your first message slipped down the pile. The follow-up brings it back to the top, at a moment when they might have two minutes.

How many follow-ups should you send?

Three to four emails in total, including the first, is a good balance. Any fewer and you leave replies on the table. Any more and returns fall quickly while irritation rises: a fifth or sixth unanswered email is more often marked as spam than it generates meetings, and every spam marking damages your sender reputation.

A short, well-written sequence sent to a well-chosen list is better than an endless sequence that tries to force the door open.

How long should you wait between emails?

Give it some breathing room. A follow-up the day after the first email feels pushy. Here is a cadence that works for most B2B audiences:

• email 1: day 0;
• follow-up 1: three to four days later;
• follow-up 2: five to seven days after the previous one;
• follow-up 3, if you send one: one to two weeks later.

The whole sequence runs over two to four weeks. Send during the prospect’s business hours, avoiding weekends: an email received on Saturday evening will be buried under Monday morning’s.

Reply in the same thread

An effective follow-up is sent as a reply to the first email, with a “Re:” subject line and the previous message quoted below. The prospect can see the whole exchange at a glance, without having to remember who you are. It is also more natural: it is exactly what someone would do if they were following up by hand.

SmartOutbound sends follow-ups this way, from the same inbox as the first email, and automatically stops the sequence as soon as the prospect replies, whatever their answer.

Every follow-up must add something

This is the rule that makes all the difference. “I’m just getting back in touch about my previous message” is not a follow-up. It is a reminder, and it gives the prospect no new reason to reply.

Each email in the sequence should be able to stand on its own and bring a different angle. For example:

• follow-up 1, the addition: a concrete piece of information that was missing from the first email, a customer example, a specific figure;
• follow-up 2, the different angle: a second problem you solve, or the same problem seen from another stakeholder’s point of view;
• follow-up 3, the graceful exit: you offer to stop writing, while leaving the door open.

Examples

A first follow-up that adds detail:

Claire, one detail I didn’t mention: the phone numbers are checked every month, and you only pay for the contacts you export. For an agency that is just starting out, that is often what makes the difference compared with an annual subscription. Would it be worth a fifteen-minute call?

A second follow-up that changes the angle:

Claire, I’m also thinking about your consultants: when a client asks for three profiles for the following week, the time spent finding the right people to call has a direct impact on deadlines. It is often the point that prompts the agencies we work with to act. If you’re not the person who handles this, who should I speak to?

A final follow-up that makes a clean exit:

Claire, I won’t clutter your inbox any longer. If this becomes relevant again when you open in Lyon, just reply to this message and I’ll get back in touch. Have a good rest of the week.

This final message often gets surprisingly candid replies: “thanks, not for now, get back to me in March.” That is valuable information.

What to do depending on the reply

A follow-up never goes to someone who has replied. But not every reply should be handled the same way:

• the prospect is interested: reply quickly, ideally within the hour, and offer two specific slots;
• they are not the right person: thank them and ask who you should contact. If their reply mentions a colleague, that contact can join your campaign with an opener such as “So-and-so suggested I get in touch”;
• they are away: delay the rest of the sequence until they are back rather than following up into the void;
• they say no: respect it and do not follow up. A gentle re-engagement several weeks later may be justified if the situation could have changed, but never if they have asked not to be contacted again;
• they ask not to receive any more emails: stop immediately, across all your campaigns.

We cover all these cases in more detail in our article on managing replies.

Common mistakes

• making the prospect feel guilty: “I haven’t heard back from you...”;
• forcing artificial urgency: “Offer valid until Friday” on a service that has no reason to expire;
• changing the subject line with every follow-up, which breaks the thread and makes it look like a new mass send;
• following up from a different inbox than the first email;
• never stopping.

Measuring the effect of follow-ups

For each step in the sequence, look at how many replies it generates. If the third follow-up no longer produces anything positive across several hundred sends, remove it. If the first follow-up gets a better response than the first email, that often means its angle deserves to lead. Our article on campaign metrics explains how to interpret these figures correctly.

To write your sequences faster, SmartOutbound offers a complete draft (first email, follow-ups and automatic replies to rejections and “wrong person” responses) based on your objective, which you then adjust. Try it for a month, free of charge.